Suhagan

You pity Sridevi in the end even though she is supposed to be a fallen woman . Married against her wishes , having a child against her wishes , shes forced to abide by her father's wishes. You pity Raj who is in love with pretty Sridevi and sends his grand daddy to talk about marirage but its a bit late by then . You pity Jeetendra , Sridevi's unwitting innocent husband . Promised the girl of his choice , abondened at birth by parents, rejected by his pretty wife Sridevi , left alone with his daughter to fend for himself. You pity Padmini , in love with her Brother in law but unable to express her emotions , gets married to him as an after thought and remains his second love . The villain of the piece is Pran , Sridevi's father who gets her married to fulfill his social obligations against his daughter's wishes. Its a movie based on toxic patriarchial formula . A lot of heart breaks , confusions , hurts, rejections , twists take place . Shakti Kapoor and Aruna Irani are lovable in thier tiny roles. Sridevi and Padmini look pretty and resplendent in thier silks and chiffons . Tall lithe svelte Raj is the perfect rich lover boy . Over all a fine family fare even today .

How can anyone espouse such regressive cinema? 80's cinema is rightfully bashed for its regressive and blatantly misogynist themes. also the execution of the content is no better. film could have been engrossing, but the on the face misogyny hampers such prospects. the most problematic character belongs to that of Pran, who singlehandedly ruins 4 lives due to his stupid notions of honor and tradition. the film starts with images of ramayana trying to give a message that it's a women's grave misgiving if she choose to transgress the boundaries of propriety and morality set out by the society and will have too face its consequences. this is exactly what is shown in the film.

film is over the top and melodramatic. a little subtlety would have been better. drama sometimes get into your nerves. as usual, there are unnecessary comic tracks which have nothing to do with the story. in a way the movie mocks the raasleela of krishna by positing a comic villain character in the form of shakti kapoor who represents lust and promiscuity. dialogues are ultra regressive and makes you wince with disgust. music is uneven. the first few songs picturized on jeetendra and sridevi are unnecessary and unpleasant. not only the songs are never ending and bad, they are obstructions to the flow of the film. the last two songs are better and actually make sense to the plot.

sridevi is so so in the first half but acts better in the second half, where she gets an author backed role, but her dubbed voice limits the impact of her performance as at times, it doesn't gel with the character. jeetendra can't act, period! nor does he tries to. he is his usual self. padmini kolhapure at times act even better than sridevi, pity her character is not as well developed as sridevi. her performance is nuanced and she excels in the dramatic sequences, though the director chooses to focus on sridevi only. raj babbar is wasted, and so is tanuja. pran's character is cringe worthy and so is that of kader khan.

all in all, a highly regressive movie that one would want too definitely forget in today's world.

Suhaagan is a film about two sisters , where the elder one played by Sridevi leaves her husband (Jeetendra) and their child because he could not provide her with the comforts of modern day world. In their earlier romance there are a couple of songs ( Bappi Lahilri MD) which are average with the usual Jeetendra Sridevi dances. The real story begins when Sridevi leaves Jeetendra and her baby and goes to live with Murli, her preferred boyfriend and the person she wanted to marry. The dialogues describe with great depth, the agony and the torments Janaki ( Sridevi ) went through when she realized that leaving Ramu was a big mistake and she has no way to get back her old life with Ramu and her child. Sridevi showed her usual acting prowess and she really looked beautiful in the death scene. It is social drama with strong emphasis on the Indian culture of women's plight specially when they are married and comes in close contact with anyone other than her husband. The best part of the movie what I liked was that the director made Sridevi emphasize her chastity and pureness and then let her disappear from this world after she knew that Ramu has forgiven her for her mistake of her life. The tragic end of the movie was one of the best part.Good support roles provided by Padmini Kohlapure as the younger sister and Pran and Tanuja as their elderly parents. I gave it a seven out of ten.