Sirf (Released in 2008) - Life in Mumbai for 4 couples

When somebody tells you about a story with different couples, detailing their different situations, you know the following. The story will tell you about their challenges, about the complexity of their life, about how they all don't know each other but will come together (or rather, their life will be intertwined near the close (or in the second half) of the film), and they will all be in the same city. And all that is true of this movie.
However, a story such as this needs to be gripping, and it has to be logical. For getting its viewers to get hooked to the story, the person depicted in the movie may not be in the same social class, but the challenges that they face should be something that the person seeing the movie can understand and make sense of. These challenges can be related to money, love or affairs - these are the most common areas that make up the stories of our day-to-day movies.
So, here we have the story of 4 couples, all of them having their own challenges. And some of the people taken for depicting the various roles are great actors, and yet, you come out of the movie not satisfied. The story and editing needs to keep the challenges and the grip right through the duration of the movie, and here, after some initial effort, you feel that the Director, Rajaatsh Nayar, loses grip over the direction through the movie, and it gets difficult to stay the 2 hours of this movie.
Here are the cast of main characters in the movies, their relationships and the challenges facing them.




The rich couple: Gaurav (Kay Kay Menon) and Devika (Manisha Koirala). They are the rich couple, but you know the depiction of rich couples. When people are shown as rich, they are most of the time shown to have a deficit of love in their relationship, and the movie sticks to the same approach. And of course, they tend to be busy (or rather, the man is shown to be busy and not have time for his wife).
Needing money: Rahul (Ankur Khanna) and Shalu (Nauheed Cyrusi). Very much in love with each other, but her parents have set a condition that even though they are fine with the marriage, he has to find a house in 3 months on rent, else she will get married to somebody else. Seems a bit strange.
Love and trust: Amit (Parvin Dabbas) and Suchita (Rituparan Sengupta). They have a good life, not wanting for money, but then she starts suspecting that he is having an affair ? Is this true ?
Love and understanding: Akash (Ranvir Shorey) and Namita (Sonali Kulkarni). This one is difficult, but when you consider a number of divorce cases where there is no real reason, except that people have grown apart and hence do not want to remain married, it might make more sense. But did the movie bring that out ? They have their own offices, do love each other but are they able to understand their respective limitations ? Do they have that understanding ?
The music of the movie was no great shakes, with the music being by Sohail Sen and Shibani Kashyap. Lyrics are by Mehboob and Vipul Saini.

Aamir (Released in 2008) - Starring Rajeev Khandelwal - A serious movie about a terror attack

Once in a while a movie comes along that is gripping. You have these romantic comedies that are released in thousands of theaters and go on to make hundreds of crores in revenue, but those movies leave you unsatisfied. And then you get a movie, made low budget, with unknown characters, that leaves you thinking, that grips you during the movie and you start thinking for the character in terms of what will happen next. Aamir is one such movie, a movie about terrorism, but an angle that is different from other movies. It is a simple story, but does not pull any punches, and makes you think about the tragedy that happens to the hero of the movie. Rajeev Khandelwal was not unknown before the movie, since he had made a name for himself in TV serials, but a movie is a different ball-game all together.
The movie started out slowly, since there were no major stars, but when a movie is good and is also praised by critics, it starts getting good word of mouth, and that ensured that the movie went on to earn a good profit and created a good name for Rajeev. The movie was directed by Raj Kumar Gupta (who later went on to direct the hit and serious, No One Killed Jessica). Music for the film was given by Amit Trivedi, lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya and the movie was produced by UTV.




A man is returning from Britain, back to his family, and suddenly, his life is turned upside down, thrown into a mix that will eventually take his life. Dr. Aamir Ali (played by Rajeev Khandelwal) is returning back to Mumbai, when he is given a cellphone by a stranger and told to wait for further instructions. The video in the phone scares him, since it is clear that his family has been abducted, and he has to now wait for further instructions. Further instructions make it clear to him that he has been caught in the trap of an Islamic terrorist who urges him to do something for his religion rather than the work that he is currently doing, and plays upon his name (Aamir means a leader).
From then on, it is a frantic series of movements, a lot of them over a red suitcase that has been given to him, and which gets stolen from him in between. It is full of cash, but when he finally gets to sit in a bus and is told to leave the suitcase under his seat and move out, he realizes that the suitcase contains a bomb, and the intention was to use Aamir to cause mayhem in a bus through the bomb. He finally makes a choice, deciding to ensure that no one else gets caught up in the bomb blast, clearing an area, and dying in the bomb blast - and all his tension, his sacrifice, is unknown to people around him, since he is suspected of being the bomber who died in the blast.

U Me Aur Hum (released in 2008) - A tearjerker starring Ajay Devgn, Kajol, Divya Dutta, Isha Shervani, and others

U Me Aur Hum is a romantic movie, although one with a difference. The movie takes a look at what love means, and how does love deal with a case where a person loses their memory, cannot even remember basic details, and what that does to the person who is living with them. The movie was the first movie made by Ajay Devgn as a director, and was also the last one. The movie did okay the box office, but gained more through word of mouth where people liked the story. Critics however had a mixed tale; they liked the story, they liked the performances, but found the direction and the progress of the movie somewhat weak, with the movie getting slow in certain parts. The music for the film won some praise, but nothing outstanding, with music by Vishal Bharadwaj, and lyrics by Munna Dhiman. Some of the other actors in the movie besides Ajay Devgun and Kajol were Karan Khanna, Isha Shervani, Sumeet Raghavan, and Divya Dutta.
The story of the movie is being done as a flashback, where a middle aged Ajay Devgn is on a cruise ship. His son is with him and likes another lady. Ajay pushes him to go talk to her, and his son asks him to first go and find an old lady to charm, and as a result, Ajay goes to an old lady and starts telling his story, with this story drawing in more crowds all around them. The story is from 25 years back, from a cruise again, where Ajay is enjoying a cruise with his friends. One of the couples with him are having some tension in their marriage.




