Movies ‘R’ Us: #2-2009

1. Maachis (Matches) (Hindi film) (1996)

A well-intentioned but shoddy movie on the sad period in recent India history that was when the Sikh militancy was threatening to split India once again. Surprising since this is from the stable of Gulzar.

A Sikh family’s journey goes horribly wrong when the man in the house is picked up on a false murder charge, tortured horribly and returned in pieces. The resultant effect on his close friend (who then turns to militancy) and his sister and near and dear ones is attempted to be documented in this movie

Raj Zutshi is the man of the house, Tabu is his sister, Chandrachur Singh is her fiancée and Raj’s close friend, Om Puri is a harsh militant commander.

The movie lacks a punch. It has shoddy editing, lack of chemistry between Chandrachur and Tabu. Tabu though is brilliant in patches but cant hold up the limp remains of a film that has a story that lacks a punch. The general level of acting generally fails to rise above the ordinary inspite of boasting some excellent actors in the cast.

A few of the songs though are remembered to this day. Very hummable and lyrics by Gulzar

Chod Aaye hum who galiyan




Chappa Chappa Charkha Chale




Paani Paani Re


Playback: Lata, Suresh Wadkar, Hariharan, Vinod Sehgal, K.Kay
DoP: Manmohan Singh
Music: Vishal
Produced by R.V.Pandit
Written and Directed by Gulzar

Starring:
Om Puri
Tabu
Chandrachur Singh
Kanwaljit
Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Raj Zutshi
Jimmy Shergill




2. Kishen Kanhaiya (Hindi Movie) (1990)

Terrible movie, cheesy songs, cheesy choreography, cheesy lyrics, cheesy dialogues, vulgar steps, some terrible dancing by Anil Kapoor (but you have to accept his sincerity), its utterly missable.

Oh, and btw it also stars Madhuri Dixit

Starring
Anil Kapoor and Shilpa Shirodkar
Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit
and other assorted pieces of furniture

Written by Ravi Kapoor and Mohan Kaul
Dialogue: Kader Khan
Dances: Kamal
Fights: Veeru Devgan (pa of Ajay Devgan)
Playback: Lata, Asha, Amit Kumar (son of Kishore Kumar), Nitin Mukesh, Mohd.Aziz, Manhar, Sadhana Sargam
DoP: Pushpal Datta
Lyrics: Indivar, Anwar Sagar
Music: Rajesh Roshan
Produced and Directed by Rakesh Roshan




3. Ram Lakhan (Hindi Movie) (1989)

The typical representative of a typical Bollywood melodra-musical. You have the usual elements of a Bollywood jigsaw: the wronged wife whose husband is killed by treachery, her sons who in typical fashion turn into opposite directions of good and evil, the mother with integrity and piety who waits out her revenge, the wrongdoers with whom the law of karma catches-up with, in the end, the supporting fiancees’ who don’t hesitate to pick up a machine-gun in their beau’s defense: once coy, at other times an incarnation of Durga and Kali, villainy that knows no bounds etc.etc.

Starring: Jackie Shroff and Dimple Kapadia, Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, Rakhee, Saeed Jaffrey, villainy by Amrish Puri, Raza Murad, Paresh Rawal, Gulshan Grover, Annu Kapoor, humour by Anupam Kher and Satish Kaushik.

Photography: Ashok Mehta
Editing: Waman Bhonsle and Gurudutt Shirali
Dances: Saroj Khan
Screenplay: Ram Kelkar
Dialogue: Anwar Khan
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Music: Laxmi-Pyare
Produced by Ashok Ghai
Written and Directed by Subhash Ghai


It does have some wonderfully intense acting from JS and AK, if you cut out the songs and dances part of it (both of them are wonderfully terrible dancers) and Rakhee. Dimple is atrocious while Madhuri is mainly taken for the song and dance part. A so-so movie all-in-all filled with very talented actors in a pure masala weekend entertainment for the family

Watch it to watch history: the beginning of the Madhuri phenomenon, the beginning of the end of the typical Bollywood villain caricature (Sir John, Bad Man etc.etc.), the Anil Kapoor phenomenon at its peak, possibly one of the last big hits of Subhash Ghai.