First of all, I’d like to thank MS member ’’madlalya’’ for requesting this cool topic to be on Mouthshut. From the day I read his review I was making my own list of films which deserved to be hits
Since some of the films I had in mind have already been mentioned in previous reviews I wont repeat those & now I’ve more choices. Here is my list of choices for films that I think should’ve been hits:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sadma
Kamalhasan is a huge star in the south but somehow he was never ’’lucky’’ enough to cast his spell in Bollywood. He has worked in some really good movies like Jara si zindagi, Giraftaar, Saagar, Raj Tilak & Sadma is perhaps the best of the rest.
Directed by Balu Mahendru with excellent performances by Kamal & Sridevi, Sadma tells the story of a girl who loses her memory & goes back to childhood. Kamal takes care of her & helps her to recover. But in the end her parents take her away & she has no memory of Kamal. The best scene in the movie was in the climax where at the railway station Kamal acts like a monkey in an attempt to bring back memories of Sri Devi, but she just looks at him & when Kamal falls on the platform, hurts himself but still keeps trying to get her attention.......... the scene brings tears to the eyes.
The film has 2 memorable songs : ’’Aye zindagi gale laga le’’ & ’’Surmaiy akhiyon mein’’
A great movie with top class performance & great music but not so great box office results.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Izzazat
The film begins with a chance meeting of a formerly married couple, in the railway station waiting room on a rainy night. Meeting his ex-wife Rekha after a long period of time Naseeruddin Shah reflects upon their married life. In flashback, we learn of his love with Anuradha Patel, how he is forced to marry Rekha, but things become worse between the three of them, he leaves Rekha for Anuradha but is always feeling guilty. Now, Anuradha is dead & the two have met at the station, we expect to see them reunite but there is a surprise in the end where Shashi Kapoor is introduced to Naseer as Rekha’s husband.
Directed by Gulzar, Ijaazat is a sensitively written script. In one night it tells us the story of the main characters & their plight. A clean film about extra marital affair. The 3 main actors: Naseerudin Shah, Rekha and Anuradha Patel have given excellent performance in the film. Also in a guest role is Shashi Kapoor. The songs : Mera kuch saaman, Chotti si kahani se, were sung beautifully by Asha Bhosle.
Ijaazat is surely one of Gulzar’s finest film.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sazaa-e-Kalapani
Directed by Priyadarshan, who has given good films like Mushkurahat , Gardish, Viraasat , Herapheri & Doli sajakerakhna - Sazaa-e-Kalapani was an good film on the freedom struggle & the ’’Kalapani’’ punishment which was meted out to many freedom fighters. This is very well woven with a lovestory between the hero Mohanlal & heroine Tabu. Some good performances by the leading actors supported by Amrish Puri & Tinu Anand. The film has some scenes of horrendous torture & even cannibalism!
Priyadarshan is a good director coz his films are always of different topics & with very well balanced entertainment. This film was appreciated & won some national awards but none from the audience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaun
The best thing about this movie was that it had no songs ! ;) Kaun is a 2-hour thriller directed by Ram Gopal Varma where he has casted his favourite actors : Urmila & Manoj Bajpai.
This is a story of one night & 3 characters, all within a house. Urmila plays a girl alone at home, with a mad killer on the prowl outside. Manoj Bajpai comes knocking at her door & once he enters the house, he finds it difficult to get out. There is also a third character Chakarvarty, who says he is a police officer but his behaviour says otherwise. Throughout the movie Manoj & fight eachother & poor Urmila is scared to death. But the climax of the movie is great !
Urmila has given a fantastic performance in Kaun matching Manoj Bajpai ’s cool acting. Playing a psychopath to perfection, Urmila has proved that she has more than the ooomph she is famous for. But I guess audience likes her in senseless movies like Rangeela & also that Indian audience isnt too keen to watch pyscho stuff. None of my friends liked this film but I’ve watched it everytime it’s shown on telly. Its one of the best thrillers anyone has directed in Bollywood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mission Kashmir
I don’t like war & dhisum-dhisum movies but I liked Mission Kashmir. The story is set in Kashmir where Sanjay Dutt plays a BSF officer who accidently kills Hrithik’s family during an encounter with terririst & later he adopts Hrithik. On learning the truth Hrithik swears to kill Sanjay Dutt & becomes a terrorist. The story then deals with their conflict & how Sanjay manages to put Hrithik back on the right track.
Sanjay Dutt was excellent in the role of Inayat Khan & also playing father to Hrithik. One of his finest performances, Sanju lends the role the maturity it deserves. Dutt gives Hrithik Roshan a run for his money, both in terms of footage as well as performance. But the surprise of the movie was Sonali Kulkarni, she played her role [wife of Sanjay & mother to Hrithik] very well. The film was shot in Kashmir & music by Shankar added to the charm of the beautiful Kashmir, especially the songs : Socha ke jheelon ka........ & the lively ’’Bhumroo’’ .
Don’t know what was wrong with this film I was sure it would be a hit !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are many more films which should be mentioned here coz they had something different that made the films worthy of being successful but like we all know indian audience ekdum unpredictible hain ;)
Some others which were good :
Reshma aur Shera <Sunil Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Amitabh B>
Sehra <Sandhya, Mahindrapal>
Be-Misal <Amitabh, Rakhee & Vinod Mehra>
Gardish <Jackie Shroff, Dimple & Amrish Puri>
Kaash <Jackie, Dimple & Anupam Kher>
this list can become endless...........