At the bar, Ajay meets Kajol and falls for her. In the morning, when they meet, out of his booze, Ajay tells her that he still loves her. She does not tell him yes, so he pursues her by trying to find what she likes. He even manages to read her diary and from this learns that she wanted to dance. So he learns enough that he can give her training in dancing, and this makes the position better. However, she finds out that he had seen her diary and is upset. However, he still believes that things will work out the way he wanted.
He calls his friends over, and they learn to their surprise that she accepted his efforts and they finally got married. But their romantic life suddenly starts getting into problems - she starts forgetting things. When such incidents happen, they consult and find out that she has a disease, Alzheimer's, and her current pregnancy will cause more problems. He manages to handle the situation, but after the baby is born, he has to worry that if she forgets who the baby is, this can cause harm to the baby. He decides that it is best if she is put in a place that handles people with such problems, although this decision hurts him a lot.
But, then does he get her back ? Watch the movie to find out.

One Two Three (released in 2008) - A comedy movie starring Tushar Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Suniel Shetty, Esha Deol, Sameera Reddy, and others

When you make such a movie, you are doing an experiment hoping that enough people will like the jokes and make the movie earn more than the cost. So, one way of helping this process along is by having a host of characters in the movie (and with none of them being the mega stars who charge a whole host of money and decrease the chance of your movie becoming a hit); then you add in some jokes of all varieties (including jokes that are more adult - and this seems to work, with the very adult jokes full movie, Grand Masti, becoming a big hit this year, 2013). There are a number of movies that have come in with the concept of people getting mistaken for each other, and the resulting comedy capers. Add in the concept of all of them being in a confined space such as a hotel, and things get even more chaotic (for an example of how action inside a hotel can be converted into a massive comic scene - just watch the movie, De Dana Dan which had most of the sequence inside a hotel with chases and what-not inside the hotel itself).
One Two Three takes 3 different people - played by Tusshar Kapoor, Paresh Rawal and Suniel Shetty all in a hotel, all coming from very different backgrounds and with different personalities. So what brings them all together ? All of them have come to the same city, staying in the same hotel, and with the same name, Laxminarayan. And you can guess the rest of the confusion that erupts when they are all in the same hotel, especially when you have Dons also involved, and when one of them sells undergarments, you can understand where the adult humor comes in. Some of the other cast include Esha Deol, Sameera Reddy, Upen Patel, Neetu Chandra and Tanisha. A whole host of characters, but none of them are of the mega-star kind who would charge an arm and a leg, and who would throw a tantrum if you did not revolve the movie around them.




Tusshar is the poor guy from Mumbai, living with his widowed mother, with the ambition being to become more of a successful gangster, kill some people, make a name and then marry the daughter of another don. So, he comes to Pondicherry to kill another Don, on whom he has got a contract.
Suniel Shetty is a secretary, come to the city to buy a vintage car from a dealer (and who would not want to buy a car from a dealer such as Sameera Reddy).
Paresh Rawal is a dealer in undergarments, who has come to Pondicherry to meet up with a new supplier (Esha Deol). Both of these ladies have their own struggles, with both of them being under debt and desperate to strike the deals for which Suniel and Paresh have come to the city. And then Upen Patel and Tanisha are there in the auto showroom, but actually are doing diamonds, hiding in the car which Sameera is trying to sell. And of course, the police is also hunting for these diamonds. A sleeper movie (since not too many people remember the movie), but it made money and even though it is easy to dismiss as another of those crank comic capers, it did reasonably well.

Bombay To Bangkok (released in 2008) - Starring Shreyas Talpade and Lena Christensen, directed by Nagesh Kukunoor

Sometimes you can have a set of excellent people involved in the making of a movie, and yet the movie can be one that is best avoided. This is a movie that appeals to some people, but critics who review movie on a professional basis would not be part of that set. The movie was released in 2008 (January) and had 2 people in who can be counted to make good movies - one is the main actor (Shreyas Talpade) and the other is the producer and director of the movie, Nagesh Kukunoor. Now, Nagesh has made movies that have been pretty well acclaimed, starting with his debut movie, Hyderabad Blues and for other well acclaimed movies such as Iqbal. So for Nagesh to make such a movie, that tries to be different, but really does not make people laugh too much, a combination of a romance and thriller, with some music thrown in. The music, by Salim-Sulaiman, does not really catch people too much either.




The plot is a simple one. A small time cook, Shankar (played by Shreyas Talpade) needs money, but is not able to make this money. So he finally breaks his patience, and resorts to stealing. He steals a pouch of money, but who does he end up stealing from ? The biggest mafia don in Mumbai (with Naseeruddin Shah in a special appearance). When you steal money from a don, you are in deep shit, and the same is the case with Shankar. He manages to make his way to a medical group that is on their way to Bangkok (for some voluntary work).
Once he gets to Thailand, he comes into contact with a very pretty Thai prostitute, Jasmine (played by Lina Christianson), but is unable to do what he is paying her to do, so she returns the money. However, the next day she turns up at the medical camp where he is pretending to be a doctor; they are not able to talk much, but still have a connection and get closer. But, he has lost the money pouch, and the men from the don are after him. So what does he do ?
The plot is very thin, and none of the performances were very excellent, and the movie did not do any great shakes with the audience as well.

Halla Bol - An attempt to make a gripping movie - Starring Ajay Devgun, Vidya Balan, and Pankaj Kapur (2008)

RajKumar Santoshi is one of the most famous names in Bollywood, a direction who has been there for decades in the industry and has given a number of incredible hits; however, he also seems to be struggling with the current scene in Bollywood, making far fewer movies than during the 1990's when he was at his peak. He carries a lot of history of previous hits along with him, causing people to see his movie. Right from his association with Ardh Satya in 1982, and then making a mark as a director for movies such as Ghayal, Damini, Ghatak, Andaz Apna Apna, Khakee, he has been hitting hits more often than failures. When you remember a movie such as Damini which was a hard hitting attack on the prevalent system of law and justice, and how the power of the mighty can almost overcome the power of the law, a case such as the Jessica Lal case was made for him to show his power as a director, moving his audience to action.
Halla Bol was a movie released in 2008, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and starring Ajay Devgun, Vidya Balan and Pankaj Kapur. The movie also showed a number of others stars in small cameos (no doubt leveraging the power of Rajkumar Santoshi based on his long history in Bollywood). So you have a story that seems to be inspired by the Jessica Lal case, but also shows the life of a  film star who reached a high point through not seeing whatever was happening around him, and then saw something so shocking that it finally caused him to find his conscience and speak up about what he saw.




