This or That

This was a pretty good movie. It was nowhere near as good as the amazing Pyaasa, which is one of the best movies ever in my opinion. This movie is the timeless story of a man trying to find acceptance and love. There are weak parts but they are overcome by the script and the excellent actors, especially Dutt regular Johny Walker. Shyama and Shakila both provided good performances and I would love to see them in a movie that was more focused on them. The DVD I had was very poor quality. It was one of the Forever Classics in the Yash Raj collection and the subtitling was way off. There appear to be at least 3 different versions on DVD, hopefully the others are better quality. All in all you cannot go wrong with Guru Dutt. If you haven't seen one of his movies before, you should definitely try Pyaasa first and then check this one out.

Guru Dutt directed and/or starred in many great films. This is not one of them. Probably the weakest from his directorial oeuvre, it's not bad but it never rises above mediocrity.

Dutt plays a character with criminal antecedents who gets embroiled in a larger mess. However, this main part of this film is mostly sidelined to make space for soapy love angles and even some useless scenes.

I couldn't help but compare Dutt's Vagabond like character to that of Raj Kapoor in Awaara. But while the latter nailed it in his masterpiece, Guru Dutt was probably never cut out to play this kind of role. The one saving grace is the great presence of compositions which makes Atleast one aspect of this film timeless.

Guru Dutt's 'Aar Paar' is a film noire-type entertaining thriller. During his time, Dutt, along with the likes of Raj Khosla and Dev Anand have specialized in this genre and have delivered some of the classiest thrillers in Indian cinema. Yet, 'Aar Paar' isn't without its flaws. Some sequences have been dragged on too much and the pacing, at some points, is very slow. Moreover, the Johnny Walker track could have easily been reduced. Most of the songs are a delight. The only one i didn't like was the 'Suhn Suhn' song which is also repeated in a sadder version. Guru Dutt plays his part of the streetsmart driver with ease. Hotties Shyama and Shakila seem to have done an odd switch of roles that had made them famous. Shyama who played a vamp in 'Bhai Bhai' does a fine job as a bubbly down to earth girl-next-door. Shakila who played a sweet charming girl-next-door is very convincing here as an alluring vamp. Overall, 'Aar Paar' is something that can easily be enjoyed with the whole family. It may not be among Dutt's best works but is nonetheless a fun watch.

Aar Paar has all the style that Guru Dutt brought to every film he made. He plays with light and shadows like only he has done in Hindi cinema. But a weak storyline pulls the film down.

The plot just lingers over the characters most of the time and the story does not move forward. There is a hint of a bank robbery coming but all it does is to set the background for the climax. At the end, it is difficult to understand what the story was about.

Inspite of all this, Aar Paar is considered an important film in Guru Dutt's career. Not only because it is technically right most of the time, like any of his films, but more because in Kaalu he creates one of the most realistic tramp-with-a-golden-heart characters seen in Hindi films. That character is seen in hundreds of Hindi films but hardly any is as real as Kaalu.

The film has some great songs ever. 'Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar', 'Ye Lo Main Haari Piya' and 'Baabuji Dheere Chalna' are timeless. Easily a Hindi film classic.

No words.. Absolutely brilliant. This was the movie that set Guru Dutt's movie career up, that was sagging at that time. Kudos to the absolutely sweet melodies by OP- Rafi- Geeta combo. Shamshad has sung the title song so well. What songs ! The picturization is absolutely brilliant. The photography by Murthy deserves special mention. The star cast is perfect. Guru, Shyama, Shakila, Johnny Walker all of them play their roles perfectly.

Above all, it is the Mumbaikars - erstwhile Bombayites - who will be thrilled beyond all by this movie. The locations are all from down town old Bombay. To people who live abroad and have lost contact with their home town Bombay , this is a trip down memory lane. Hornby road, Flora Fountain, VT station, Army & Navy Building, Marine Drive, Colaba, you name it and you have it in this movie. It is all made easy by the protagonist of this movie being a taxi driver. And so pretty and peaceful, that was when Bombay was Bombay as we know it, not over crowded, less frenzied and relatively slow paced. Pure nostalgia. A Hindi Bete-Noire classic.