ROJA by Shrestha

Aasish Shrestha

Review #1

ROJA

As a fan of bollywood movies, I did not enjoy watching Roja nor found it bollywood-esque (except for the song sequences). Anyways, Roja was originally a Tamil film (which explains all of the bad dubbing and screenplay mix-up which I will explain later) directed by acclaimed Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam. This was THE film that introduced him to a broader audience and gained critical and commercial success in bollywood after it was dubbed in Hindi. The film went on to win numerous awards and acclaim including National and International Film Awards in the popular category. This film also led Ratnam to spawn two similar concept/genre films making Roja the first of his domestic terrorism trilogy.

Roja is named after the heroine in the film, played by Madhoo. Roja is the typical village girl, innocent, religious, and sweet. I was under the impression that she was uneducated since she was brought up in the village, but there is a scene within the first song sequence of her in a cap and gown, and she even goes on to speak some English in the movie. Maybe the English was part of the Hindi dubbing or maybe not. Maybe she does say “I Love You” or spell “Sorry” in the Tamil version too. I don’t know why we didn’t just watch it in the original Tamil version, maybe to make the film more bollywood-esque (just kidding Prof. Brueck). Back to the movie… Roja is seen praying several times to a Hindu god with hopes that her sister finds a good groom and that their marriage would occur soon. This shows her as the ideal little sister. Then arrives the hero, Rishi, played by Arvind Swamy. Upon secretly seeing him, Roja describes him as fair and attractive to her sister. Rishi came to the village from the city, where he is some kind of a scientist, to find a bride who was born and raised in the village. Rishi and Roja’s sister finally meet, only to find out that she is in love with someone else, someone who her family opposes. Rishi, being the kind and compassionate man, complies with her request and asks for Roja’s hand in marriage instead. After, everyone’s shock and confusion, everything goes accordingly. Roja’s sister weds her lover and Rishi and Roja also marry. Then, they move to the city where everyone is happy except for Roja. Roja thinks Rishi rejected her sister and what not but she soon finds out what really happened and everything is okay again. Until now, the movie seemed interesting but it starts to get complicated.

In the beginning, a terrorist named Wasim Khan was captured by the Indian Army. So, his terrorist group, who are a bunch of Muslims, strives to free their leader by capturing an Indian hostage. Coincidentally, this hostage becomes none other than our hero Rishi, who was sent to Kashmir for work reasons. Before the kidnapping, the newly married couple sing and dance in what I thought was the beautiful Kashmir, but later found out wasn’t. Anyways, the movie starts to go downhill from here when Roja goes off to pray in a nearby temple and Rishi goes to look for her. He finds Roja, only to get kidnapped by a group of masked men with guns. I find this all to be Roja’s fault and begin to hate her throughout the rest of the movie. She rushes to the police and informs them of what just happened but they fail to understand her even though she was speaking Hindi. This was obviously a dubbing mistake which I later understood that she was supposed be speaking Tamil and the city police/politicians didn’t speak Tamil. The demands of the terrorists were that they would free Rishi only upon the release of Wasim Khan. Roja is portrayed as naïve, selfish, and stupid because she doesn’t care about the country and only wants her husband back. There was a time when a police guy explained to her of the consequences of releasing Wasim Khan, who was evil and murdered a lot of people, but Roja never learned and remains ignorant. Then, there is Rishi, who is the ever patriotic and noble citizen. He never gives in to the terrorists and doesn’t care about Hindus vs. Muslims; he only believes in one thing, that they are all Indians.

The Muslim terrorists want Kashmir for their own and are fighting for their freedom and independence. However, for terrorists, an ordinary man like Rishi is able to beat them all up while handcuffed. This sums up all the corny parts that lead to the infamous “G.I. Joe Flaming Pants” scene where Rishi is putting out the burning Indian flag with his crotch. Some scenes in the movie may seem ridiculous but in the time of its release, Roja was very significant and made a huge impact to Indians and politics. After all of Roja’s plead for Wasim Khan’s release, the nation sympathizes with her and gives in to the terrorists’ demand. The movie portrayed Muslims as the villains and Islam as anti-national, however there are also scenes showing their good side. In Ratnam’s films, like Roja and Dil Se, terrorists are usually the people that are fighting for freedom and independence. In Roja, the terrorists were nice enough to feed Rishi, giving him good hospitality at first, and even saying that the kidnapping was nothing personal.

The movie invokes national pride by reconstructing secular India as Hindu nationalist. Roja is a patriotic love story. The village girl and the city guy uniting is a symbol for the nation coming together. The plot of the movie is like a nation being divided, like Roja and Rishi, and then reuniting in the end. Roja is a symbol for traditional India. She is the allegorical desire in the sense of a selfish state. She is the young bride who is immature but represents those who rebel against their government. Rishi is a symbol for modern India. He was the ordinary middle class person involved in a national conflict. He is patriotic citizen who would rather starve and die than to give in to terrorists. The characters show how simple, descent, and patriotic people can appeal to the human in military and even terrorists. Roja served as symbols of Hindu nationalism with scenes like Rishi putting out the burning flag and his incessant saying of “Jai Hind”, meaning “Hail India”. The film dealt with mostly the middle class, and turned out to be really popular among the middle class audiences. The theme of the movie is humanity and what life is and what it’s worth. In the end, the terrorist understands this by stating to wipe tears instead of causing them.

