Kalyug

I had watched this movies 20 years ago and wanted to see it again. Still potent and impacting. For those who don't watch Bollywood due its loud and cheesy products, there is a parallel line of movies which will blow your mind. Especially if you don't know storylines of Mahabharat this may seem new. Presentation of the movie is at par with its subject. The only downside: print on Youtube is less than acceptable and I don't know if there are other options. No subs either :( Some relationships in the movie were left open-ended, which I like very much, but make be a reason for t Love Shashi Kapoor in this one. Rekha could have had more. Anant Nag was awesome!

Shyam babu and Girish Karnad has weaved magic . The film seeps to your core . Even after 40+ years it manages to catch your attention . The performances are taut without any melodrama and fluff . One of the greats of Hindi cinema. I only could feel that background score could have been added more to lift the narrative . There is no song and dance in the movie to keep moments light . The movie is serious and demands attention . The actors you must have seen them many a times look so different while performing . Too good to be ignored.

Kalyug (1981) : Brief Review -

Shyam Benegal's convincing and intelligent modern-day adaptation of the Mahabharata set in the ruthless world of corporate rivalry. The mythological tale of gods and warriors is transformed into a story of businessmen and boardrooms - yet Benegal makes it believable and engaging. The concept of Kunti having a son by Suryadev was acceptable in Dwapar Yuga, but reinterpreting that divine premise in the context of the 1980s industrial world was no easy feat. That's where Benegal's genius shines - he skillfully convinces us to accept and relate to the same idea within a realistic framework. In Kalyug, traditional elements of the Mahabharata are replaced by modern parallels - instead of Chakravyuh, we witness car accidents and an unusual death caused by a medical condition; instead of Draupadi's vastraharan, the family is torn by emotional and moral conflicts. Arjuna's counterpart is shown as slightly aggressive, while Karna's version remains calm and composed. Rekha plays a fascinating Draupadi-like figure - not with five husbands as in the epic, but as a strong, assertive woman in a male-dominated family. Karna's character, keeping her photograph in his home, reveals an unfulfilled desire - he wishes to marry her but is held back by his lack of social status and surname. The grand Mahabharata yuddha becomes a corporate war driven by ego, power, and legacy. Writers Shyam Benegal, Satyadev Dubey, and Girish Karnad deserve immense credit for translating history into a contemporary and believable drama. However, the pacing falters at times - extended car chase sequences, prolonged silences, and a few intimate moments make the two-hour-twenty-five-minute runtime feel stretched. Despite the occasional drag, Benegal's hallmark realism and psychological depth elevate Kalyug into a gripping and satisfying film. Shashi Kapoor and Anant Nag deliver brilliant performances, while the rest of the ensemble perfectly complements the narrative. Overall, an impressive modern retelling of the Mahabharata.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Kalyug, an excellent film, is Shyam Benegal's (along with his writers Pt Satyadev Dubey and Girish Karnad) effort to extrapolate the Mahabharata phenomenon in modern context. Kalyug is a thorough and deeply analytical cinematic work. Kalyug is humanization of characters, deified in the mythological epic. Traits of Mahabharat's mythological characters are adopted and imposed on the characters of the film but hardly any character represents one single character included in the Mahabharata and one character may be an amalgam of many characters. Film doesn't let audience fall for easy conclusions that this character is this and thus so well defined as per the mythology, no it is not about fixed characterization. It is more about basic characterization of human being. Here in Kalyug, every character is doing mistakes and they can not be defined in a black and white manner. Kalyug has commercial actors like Shashi Kapoor and Rekha but camera does not stick to one character only.

Kalyug is rich in everything. Good story, good screen play and dialogs, fascinating cinematography,wonderful performances and a super class direction.

It's one of the finest films, ever made in Hindi cinema.

Now, this is what we call the power of cinema. I always have had a notion in my mind that movies should be a medium to showcase the raw potential of a director and the actors in an unstrung way, that is, whatever is shown on the screen is believable and can be related to. Kalyug breaks all fronts, and how! It's a new-age Mahabharata, India's ancient epic mythological book, and the characters are so vulnerably powerful in it. It's going to be years to come before any Indian director can possibly overshadow the sheer strength of this motion picture. Even Benegal can't strive to make this movie again as it possesses hardly any scope for improvement. Hats off to Shashi Kapoor and Anant Nag!