Reccos: Saaheb

This was written by me in September 2011.

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.

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)

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9 Comments
  1. Author
    sputnik 12 years ago

    Today is the director Anil Ganguly’s birthday. He directed movies like Kora Kagaz, Tapasya and Khandaan apart from Saaheb.

  2. cr7 12 years ago

    seen it few days back .nice movie
    ‘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.”

    completely agree.some gem of a scenes there.specially saheb stealing the newspaper. and utpal dutt rejected by the businessman.

  3. aryan 12 years ago

    seen it twice its a wonderful movie and touch my heart and tears comes out from my eyes after seeing sacrifice for the sister’s marriage and its my one of my favorite movie.

  4. hithere 12 years ago

    BTW it is a remake of an Assamese movie.

    • Author
      sputnik 12 years ago

      Oh did not know that. Do you have any more details on it?

      I know it was remade in Telugu as Vijeta (Winner) with Chiranjeevi in it. I think it was a big hit in Telugu.

      • hithere 12 years ago

        Took some effort but

        https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/72630-kannada-actor-vishnuvardhan-no-more-4.html

        “Saheb was released on 1985 and Karna on 1986.. BUT, both of these were actually remade from an Assamese movie(national award winner 1984 for best regional fim) called “Son Maina”. The protagonist was a cricketer in that movie.

        • Author
          sputnik 12 years ago

          Thanks for that Info.

        • Author
          sputnik 12 years ago

          I was searching for something else and I found this. Saaheb is actually a remake of a Bengali movie Saheb (1981) with Utpal Dutt playing the same role. It looks pretty much a scene to scene remake except for the Amrita Singh part. I had mentioned this in my review. “The love track between Saaheb and Amrita with the silly ched-chad annoys a bit.” So Anil Ganguly must have added that love track to make it more appealing to the Hindi audiences.

          The whole movie is on youtube. Here is the first part.

  5. Author
    sputnik 8 years ago

    Filmmaker Anil Ganguly no more

    Noted filmmaker Anil Ganguly passed away today at his residence here after a brief illness.
    He was 82.

    He breathed his last in the early hours and he was cremated around 1 pm, sources said.
    Ganguly is a noted director and screenwriter, who worked in Hindi cinema from 1970s to the 90s.

    He is best known for Jaya Bhaduri starrer, “Kora Kagaz” and “Tapasya” both of which won National Award.

    His other notable films are “Saaheb”, ” Trishna”, “Khandaan”, “Humkadam”, “Pyar Ke Kabil”, “Balidan” (Bolidan -1990, Bengali), “Dushman Devta” among others.

    His daughter Rupali Ganguly is a television and theatre actress and his son Vijay Ganguly is a director and choreographer.

    https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/filmmaker-anil-ganguly-no-more/

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