Bemisal

Bemisal review :

By the '80s, the angry young man tag was so synonymous with Amitabh Bachchan that the audience was unwilling to see him in any meek and mild avatar. As a result, some of his good films like Jurmana (1979), Silsila (1981) and Bemisal (1982) underperformed at the box office. In fact, Bemisal directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, had Bachchan in one of his best and highly underrated performance ever.

Based on Hrishi da's own Bengali movie Ami Se O Sakha (1975), Bemisaal was a poignant tale of a triangle between Bachchan, Rakhee and Vinod Mehra. As an orphan raised by Mehra's father, Amitabh not only sacrifices his love for Rakhee and gets her married to Vinod Mehra but eventually even takes the blame for an illegal abortion committed by Mehra.

R. D. Burman's scintillating music score complimented the scenic Kashmir locales beautifully. 'Yeh Kashmir hai' song became a chartbuster and it is still in my songlist. Another song which I love is 'Ek roz main tadapkar' picturised on Amitabh and Sheetal who got the chance of a lifetime to be his heroine though her role had negative shades.

Bemisal completed a silver jubilee at Mumbai's Opera House but was still called a box office flop as it didn't perform to Bachchan's high standards. The film is a must watch for his fans who will certainly enjoy seeing him in an emotional dual role.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.