Halla Bol cannot be counted as one of Santoshi's best hits; when you have seen movies such as Ghayal or Damini or Ghatak, you really cannot put Halla Bol in the same league. It is still a good movie, although you wonder about why Vidya Balan took this role; and you come out of the movie with a realization that although Ajay Devgun was the lead star, if there was a role you would remember from the movie, it would be the role played by Pankaj Kapur. The movie is good in parts, especially near the end, but the first half does give a feeling of a slow buildup, and you can see similar speed and slow touches in other parts of the movie as well. The music of the movie was by Sukhwinder Singh, and you really don't see the music as matching the performance of the film, nothing really worth writing about.
From this point, the story of the movie is outlined, so if you don't want to know the story, don't go ahead from here.
The story shows a film star, Ashfaque (played by Ajay Devgun), a rags to riches story. He was a part of a street troupe, being run by Siddhu (Pankaj Kapur). Siddhu is a reformed dacoit, who is looking at his street plays as a way of highlighting important issues that the masses will see, and think about, and hopefully bring about some change (you know how difficult it is for that to really happen). But Ashfaque wants to rise high, and climbs the ladder to become a famous film star, with a new name, Sameer Khan. He is an accomplished actor, and is now settled with a wife Sneha (played by Vidya Balan).
However, to become successful, you do need to do make compromises, and he has made many; he becomes a part of the system, being a manipulator and part of the corrupt world, but one day, he gets a dose of reality when he is a witness of a horrible crime at a party, and that eventually brings him back to his senses. But can he take on the system and the powerful and get justice ?

Hindi Movie - Bachna Ae Haseeno (released in 2008) - Starring Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, and Bipasha Basu

When you get a movie that has some of the most charismatic, sexy and young faces of Bollywood, you would expect a very interesting movie. I would not call 'Bachna Ae Haseeno' an incredible movie, but it was a very interesting movie with a subject that was different. For the likes of Ranbeer Kapoor, doing a role that also subjected to him being humiliated on screen, having to follow the dictates of somebody whom he had ditched, gives him a reputation for looking out for interesting roles. Further movies he has done after that include such movies as Rockstar, Rocket Singh and Barfi. The music for the film was given by Vishal-Shekhar, and the song 'Khuda Jaane', sung by KK, became very popular.
The movies stars such young stars as Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Minissha Lamba, and also an experienced and sexy star such as Bipasha Basu. The movie, produced by Aditya Chopra, was directed by Siddharth Anand, an experienced director (who had some successes such as Salaam Namaste (2005) and also a failure in the form of Ta Ra Rum Pum (released in 2007)). The selection of the leading ladies for the film took a fair amount of time, with some of the actresses being considered including Preity Zinta, Katrina Kaif, Amrita Rao. However, even though the story included 3 actresses, the story weaved in and out, and there were almost no scenes where the actresses were in the same scenes, keeping the spotlight firmly on Ranbeer Kapoor, since he was there in all the scenes.




(If you don't want to read the story of the movie, don't read any further)
The story in a nutshell is the story of a young man, who goes from one love affair to another, but who decides on his own when to stay and when to leave the affair, irrespective of the feeling of the girl he is with, and what this does to the girl when she finds out.
Raj Sharma (Ranbeer) first meets Mahi (Lamba) who is out on a trip on a train in Europe. She is like the typical romantic, somebody who believes in true love and who will sweep her off her feet. She misses her train, and who does she but Raj, apparently missing the train because she had missed her train. He offers to help her catch up by getting her to the airport, and even writes a poem for her. As expected, she falls for him, but he was just doing time pass, and then hears him boasting to his friends about what they did, and is shocked, and he sees her when gets shocked.
Next episode, he is working with Microsoft and has a modern neighbor in the form of Radhika, an upcoming model. Soon they fall for each other and start having a live-in relationship. But when he gets an offer to move to Sydney, he expects that he can easily break the relationship and she will not have a problem, being a modern girl. However, she has love and marriage on her mind, and she finally ends up being ditched at the registrar's office. 2 girls ditched so far, and both of them carry deep wounds because of this.
And then the reverse. He meets a girl called Gayatri (played by Deepika) who is truly an independent women. She drives taxis, she studies and so on, but when he falls for her and proposes, she has no interest and refuses. This finally causes him to realize what he did to the earlier 2 women in his life, and taking this further, decides to go back to Mahi and Radhika and apologize for what he has done to them.
What happens next ? Do these girls decide to forgive him for what he had done ? What about Gayatri ? See it on TV or get the DVD.

Tashan (released in 2008) - A much awaited movie, but acclaimed as a major disaster

Tashan was one of the most awaited movies of 2008. The movie was the first movie together of the new star couple (Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan) and hence very awaited. In addition, Akshay Kumar was also part of the star attraction, combined with Anil Kapoor in a negative role, some much awaited (and different) music by Vishal-shekhar, and the much-talked about major attraction of the movie, Kareena Kapoor in a size zero and in a green bikini.
And this was also one of the biggest stinkers of the year, getting a just about average rating from critics, and getting pretty bad word of mouth. This was compounded by the fact that there was a huge dispute about revenue sharing between the multiplex owners and the film producers and it took some time to get this dispute resolved. This dispute also resulted in some reduction in the bookings for the movie; but the bigger problem was that most people did not really like the movie. The saving grace for the movie is that the CD / DVD of the movie is a good seller, which means that people like this movie when they can see it at home, but did not really want to see this movie at the hall.

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The movie saw a lot of interviews before the release, with a lot of coverage of Kareena Kapoor for the size zero she achieved, and the exercise regime she followed for getting there. And there were the sound-bites by Vishal-Shekhar about the music they had released, and how it would become a landmark event, just because of the different kind of music. Anyhow, all this hype fell flat, and let us get some idea of the story.
The movie is a bit of a madcap, chase, deceit, love, and a lot of courage. In addition, the romance is shown in the end between Kareena and Akshay rather than between Kareena and Saif. So, you have Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan) as a person teaching English at a call center. Into his life comes Pooja (Kareena), wanting him to teach English; he assumes that he will be teaching her and agrees. However, it is actually her boss Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor) who wants to learn English. Pretty quickly, Pooja is able to get Jimmy on her side, convincing him that she owns money to Bhaiyyaji and wants to go to her father's funeral at Haridwar. So, Jimmy agrees to help her steal money from Bhaiyyaji, and they run away. He does not know too much about Bhaiyyaji, and when he learns that Bhaiyyaji is a mafia don and known for his cruelty, he wants to warn Pooja but she has already run away with all the money.
Bhaiyyaji sends Bachchan Pande (Akshay Kumar) to go after Jimmy; and when Bachchan catches Jimmy, they head off towards Haridwar to get Pooja. However, she sees them and runs away, and in a fight between Jimmy and Bachchan, the car has an accident, and falls into the water, the same water from which Pooja emerges in a scene meant for the front-benchers. Some episodes later, Pooja realizes that Bachchan is actually her childhood love, and that long lost love is reactivated. However, Jimmy has changed the money with stones, the same stones that Bachchan is now taking towards Bhaiyyaji. And then follows a fight at Bhaiyyaji's place, where they are surrounded by a lot of henchmen, but then they defeat everybody and Bhaiyyaji gets killed.

