Pinkai

During a phase of my life, I had a roommate who had used to sing "Ai malik tere bande hum" (O Lord, we're thy servants!) pretty often, and that was the only reason I watched this movie (the song was from this movie, he had told me!), when it was broadcast by Dordarshan, the National Television Channel of India, a few years later. And I must admit, it was a good movie. Sure, it had all those mandatory songs, but yet the songs didn't intrude into the movie, at least for an Indian such as I, used to heavy and endless dose of songs in movies.

To me, the most impressive point of this movie was its simple yet nice story (apparently based on a real-life incident), which was devoid of many so-called masalas (spices!)in spite of the era in which it was made (Compare Do Bigha Zamin for cheap sentimentality, for example) and yet executed well.

It's long-enduring impact can be seen from the spoof enacted by Annu Kapoor for a T.V. series (I don't remember its name, though) which used to be in Zee TV as recently as in 2003.

I liked this movie for one reason: the performance by Lawrence Olivier. I had disliked his style in movies like Rebecca, where I felt he had been too dramatic; but this movie made me change my view regarding him.

This movie also helped me find why I could never really appreciate Dustin Hoffman. Lawrence Olivier in his, "Why not try acting? It's much easier." was right: Dustin Hoffman should learn to act. Forgive my saying this; but in my opinion, Dustin Hoffman remains too stiff too rigid, and that makes sure that his performance (in spite of his oft quoted "method acting") would never reach the level of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro (not to mention the great Brando, or Nicholson), both of whose main forte is lucidity. I watched his "The Graduate" and I continued to dislike his style. I think one needs to have either the intensity of Brando/Nicholson, the lucidity of Pacino/De Niro or the natural style of (Freeman)Morgan/(Lee) Strasberg. For the ones who aim to remain stiff, Hoffman or (Denzel) Washington is the choice!

I watched this movie because a friend of mine dragged me to the theater, to test if I could avoid feeling myself involved with a bicycle race that was a major part of the movie. (Now, speaking of that incident after a decade, I should perhaps replace the "watched" with "had watched", or rather, "had first watched", because later I watched this movie a few more times.)

This is a very cute (I could not find another equally suitable adjective) movie that realistically depicts the life of small-town kids who belong to homes with limited means. It's a story of their pretensions and frustrations, their wish to be part of the richer folk, that of affectionate families, and of budding puppy-love. Due to very good performance by every artiste, this movie -- with a quite simple storyline -- is capable of making everyone feel part of the movie.

While watching it, one is bound to get unintentionally involved with the bike race in the movie. Every heart feels warmth for Ayesha Jhulka, and everyone gets angry at Amir Khan for ignoring Ayesha's innocent and true affection. The impact of this movie could be overwhelming if one is in one's late teen or early youth.

The music score was good, though I now know that the famous "Pehla Nasha" was lifted (I fail to recollect which was the original tune!).

It's a very enjoyable movie, and I can not think of a reason as to why anyone should dislike it!

Note: Now I found a reason why someone may dislike it: its story is taken from "Breaking Away".