Raf Reviews : Saaheb
Director: Anil Ganguly
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Amrita Singh, Utpal Dutt, Rakhee, Biswajeet, Dilip Dhawan, Vijay Arora
Badri Prasad Sharma (Utpal Dutt) lives with his four sons and a daughter, Geeta aka Bultie. Only the youngest son, Sunil aka Saaheb (Anil Kapoor) and Geeta are unmarried. Badri Prasad expects that his three working sons will come up with the money for Geeta's marriage but is disappointed when two of them make excuses. When he decides to mortgage his house Saaheb appears with the money required by the family. Most of them assume he stole it but they then find out how the uneducated and unemployed loser Saaheb made the ultimate sacrifice for his loved ones.
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Amrita Singh, Utpal Dutt, Rakhee, Biswajeet, Dilip Dhawan, Vijay Arora
Badri Prasad Sharma (Utpal Dutt) lives with his four sons and a daughter, Geeta aka Bultie. Only the youngest son, Sunil aka Saaheb (Anil Kapoor) and Geeta are unmarried. Badri Prasad expects that his three working sons will come up with the money for Geeta's marriage but is disappointed when two of them make excuses. When he decides to mortgage his house Saaheb appears with the money required by the family. Most of them assume he stole it but they then find out how the uneducated and unemployed loser Saaheb made the ultimate sacrifice for his loved ones.
The movie is full of heart touching scenes like Badri Prasad fearing that Saaheb's elder brothers would kick him out once he is dead or Saaheb being used for daily errands by family members who ridicule him or Saaheb stealing the newspaper ad that his father saved or Bultie's break down scene or Saaheb's meeting with the business man and Badri Prasad being rejected by the business man. The scenes between Saaheb and his Bhabhi (Rakhee) show a mother-son bonding between them and the brother-sister relationship between the youngest two is very nicely portrayed. The love track between Saaheb and Amrita with the silly ched-chad annoys a bit. The wedding cards not being printed till a day before the wedding seems a bit ridiculous.
Story by Ranjan Roy is excellent and screenplay by Sachin Bhowmick is very good. The movie makes fun of Sachin Bhowmick himself when Deven Verma's character comments that Sachin Bhowmick writes clichéd stories. Dialogues by Madan Joshi are very natural. The goal keeper metaphor in the movie is very apt and Badri Prasad lamenting to his daughter-in-law that while the whole team runs with the ball Saaheb stands at the goal post doing nothing is the best.
Music by Bappi Lahiri is very good in a few songs. The song 'Yaar Bina Chain Kahan Re' sung by S Janaki and Bappi Lahiri is very good and choreographed pretty well. The song 'Kya Khabar Kya Pata' sung brilliantly by Kishore Kumar is excellent with some great lyrics by Anjaan. 'Chalte Chale' is excellently picturized showing Saaheb's simple middle class dreams. 'Tuku Tuku Pyar Karoongi' is annoying.
Anil Kapoor gives a very natural performance as Saaheb. This is one of his best performances. He is exceptional in the emotional scenes especially the scene where his father thinks that he stole the money. Utpal Dutt is brilliant as the caring father and portrays the helplessness and frustration brilliantly. Rakhee delivers a very good performance as Saaheb's Bhabhi. She is nothing like her later performances in mother roles where she is so annoying. Amrita Singh is ok in a loud role. Biswajeet is good as the nicer elder brother. The girl who plays Bultie is decent. Deven Verma, who plays a writer who steals from Hollywood movies provides some silly comedy. Dilip Dhawan, Vijay Arora and the rest of the cast are ok.
Anil Ganguly's direction is excellent. He captures the middle class and its problems very nicely. Though the story of a middle class family, its problems and the elder brothers being selfish may now seem clichéd it was very apt for its times. The movie never becomes over melodramatic or loud like the usual family sagas. People from middle class or those who have a sister will probably identify more with the movie and the climax may leave a lump in their throat or cause them to tear up. The climax is excellent and the way Saaheb sacrifices the thing that he loves most for his loved ones delivers a beautiful and poignant message. Technically or visually it might not be appealing but Saaheb is a must see movie for its pure soul.
Rating: 4 / 5 (Brilliant).
|
Comments:
|