Naseeb (*ing Amitabh, Shatrughan, Rishi, Hema, Reena)
Apr 7, 2015 23:31:43 GMT
dancelover likes this
Post by odadune on Apr 7, 2015 23:31:43 GMT
Yet another super-complicated, super-ridiculous masala from Manmohan Desai. In this one, Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor grow up in poverty not knowing that their father Pran was cheated by three villains (including Amjad Khan and Kader Khan), one of whom is the father of Amitabh's BFF Shatrughan Sinha. There's a lot of pointless villainous machinations, a mildly amusing subplot about Rishi's romance with one of those totally forgettable 80s starlets, a subplot where Pran becomes an enforcer for Amrish Puri so he can get revenge on his enemies, a love triangle between Amitabh, Shatrughan, and Hema Malini (ultimately resolved by pairing off Amitabh with Hema and Shatrughan with Amitabh's foster sister, played by Shatru's real life ex-girlfriend Reena Roy), a music number on a giant turn-table, and a technically complex but overly long climax in a burning building.
Basically it's trying to out-do everything the showman director had done before, and although it must have worked for audiences of the time (this was one of the biggest pre-nineties blockbusters in Hindi film history), it feels tired and routine to me. Memo to Farah and Sajid Khan, Rohit Shetty, Prabhudheva, and all the actors who work with these directors: I haven't seen your most recent works in most cases, and am not prepared to assume that you have hit that wall of permanently diminishing returns, but keep in mind that sooner or later there comes a point where BIGGER! WACKIER! MORE AWESOME! just stops being awesome.
The best things about it for me were Amrish Puri and Pran (WITH SWORDS!), Shatrughan's somewhat morally ambiguous character, and the first big music number:
If you do see this, try not to judge the heroines too harshly. At this point in her career, Hema Malini was something of a trailblazer for continuing to work after marriage, but she's unflatteringly dressed and styled and has an uninteresting role and boring dance numbers. Reena Roy was famous as a glamorous diva who played relatively sassy women for the period, and occasionally took on more challenging roles (notably a dual role in the 1981 Ladies Tailor and the character of a divorced woman befriending her ex's new girlfriend in Apnapan). In Naseeb she has nothing to do but pine after Shatrughan, which gets awkward when you realize that she's his real-life ex-girlfriend and by this time he was probably married to Poonam Sinha, the future mother of his children.
Some reviews by other people:
Beth Loves Bollywood (part of a column covering several movies): bethlovesbollywood.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-mini-reviews.html
So They Dance: sotheydance.blogspot.com/2010/04/naseeb-or-thoughts-on-various-negative.html
Carla the Filmigeek: www.filmigeek.com/2014/05/naseeb-1981.html
Basically it's trying to out-do everything the showman director had done before, and although it must have worked for audiences of the time (this was one of the biggest pre-nineties blockbusters in Hindi film history), it feels tired and routine to me. Memo to Farah and Sajid Khan, Rohit Shetty, Prabhudheva, and all the actors who work with these directors: I haven't seen your most recent works in most cases, and am not prepared to assume that you have hit that wall of permanently diminishing returns, but keep in mind that sooner or later there comes a point where BIGGER! WACKIER! MORE AWESOME! just stops being awesome.
The best things about it for me were Amrish Puri and Pran (WITH SWORDS!), Shatrughan's somewhat morally ambiguous character, and the first big music number:
If you do see this, try not to judge the heroines too harshly. At this point in her career, Hema Malini was something of a trailblazer for continuing to work after marriage, but she's unflatteringly dressed and styled and has an uninteresting role and boring dance numbers. Reena Roy was famous as a glamorous diva who played relatively sassy women for the period, and occasionally took on more challenging roles (notably a dual role in the 1981 Ladies Tailor and the character of a divorced woman befriending her ex's new girlfriend in Apnapan). In Naseeb she has nothing to do but pine after Shatrughan, which gets awkward when you realize that she's his real-life ex-girlfriend and by this time he was probably married to Poonam Sinha, the future mother of his children.
Some reviews by other people:
Beth Loves Bollywood (part of a column covering several movies): bethlovesbollywood.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-mini-reviews.html
So They Dance: sotheydance.blogspot.com/2010/04/naseeb-or-thoughts-on-various-negative.html
Carla the Filmigeek: www.filmigeek.com/2014/05/naseeb-1981.html