Fashion (2008) - The dark side of the fashion industry - directed by Madhur Bhandarkar

Madhur Bhandarkar is famous for making films on hard gritty subjects and not shying away from portraying the reality (including the ugly side) of things. Some of these movies include Chandni Bar, Page 3, Traffic Signal, etc. Madhur also won a national award for the direction of Traffic Signal. In addition, while his movies may not be super-hits, they make money, and for movies that are about the ills of society, making money is a big plus. Also, because his movies are seen as good cinema, actors and actresses can develop a great reputation by acting in his movies. Fashion is one such movie, that gave a filip to the careers of actors such as Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and newcomer Mugdha Godse. Priyanka Chopra in fact has got a very good reputation after this movie, something which also got enhanced after her role in another movie, 7 Khoon Maaf. In fact, Priyanka also got a National Award for Best Actress for her role in this movie.
The movie also bears an uncanny resemblance to the story of Geetanjali Nagpal, the former model who was found in a pretty bad condition on the streets of Delhi in the year 2007; however, Madhur has denied that Fashion was based on the story of Geetanjali. The story of the movie was by Ajay Monga, with narration by Priyanka Chopra. Music for the movie, with some acclaimed songs such as 'Fashion ka Jalwa' and 'Mar Jawan' was by Salim-Sulaiman, with lyrics by Sandeep Nath and Irfan Siddique. The movie was fairly successful, and won a host of awards at such events such as Filmfare Awards, Star Screen Awards, IIFA, and Stardust Awards.

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The movie is the story of the ups and downs in the fashion industry, especially when success goes to somebody's head. The story is that of a girl, Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) who wants to be big in the fashion industry in Mumbai and leaves her house against the wishes of her parents since she wants to follow this career. However, life is not so easy, and success does not come easily. And of course there are other models who are on top, such as the current reigning super-model Shonali Gujral (Kangana Ranaut). However, after some efforts, and being tutored by her friend and another struggling model Janet (Mugdha Godse) as well as a struggling make model Maanav (Arjan Bajwa), she finally gets lucky and is noticed by one of the executives (Anisha Roy (played by Kitu Gidwani)) of a big modeling agency Panache. Anisha in turn introduces her to her boss Abhijit Sarin (Arbaaz Khan). Abhijit is impressed by her, and since Shonali is struggling with her drug problem, he decides to replace Shonali with Megha, part of the downfall process for Shonali.
Megha is now successful, which means that she gives up her relationship with Maanav, and starts having a relationship with Abhijit, even though he is a married man. Their relationship proceeds, till she gets pregnant and is pressured to abort her child; something which causes her to break the news to Abhijit's wife, causing her to get fired from her peak position and further fall in the clutches of drugs and alcohol (a path that Shonali is already following, increased after she had a wardrobe mal-function). When Megha has a one-night stand after a party where she has got drunk, she realizes how much she has fallen, and decides to leave the industry and return to her parents in Chandigarh.
However, this is not the end. Her parents encourage her to get back to her life, also as a way of getting back her self-confidence, and she decides to make up with Janet and gets back to Mumbai, however, no longer the top model. Things shake her when she sees Shonali on TV as a homeless drunk, and she brings Shonali back in order to make her better again, a process which also acts as a healing ritual for her. Even though she is not able to save Shonali, Megha gets back her confidence to again become a top model.

Kismat Konnection (2008) - Starring Shahid Kapoor, Vidya Balan and Juhi Chawla

Shahid Kapoor had the super-hit film with a pairing with Kareena Kapoor, and the movie ? Jab We Met. Unfortunately, his luck ran out then, and in fact Jab We Met was released when the pair was already done, with Kareena waltzing off with Saif Ali Khan, and Shahid looking for somebody on the rebound. During and after the course of this movie, there were a lot of stories about a relationship with Vidya Balan, but soon after this movie released, the talk went away. In fact, the movie had a strong opening and a great first weekend, but then went weak and was classified as a weak movie at the box office. The songs were okay, the chemistry was okay (although there were a number of comments about his boyish look while she looked like his aunty), and then of course, there was withering criticism of Vidya Balan's wardrobe, something that must have riled her a lot (she talked about this criticism for some time after the release of the movie).
The movie also had a role by Juhi Chawla, trying to play a non-glamorous role, and if the movie had been successful, maybe that role might have been more appreciated. However, it was not to be. The movie was released under the banner of Tips Industries, being produced by Ramesh Taurani, and was directed by the well admired director Aziz Mirza (who of course has a very strong Shahrukh Khan connection). The music was by Pritam, with lyrics by Sayeed Quadri & Shabbir Ahmed). The movie had story by Rahila Mirza.

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The story of how a particular person could be the key to another person's luck sounds like the story that a fortune teller might try to tell you, and so it was in this case. It is particular painful for a person who was at the top in college, and was predicted to do very well. Raj Malhotra (Shahid Kapoor) is an architect, and is still struggling for good work. In addition, he runs into trouble in the form of Priya (Vidya Balan) and they have a tiff (verbal tiff).
Soon after, Raj goes to a gypsy lady Haseena Bano Jaan (played by Juhi Chawla) for help and advice, and she tells him that there is a person whose very presence will bring him luck, and guess what, it will be Priya. If she were there when he was trying to do his business, it will lead to more clients, more business, and success.
Priya is more interested in doing social work, including standing up for the rights of citizens when businesses are trying to push them aside. She wants to prevent the building of a huge commercial project that will push aside a small community center, while for him, the big move is to propose himself as the architect of this huge commercial project. So he lies to her in terms of trying to help her project while putting forward his proposals for the project. And, her presence does seem to help his fortune. He also falls in love with her, but then, things get upturned when she finds out what he is actually trying to do.
However, by this time, he is for the project that she is trying to do, for her cause, and changes his plans to accommodate the community center, but is knocked out of the bidding process, even though she is attracted finally by what he is trying to do. And then help comes from a very unlikely source, such a help that you would start to believe in a concept of God. A movie that can be watched.

