Amitabh Bachan is a mega star who had a string of memorable movies during his heydays of the mid 70's. That said some of his movies aren't that well known. Imaan Dharam is one of those rare movies of his that I had never seen.
Now that I have seen it I know the reason behind it's obscurity and that is that it is a very poorly conceived movie.
What was even more shocking was that it was written was Salim Javed, who in the previous year had written the Yash Chopra classic Dewaar and the record breaking Sholay.
The main problem is that there are two many distractions and characters that deviate from the main plot, such as Helen hiring Amitabh's character to pose as the father to her daughter amongst others.
The writers made some bad decisions with the writing, like when Shetty reveals Sanjeev Kumar;s innocence two hours into the movie and as a result he is subsequently released from jail and Prem Chopra and company are exposed. If I were the writer I would have kept him in jail until the last scene adding to the dramatic impact.
Salim's Javed's scripts are known for their great emotional moments, who can forget Jai's death at the end of Sholay. Sadly Helen's death doesn't have any impact whatsoever. The reason being that we saw too little of her considering she was the female lead opposite Amitabh.
Amitabh and Shashi didn't make much of an impact, Rekha was grossly underused as the movie gave more precedence to the stunning Aparna Sen. Sanjeev Kumar on the other hand shines as the do gooder who sets the two leads on the path of righteousness.
The songs aren't that particularly memorable either.
What Imaan Dharam does have is a wide assortment of villain actors like Prem Chopra, Amrish Puri, Sudhir, Shetty (father of Rohit Shetty no less) and Mac Mohan.
Overall I expected much more from the talent involved
What was even more shocking was that it was written was Salim Javed, who in the previous year had written the Yash Chopra classic Dewaar and the record breaking Sholay.
The main problem is that there are two many distractions and characters that deviate from the main plot, such as Helen hiring Amitabh's character to pose as the father to her daughter amongst others.
The writers made some bad decisions with the writing, like when Shetty reveals Sanjeev Kumar;s innocence two hours into the movie and as a result he is subsequently released from jail and Prem Chopra and company are exposed. If I were the writer I would have kept him in jail until the last scene adding to the dramatic impact.
Salim's Javed's scripts are known for their great emotional moments, who can forget Jai's death at the end of Sholay. Sadly Helen's death doesn't have any impact whatsoever. The reason being that we saw too little of her considering she was the female lead opposite Amitabh.
Amitabh and Shashi didn't make much of an impact, Rekha was grossly underused as the movie gave more precedence to the stunning Aparna Sen. Sanjeev Kumar on the other hand shines as the do gooder who sets the two leads on the path of righteousness.
The songs aren't that particularly memorable either.
What Imaan Dharam does have is a wide assortment of villain actors like Prem Chopra, Amrish Puri, Sudhir, Shetty (father of Rohit Shetty no less) and Mac Mohan.
Overall I expected much more from the talent involved