If we were to list some of the better directors of Indian Cinema, Subhash Ghai should surely be in the list. The director who has given movies such as Karz, Hero, Meri Jung, Saudagar, Khalnayak is definetly one who knows his job well.
However, in the late 1990s and in the turn of the new millennium he gave movies that were not up to his usual standard in the form of Pardes and Taal. Although relatively good movies, they lacked the quality touch that Subhash Ghai was earlier acknowledged for.
Then in 2001, he gave Yaadein. It was more than blatant to see that he wanted to set the box office on fire, and was not concerned about the substance. In order to achieve success, his specification appeared to be the following:
1) Casting two young sensations – Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor
2) Setting the movie in a foreign locale that of UK to give appeal to the overseas market.
3) Making a regular “run of the mill” love story with doses of family drama to attract a wider range of audience.
4) By incorporating a rich musical score to ensure quality promos.
Yaadein was a hit at the box office…oh the irony of Indian Cinema. His next outing Kisna. The less said the better…oops too much said.
Let me take you back to the late mid 1980s, when Subhash Ghai made Karma.
Many had said that this was a remake of Sholay and critically speaking it is. The basic frame of the story is similar, however, the treatment is definetly different. Karma is a brilliant example of a movie which is suitable for nearly every type of audience. There are sufficient doses of every type of genre – action, drama, romance, comedy, almost everything.
Karma is the story of Jailor Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who believes in giving prisoners a second chance at life. The atmosphere in his jail is not of a cold one, but a warm and joyous atmosphere. The relationship that he has with his prisoners are as if they are his own family members.
When the famous terrorist Dr Dang is captured, he is bought into Vishwanath Pratap Singh’s jail. There is a lot of tension between the two clearly due to their contrasting ideologies as Dr Dang is a foreign terrorist who wants to destroy India and Singh is a courageous patriot who stands might in every sense of the word.
Dr Dang’s allies release his from jail and in doing so completely destroy the whole jail and kill each and every one of the prisoners that Singh and has family adored. Not only that Singh’s two young sons, his grand daughter and daughter in law are murdered. His wife is alive but has lost the ability to speak due to the shock.
What follows is Singh’s journey to avenge the happenings. In doing so, he takes help from three prisoners who are on death row – Baiju, Khairu, and Johnny. Helping him also is an ex prisoner Dharma.
There are many reasons why Karma is successful. First of all the script is wonderfully laced with many brilliant sequences:
1) The initial stages where the atmoshphere in the jail is developed and the song “Dil diya hai”.
2) The scene where Anupam Kher is first bought in jail and then when Dilip Kumar slaps Anupam Kher.
3) The escape of Anupam Kher from prison and the destruction and mass murder of the prisoners and the family of Dilip Kumar. This scene is perfectly executed in terms of direction, acting and cinematography. Subhash Ghai keeps tight control of the goings on. The expressions on Dilip Kumar’s face are expressed with exactly the right emotions, and the camera captures the horrendous destruction from various angles. This scene is gut wrenching and tinkers at the heart.
4) The introduction of Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah.
5) Jackie and Anil’s attempt to escape.
6) Training scenes.
7) Some of Anil’s scenes with Poonam Dhillon and Jackie’s scenes with Sridevi.
8) Jackie’s separation from Sridevi and the following conversation between Naseeruddin Shah and Dilip Kumar.
9) Dilip Kumar’s attempt to single handedly protect the three prisoners from Dr Dang’s force as they are locked in a room.
10) The emotional scene where Dilip Kumar is in hospital fighting for life and death and Naseeruddin Shah’s outburst. Also the song Dil Diya Hai features at the right time.
11) Naseeruddin Shah’s death sequence is expertly handled and performed.
12) The rather long climax battle, which is lengthy but superb.
Karma may be inspired from Sholay but this does full justice to the theme of the movie and one cannot be disappointed despite the similarities with Sholay. The screenplay is well written and is of a qualitative standard.
Although the movie does deviate slightly when it focuses too much on the romantic angle (between Anil Kapoor – Poonam Dhillon and Jackie – Sridevi), otherwise the screenplay is extremely taut.
The characters of the three prisoners are also well written and developed. Anil’s character is somewhat inspired from Veeru’s but Johnny is even more light-hearted and very rarely serious. Jackie’s character has flashes of Jai’s silent brooding but otherwise this character is too quite light-hearted.
Naseeruddin Shah’s character is the most interesting. An ex-member of Dr Dang’s group, who was tricked into killing people. His one hand was broken when he decided to quit the evil organisation and his lover was murdered by a member of Dr Dang’s group. This character appears to be a combination of Jaya Bachan and Jai’s character of Sholay. This is a well-written character.
Dilip Kumar’s character is more or less what Sanjeev Kumar’s character would have been had he still had his arms. However, Dilip Kumar’s character is more decisive, cooler and calmer. Whereas the Thakur immediately went to kill Gabbar Singh after he find out what Gabbar had done, and as a result of his hot headedness , lost his arms. However, Singh thought of a plan, he conserved his anger, something which the Thakur had realised the second time around.
The music of the movie is full of splendour. The song “Dil diya hai” has two versions. One is a patriotic version and the other is a romantic version. Both songs are gems and evoke strong emotions. My favourite songs of all times.
Other songs are also good such as “De Daaru”, the song between Anil-Poonam Dhillon and between Jackie-Sridevi. However, had there only been three songs, without the romantic songs of Anil and Jackie, the screenplay would have been even more tighter.
Subhash Ghai is terrific as the director. His direction compliments his script, which says a lot. He has managed to derive fantastic performances from the whole cast and every scene is an honour to watch. Facing the challenge of having to “remake” a Sholay, Subhash Ghai had defied all odds and had directed an excellent product.
Cinematography is excellent. Especially the scenes of the destroyed jail in the beginning, the training scenes and the climax. Editing could have been crisper, considering the romantic angle.
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