Ra.One (released in 2011) - Starring Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor - Wait for it to come on TV

For a couple of years now, Ra.One has been the most awaited movie in Bollywood. With the additional marketing blitz over the past few weeks, it would seem that you wherever you went, you would see something related to Ra.One; and with the product marketing tie-ups, there were many products that were related to Ra.One. The hype for the movie was incredible, and there is a sense of fear that comes when a movie is such incredibly hyped (which has been proved true for many movies in the past, the last one being Veer). I read a few reviews, asked some friends, and finally decided to take the plunge and buy a ticket (in a small group).
It's somewhat hard for me to describe how I felt, although one of my biggest indicators (looking at my watch often), indicated that the movie was not gripping enough. And, in the last couple of days, I watched some movies that were also some sort of super-hero movies, such as Robot, and Iron Man (1 and 2), it seemed to be clear that Ra.One was missing something. Which is very surprising if you look at the people and effort involved. With the backing of Shahrukh Khan, the movie was directed by Anubhav Sinha, music by Vishal-Shekhar, and with the huge budget of Rs. 175 crore letting the movie hire the best of talent from Holly wood. And yet, here are some of the negatives that really turned me off:
- The level of humour in the movie was incredibly low. What little humour there was dealt with poking fun of a Tamil accent, or of translating abuses into ones that ladies that can use, etc. I was cringing in the hall when I heard the language, and the common usage of words such as condom, main male organ, and so on.
- The film has very little action. For a movie that is styled on a super-hero, the action scenes would not be more than 15-20 minutes (or seems like that long)
- The movie has a feel of being in a video game; especially towards the end where the battle between the main characters does not really impress. Compare with the scene in Robot, and they seem better, and of course, there is no comparison between scenes in movies such as Iron Man.
- The movie displays the main Indian theme especially in the second half, where a song suddenly comes in and disrupts the entire sequence.
- The villain, supposedly endowed with superb powers, never really exhibits such powers other than the ability to deliver a strong blow (such as the one by the fireman in X-men, where energy is controlled and then thrown); further, this is a villain with only one objective, to kill the boy who last defeated him. There is no danger to the human race.
- Music is just about okay.
- Arjun Ramphal again has very little time in the film, with the cartoon character, and other guises taking up most of the appearance of the villain
- Who creates a video game with only 3 levels, and that too with only 1 gun and bullet in the 3rd stage (nobody would get hooked to such a game)

There were a few things I liked:
- Kareena did not have an action role, but otherwise she looked hot in her role
- The new kid (Armaan Khan) playing the role of the son of Shahrukh Khan was good
- Some of the interaction with the neighbor (Satish Shah) was decent
- The final train scene was good, and seemed well suited to the context of the locals in Mumbai

The story of the movie is basically the attempts of the super-hero to save the son of his creator, from another monster. So, Shahrukh works in a senior position in Barron industries, and creates video games. He is shown to be a bumbling guy, good with values and morals, and a good creator of video games. His son does not really idolise, and in fact, many times is embarrassed by the actions of his father. He is however in love with video games, and with villains. So, his father creates a new video game with the most dangerous villain, called Ra.One (the creation process of the video game shown in the movie is fairly nice), but his team soon starts to see weird things. The Artificial Intelligence given to the villain is giving the villain (inside the video game) some strange powers, and this comes out in the open when the young child Prateik (code name Lucifer) defeats Ra.One in the first level, but then abandons the game. At this, Ra.One decides to leave the game to defeat Lucifer in real life, and kills his father while doing this.
The only savior is G.One (played by Shahrukh Khan), the counterpart of Ra.One. Both of them have a brief battle where Ra.One is destroyed into several small parts, and they all flee back to India. After some sentimental scenes (sure to be a turn off for kids), Ra.One is re-created, comes to Mumbai and interrupts during the Chamak Challo sequence. A final fight sequence takes place, the movie ends. Yawn.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (released in 2009) - A comedy starring Katrina Kaif against Ranbir Kapoor

Rajkumar Santoshi used to make serious movies in an earlier avatar, and made movies such as Ghayal and Damini, powerful movies. However, he also made some incredible comedies such as Andaz Apna Apna, and this movie, "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani", was another in those line of comedies. The movie starred a couple that seemed a bit strange, namely two young superstars in the form of Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif. The movie was a wacky comedy, which turned out to be a huge hit, being the third biggest hit on 2009 (difficult to compete with a movie such as 3 Idiots).
The movie starred the following: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, and Upen Patel. The movie shows them as perfectly normal people, with Ranbir and Katrina both suffering from a stammer, which can make things difficult. It's Upen who is the super-rich, and who is also made to appear as a fool in the movie. The movie had some good music by Pritam Chakraborty, and was produced by Ramesh S Taurani. The movie did not show too many serious situations, and even the confrontations in the movie were handled in a light manner. The movie also won some favorable ratings from critics and got Ranbir a Filmfare award for Best Actor.

The movie showcased some great chemistry between the lead pair of Ranbeer and Katrina. The movie stars Ranbeer as Prem, a happy go lucky person, who is always ready to help others and who is the head of a Happy Club, one that tries to make others happy. He comes into contact with Katrina (Jenny) when he kidnaps her by mistake, and falls in love with her. However, he realizes that she is not for him, since she loves somebody else, the rich Upen Patel (Rahul), who is the son of a politician.
Even though his friends urge him otherwise, he decides to get them married to each other, with the complication being that Rahul's father does not want his son to get married to Katrina. And there is the funny mobster who wants to get money from Rahul's father and tries various schemes for the same. The rest of the movie is about resolving all this complication, and does Prem really get Jenny in the end ?

Veer Zaara (released in 2004) - A cross-border romance starring Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji

Veer Zaara is a movie from the Yash Chopra production house, produced by Aditya Chopra, and directed by Yash Chopra. The movie was released in 2004, and was set in a cross border situation between India and Pakistan, where the inherent hostility between the 2 nations provides a great situation to set a story of hostility and romance. The movie showcases the full power of love, where people are willing to take a 22 year delay for their loved ones. The movie was promoted with all the power that Yash Raj Films could use, and turned out to be a huge hit, in India, in Pakistan, and in the overseas market.
The movie also had the distinction where the music was by using tunes from the deceased famous Music Director, Madan Mohan, where unreleased tunes of the famous music director were used, with his son Sanjeev Kohli, leading this effort. The female lead of the songs was Lata Mangeshkar, adding to the poignancy of the overall effort, since she has sung for many movies in the past where Madan Mohan was the Music director. The movie received a large number of awards in the Filmfare awards, IIFA awards, Stardust Awards, Star Screen awards, Zee Cine Awards, and many others. It was almost like a clean sweep of the awards, with these covering Best Film, Actor, Actress, Best Director, etc.


The movie is about the romance between Veer Pratap Singh (Shahrukh Khan) and Zaara Haayat Khan (Preity Zinta), where Veer is a Squadron Leader with the Indian air force, and Zaara is a young Pakistani girl from a prominent family. She is already engaged to Raza (Manoj Bajpai). Zaara comes to Punjab in India for fulfilling the last wishes of her governess, who wanted her ashes to be scattered in the river Sutlej near the holy city of Kiratpur. However, when Zaara comes over, she is left in a precarious position due to a bus accident, and Veer saves her with his helicopter. He takes her one day to his village where she meets his parents, Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini, in a small appearance. They are impressed with Zaara, but the couple separate when it is clear that they need to go on their own ways.
Zaara is now confused, since she has come to love Veer, but must marry Raza for the sake of pride and honour; Veer comes when told to by Zaara's maid, but when he comes to their home, her mother implores him to go away for the sake of their family. However, when he is going, Raza takes revenge by getting him arrested as a spy. And that is where things go totally wrong, since Veer is sent to jail, and Zaara believes that Veer had died in a bus accident.
22 years later, a young firebrand lawyer called Saamiya Siddiqui (Rani Mukerji) is fighting for the rights of women in Pakistan, and also gets allotted the case of prisoner number 786, Veer, who has been convicted of being an Indian spy called Rajesh Rathod. Veer has not spoken to anyone, which makes the case all the more difficult.
What happens next ? How does she find out the truth, and do the lovers meet again after 22 years ?

List of songs from the movie: 1. Tere Liye 2. Main Yahan Hoon 3. Aisa Des Hain Mera 4. Yeh Hum Aa gaye hain kahan 5. Do Pal 6. Kyun Hawa 7. Hum To Bhai Jaise 8. Aaye Tere Dar Pe 9. Lodi 10. Tum Paas Aa Rahein Ho 11. Jaane Kyon

3 Idiots (released in 2009) - A superhit movie about a different kind of guy, starring Aamir Khan

3 Idiots was an incredibly successful movie, released with some hype, but which also turned out as a movie that was seemingly very different from the normal romance movies. The movie takes the story of an incredible student, who refused to be crushed by the normal pressure of college even when other students are buckling under the tremendous pressure, with even suicide seeming like an option for some of them. Further, handling the expectations of family is also a huge problem, especially when the family does not have resources of its own, and it is expected that the person be able to take a job that pays well (even when this can be a compromise with a career that a person would really like to do).
The movie was directed by Rajkumar Hirani (who had directed the Munnabhai series of movies earlier) and was produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The screenplay was by Abhijat Joshi, and Rajkumar Hirani, with a huge dollop of controversy over the book being based on Chetan Bhagat's "5 Point Someone". The movie starred Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, Omi Vaidya, Mona Singh, Parikshit Sahni, and Javed Jaffrey. The music for the film was by Shantanu Moitra, and the movie won a series of awards at all the different awards that there were for 2010 (Star Screen Awards, Filmware Awards, Stardust Awards, and the IIFA awards).

The movie gets its strength from the challenge between the engineering college principal and the student who is a rebel, who thinks about things and refuses to accept things just by rote; and the student is so convinced about his beliefs that he can take on the principal and teachers where required.
There are 3 students who enter the famous Imperial College of Engineering in Delhi (run by the principal Professor Viru Sahastrabudhhe (ViruS) (Boman Irani). The 3 students are: Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi), and Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad "Rancho" (Aamir Khan), all from different backgounds, and with different aspirations. These 3 are to share a room. Rancho turns out to be a student very different from what Virus likes, since he keeps on asking questions. When another student, Joy Lobo, commits suicide due to the pressure, Rancho almost accused Virus of being responsible for this suicide.
Virus wants to break the associations of Rancho, and tries to convince Farhan and Raju to break free from Rancho since this would affect their career. On the other hand, the favorite student is Chatur, who does not ask inconvenient questions, and answers all the queries in class. Rancho causes huge problems to Chatur when he changes the words of a speech that Chatur has to make in front of all the students. Rancho also comes into contact with the daughter of Virus, Pia (Kareena Kapoor), when they break into a marriage, and it is that of the elder daughter of Virus.
The movie continues in this run, where Rancho surprised everybody by coming in first, whole Raju and Farhan are at the bottom of the class consistently. Things escalate in a drunken situation, when they urinate at the door of Virus, and Raju is forced to make a choice; and he decides to jump from the 3rd floor. What happens next ? Do they manage to graduate ? What happens between Virus and Rancho ? Watch this incredible movie.

3 Idiots Chatur Ramalingam's Funny Speech

Love Aaj Kal - a different love story starring Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone (released in 2009)

Love Aaj Kal was a love story released in 2009, produced by Saif Ali Khan as his first movie as a producer, and paid him rich dividends, becoming a fairly big hit. The movie starred essentially 4 people in 2 parallel love tracks (separated by a generation), Rishi Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and a Brazilian newcomer, Giselli Monteiro. The music of the movie was also well appreciated, with songs such as Twist, Chor Bazaari, Dooriyan, and Aaj Din Chadheya becoming big musical hits. The music for the movie was by Pritam (lyrics by Irshad Kamil). The movie was directed by Imtiaz Ali (who also had a previous big hit in the form of Jab We Met).
The movie was a story of breakup and meeting, set in a very modern generation, where people concentrate on their careers, and contrasts this with a storyline that was set a generation back, where the person would do a lot for love, and base their decisions and their actions on love (and in the end, the conclusion of the movie is that the power of love still makes people do things even when they feel that they are driving their own decisions).

The movie is the story of Jai and Meera, who are a modern couple in London, and parallel to this, the movie also tells the story of Veer Singh and Harleen (from the past). Jai and Meera (Saif and Deepika) are in London, where they meet and become a couple. However, they have career needs that they realize will take them in different directions, with Meera interested in conservation, taking her to India, and Jai being an architect, working for the Golden Gate firm in San Francisco. They decide that they cannot be together, and have a separation party, deciding to move on with their own life. They do however, decide to remain very much in contact, and with the power of modern communications, it could be that they remain very close to each other. When Meera is leaving, Jai comes in contact with Veer Singh, who is surprised that Jai is letting Meera go like this, and tells him the story of how he fought for Harleen (in a sepia tinged story), whom he liked but did not get a chance to speak to much.
Now, Jai and Meera are living their own lives, with Jai involved with a blonde in London, while Meera has received an offer from her boss, and finally decides to accept his romance. In between, Jai pays a visit to Meera and they have a lot of fun together, but things get serious when Vikram (Meera's boss) proposes to her; Meera is confused because she still has feelings for Jai, and she and Jai have an argument (with Meera telling Jai that they should stop being in touch with each other).
And then Meera marries Vikram, still confused. Jai comes there, and in a remarkable coincidence, he gets an offer from the Golden Gate. In the meantime, Meera realizes her marriage was a mistake, and tries to get in touch with Jai but realizes that he is incredibly happy over going to San Francisco and does not say anything more to him. He enjoys his stay in San Francisco, but over a period of time, this excitement starts falling and he starts to feel depressed. It takes a mugging for him to realize that he is actually missing Meera, and he rushes back to Delhi even though he knows that Meera is married. When he reaches here, he realizes that Meera and Vikram are no longer married, and he has an emotional reunion with Meera at her site.

Adalat (released in 1976) - A movie starring Amitabh Bachchan (in a dual role)

Amitabh Bachchan received a Filmfare nomination for his role in this film, which was a dual role. This was the only nomination received. The movie was not a very big hit, but was not a flop also. The movie also starred the following in the movie:
Amitabh's love interests - Waheeda Rehman and Neetu Singh
Others in the movie - Pinchoo Kapoor, Sujit Kumar and Kader Khan
The music for the movie was by Kalyanji Anandji and the movie was directed by Narendra Bedi.
The lyrics for the movie were by Gulshan Bawra. One of the most popular songs from the movie is called 'Behna O Behna'.
The movie was like a number of movies where Amitabh played the role of a person who is from a normal upbringing, but due to certain circumstances, Amitabh becomes a mafia man, who has turned to crime.

The movie is about revenge taken by a good man, who is pushed into a situation where he becomes a mafia man, a rich man and who is faced with the challenges of being involved with the mafia later.
The movie takes the story of a poor man from a village, Dharamchand / Dharma who lives with his family, primarily consisting of his wife Radha and his newborn son, Raju. Dharma's life takes a turn when he saves the lives of 3 people from the city, Ajit, Suresh, and Sujit, from a tiger and they promise to help him whenever he decides to visit Bombay. When Dharma goes through a bad time, he decides to move to Bombay and he is setup as a warehouse manager by Ajit.
However, soon he is involved with the police who arrest him (inspite of claiming his innocence), and sentenced to jail. When he comes out after a couple of years, he realizes that his life has totally changed, and for the worse. He avenges the rape/suicide of Laxmi by Sujit by killing all 3 of them and soon join another gang and becomes really powerful. Raju is sent off for education abroad, and the story moves into a conflict between son (Amitabh again) and his father when Raju wants to marry Geeta. What happens next ?

Dushman (released in 1998) - A great movie directed by Tanuja Chandra, and starring Kajol, Sanjay Dutt, and Ashutosh Rana

For some time now, the concept of villains in Hindi Movies has undergone a transformation. With the depiction of the angry young man by Amitabh Bachchan who acts as a rebel, and then the villain played by Shahrukh Khan in the 3 movies he did on a trop (Baazigar, Darr and Anjaam), a villain came to be a seen as a person who became a villain due to circumstances, and that there were shades of grey (rather than a pure Black and White) in the depiction of a villain. And then came this movie which showcased a pure villain, who had no real reasons that could give a reason as to why they became a villain; just pure lust that could turn a person into capable of killing. The movie was the debut movie of director Tanuja Chandra, and gave her a good reputation. The movie had music by Uttam Singh, with an incredible sad song by Jasjit Singh (Chithi Na Koi Sandesh).
The movie had some good performances by Kajol (in a double role), Sanjay Dutt (as a blind major), and Ashutosh Rana as the cold blooded killer who can kill without mercy and who can create the total sense of fear in Kajol.



The movie shows the life of twin sisters, Sonia and Naina Sehgal (both played by Kajol). Sonia is more of an extrovert, and is in a relationship with Jas Arora (with both of them committed to marry each other); Naina is more of the introvert - and both of them are deeply in love with each other. And then there is the postman, Gokul, who rapes and kills without mercy and whom the police is hunting. And then the unthinkable happens, with Gokul finding Sonia alone at home when he comes to deliver something, and then he does rape and kill her. This is a horrible tragedy for the family, and they are not able to take this loss.
Naina wants to find who the killer is, and is soon very suspicious of Gokul, and even gets the police to question him. However, Gokul is able to use a social worker to get the police to get off his case and is again free. There is also a nurse who is in love with Gokul, but when she gets inconvenient, he even bumps her off in a forest type of scenario. In the meantime, Naina has come in touch with a blind major (war hero), Suraj Singh Rathod (Sanjay Dutt), who tries to give her courage.
Now, Gokul wants to take revenge on Naina, since he believes that she has got the police on his back and is a threat to him, and this leads to the final confrontation between Naina and Gokul.

Hera Pheri (released in 1976) - starring Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, and Saira Banu

Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna acted in a number of movies (a total of 6 movies) together in the 1970's, with Hera Pheri being one of them (Amar Akbar Anthony was the most famous of these). Hera Pheri was directed by Prakash Mehra, and starred Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Saira Banu, Sulakshana Pandit, Shreeram Lagoo and Asrani. The movie had one nomination for the Filmfare Award, with Vinod Khanna being nominated for Best Supporting Actor (although he did not win). The movie had some popular music by the music director duo of Kalyanji-Anandji, and the movie script was written by Satish Bhatnagar and Vijay Kaul.
The movie was popular, although it can get complicated. Like many other movies of that period, it showcases the hero (or heroes) as criminals, but good-hearted criminals. They are not terrorists, they don't go around shooting people with guns or something, but they steal jewelery from rich people, or they steal from rich houses, and so on.

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The story of this movie is based on the relationship between 2 friends, Ajay (Vinod Khanna) and vijay (a person by the name of Vijay cannot be anybody other than Amitabh Bachchan). Vijay saves Ajay when Ajay is going to jump in front of a train, and ever since then, they became the best of friends. Ajay was sold by his father to get money for his mother's illness, and then his foster parents died, so Ajay was rendered homeless; Vijay on the other hand is troubled by the story of his parents. His father was killed, and it was on that night that his mother turned mad, and he is looking for how to cure her (maybe getting the murderer would help in doing that).
The twist in the story is that the person who killed Vijay's father is actually Ajay's long lost father (the one who sold him away and now seeks him desperately, as much as he seeks to kill Vijay's mother (she witnessed the murder of her husband and is a witness)). In order to get medication for his mom, Vijay plays a con man who, along with Ajay, cons people to earn money. When Ajay finally finds his father, he changes sides and goes to his father, leaving Vijay. What happens next ?

Sholay (1975) - One of the greatest Indian movie hits of all time

When you think of great Hindi movies, one of the names that always comes to the front is the movie called Sholay, released in 1975. The movie seems like it was set in another age, it being now 35 years since it was released and became a huge hit; and is now a cult movie. If it comes on TV even now, you can be sure that there will be some people who will want to watch. And the movie created a set of characters who became incredibly famous, specifically the few characters of Gabbar (Amjad Khan), Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar), Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), Veeru (Dharmendra), and Basanti (Hema Malini), and the under-played role of Radha (played by Jaya Bachchan).
The movie took a chance, starring a newcomer in the pivotal role of the dacoit leader (Danny was the original choice, but he was unavailable, and hence a newcomer such as Amjad Khan was selected). The movie was based on a small idea by the prolific writer duo of Salim-Javed. And the outcome was a movie that broke all records, and became a cult movie known till today.



The movie was produced by G.P. Sippy and directed by his son Ramesh Sippy. Music for the film was given by RD Burman, with the lyrics provided by Anand Bakshi. During direction, the movie went over-budget, since the director wanted to be perfect in the shooting, and many of the shots took many takes and many days. The movie also had real-life relations between the stars, with Amitabh and Jaya getting married 4 months before shooting of the movie started, and Dharmendra romancing Hema Malini at that time. The movie took a period of 2.5 years to make. The movie also had an effect on tourism, with the location of Ramanagaram (a rocky terrain), a village near Bangalore, Karnataka being the shooting site, and being known later as the location where Sholay was shot.
The movie was based on the concept of revenge, where a local dacoit terrorises the village, and also takes revenge on the family of the local thakur. The Thakur in turn hires 2 small-time but brave crooks to come in to fight the dacoit and his gang, and this is what they do, but with some sadness, as one of the 2 loses his life in the end.
The movie takes these 2 small time crooks (Jai and Veeru) in a jail. They are remembered by an ex-policeman, the Thakur, when he is looking for somebody who can help him fight the dacoits (led by Gabbar). He had apprehended them, and then see how brave they were when they fought off dacoits who were trying to rob a train. He meets them, and offers them a large amount of money if they can get rid of Gabbar and his gang. Gabbar is a violent and brutal dacoit leader who is terrorising the villages.
In the first confrontation, three men from Gabbar's gang come to get supplies from the villagers, something that they do without any issue in the past. Now, however, they face a fight from Jai and Veeru and have to go back without any supplies; at which Gabbar cannot stand the sight of his men being humiliated in front of the village and shoots them after some drama (in a scene that was much appreciated). The next major attack is on Holi, during which Jai and Veeru are pinned down and are looking for Thakur to throw a gun towards them, but he does not cooperate. Later his story is revealed, where he had arrested Gabbar some time back, and then Gabbar killed all his family except for one daughter-in-law Radha (Jaya Bhaduri). And in another confrontation, Gabbar cut off both his hands leaving him without any hands.
So, the situation continues, with Jai and Veeru staying in the village, and getting fond of Radha and Basanti respectively. Gabbar has cut off the village from the outside, but they fight back by killing some of his men. And then the final confrontation, where the fight with Gabbar and his men take place, in which Jai finally dies.

Some interesting scenes from the movie:

Where Jai talks to Basanti's mausi and turns her against Veeru, and Veeru on the water tank:



Scene from the jail early in the movie with Asrani:

Majboor (released in 1974) - starring Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, and Farida Jalal

Majboor was a movie, released in 1974, that shows the fate of a man, who gets stuck in a web of his own making and is now making frantic efforts to extricate himself from that web. Majboor means 'Somebody who is being forced into a course of action'. The movie was a fairly decent hit, with some good performance by the leading man, the superstar Amitabh Bachchan. The movie was directed by Ravi Tandon, and produced by Premji. The movie had some good music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and the story of the movie was written by the hit pair of Javed Akhtar-Salim Khan (who had written many other leading movie stories as well). The stars of the movie, included, besides Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, Madan Puri, Rehman and Farida Jalal.
The movie is apparently based on an earlier American movie called Zigzag (released in 1970), based on the same subject (that of an innocent man framing himself to collect money that his family will need, since he believes that he is on his death bed, but then gets cured and now wants his freedom back).



So, Amitabh Bachchan leads a simple life as a travel agent, with his mother, his brother and his wheelchair bound sister (Farida Jalal) depending on him for the running of the family. And then, it seems that the gods have frowned down on him, and he starts suffering headaches, which leads to the diagnosis of an incurable brain tumor. But, what worried him apart from death is the fact that since he is the sole bread winner of the family, what will happen after his death ? Who will take care of him family ? This makes him even more desperate.
And in this desperation, he strikes upon an idea. One of his clients dies, and the brother of the dead man offers a reward of Rs. 5 lakhs for the finding of the murderer. And Rs. 5 lakh is a huge amount. Ravi (Amitabh) plays a game in which he will be blamed for the murder, and his family will get the Rs. 5 lakh. Everything goes according to plan, and he is caught and sentenced to death for the murder. And then, something else happens. While in jail, he suffers a major attack, and is taken to hospital where his tumor is cured; now he wants his life back, but he has already plotted his one role in the murder and is a sentenced criminal. How does he get his life back, and get the sentence reversed ? It's a taut tale, fast moving, also starring the beautiful Parveen Babi.