I didn’t really enjoy the music in the movie but it must be a big deal since it was all composed by Academy Award winner A.R. Rahman. This was Rahman’s first feature film in which he produced the songs. The music was highly praised by fans and critics alike, and went on to win major awards and transformed Rahman into not only India, but also one of the world’s greatest music composers. The music was also one of the firsts in bollywood to have explicit content. The song after Rishi and Roja’s marriage uses explicit ways to express sex. This was a great filmmaking technique to show the village culture as well. To be honest, I did not like the Hindi version we watched of this movie or anything about it and would not recommend it to anyone. Please watch the original Tamil version so it would make sense to first time viewers. Other than that, this movie wasn’t all that good but I highly recommend its follow up, Bombay, which I thought was surprisingly GREAT! I thought this movie was the worst movie we’ve seen thus far because I did not like the actors, the music, the entire plot, and was bored throughout the movie and wanted it to end one hour into the movie. Maybe I would have appreciated it more if I had seen it at the time of its release during the early 90s. But watching it in 2010 was just painful. I guess it was a little less painful than Devdas since it wasn’t black and white. Also, at the end, I kept thinking, “What was the point of this movie?” I didn’t really get the movie until we actually discussed it in class and realized that the whole Hindi dubbing mistake and its importance in the early 90s dealing with Kashmir and turning it into a love story like Titanic and every other movie or love story.

Sholay, Chris Norrod

Chris Norrod

Sholay Film Review

3/7/10

Sholay (Ramesh Sippy) on its most basic level appears to be a standard Western of the American cinema.  It tells the tale of two men that have only each other, set against the isolation of arid, desolate location.  That is until they stumble across a town in distress, and there they find that they had always retained nobility buried inside their cynicism, and become martyrs.  For all the similarities it may possess, there is of course something uniquely Indian about the tale.  All that Sholay shares with the American Western is a central plot, while the character development, themes, and symbolism remain purely Indian.

Veeru (Dharmenda) and Jai (Amitahb Bachchan) are two petty criminals that have been wandering through the dusty Ramanagara of south east India.  They have recently been arrested by a police officer and are being transported to a jail.  The train soon comes under attack by bandits, and here, Jai and Veeru first show that they are truly noble individuals.  The officer is wounded, and rather than flee, they allows themselves to be arrested so the officer could be helped to a hospital.  Though they appear to leave this up to chance by flipping a coin to decide, it is later revealed that Jai had been in control of this “fate” all along.  Veeru and Jai then establish their relationship in the following song sequence.  They roam up a rural road embracing and professing their friendship to each other while riding a motorcycle.  After a comic segment in which Jai and Veeru are arrested and re-arrested, our heroes are then contacted by Thakur, their arresting officer and the man they had saved.  He wants to contract them as bounty hunters; he wants them to bring back a bandit leader that has been terrorizing Thakur’s home village. 

It is strange that it is Veeru and Jai that would be selected for such a mission, and not rather the state.  This could be an element of the period in Indian history.  This movie was released six weeks after Indian Prime Minister Indhira Gandhi had declared the Indian Emergency.  This was period where the Indian state could not control its violence, and it is a band of dacoits that are the antagonist force in Sholay.  The presence of the state throughout the film is small.  It is rather up to the people themselves to find justice and safety.  Jai and Veeru may represent the everyman of the period, whose security is no longer assured and must fend for himself.

 Jai and Veeru accept, and become increasingly involved with the town.  Veeru find love in a talkative cart driver named Basanti, and Raj develops an attraction to the widowed Radha.  Because she is widowed, it is unlucky that the relationship will develop, foreshadowing strife for either Jai or Radha (or both).  Because of Basanti’s talkative and forgetful character, and because Radha is a widow, the women in this film are secondary characters.  The film instead focuses on the male relationship between Veeru and Jai, and their friendship takes precedence over their love interests.  Basanti only serves as motive to drive the Veeru into action against the villains, and from there the male relationship is further developed.

 Sholay also has the “supervillain”, a character that has yet to have made an appearance in Indian cinema.  In our previous films, the villain was always motivated by power or wealth, but Gabbar (Amjad Khan) is truly sadistic.  His motive for raiding the village may have some basis in requisition of provisions, but his actions towards his own men indicate a kind of sadism that has been largely absent from previous villains.

Sholay - Movie Review

Fayaz Ghiasy

Directed by Ramesh Sippy, Sholay has been one of the most analyzed and quoted movies of Indian cinema. It is the highest grossing film in Indian cinema ever which was played for more than five years in some theaters when it first opened.

The movie begins with Thakur Baldev Singh trying to look for two thieves he apprehended long time ago when he was a policeman. Thakur wants the help of these two notorious thieves to get back on Gabbar Singh an infamous dacoit who Thakur put in jail long ago. Gabbar got away from prison and murdered Thakur’s entries family and Thakur now wants the two thieves to find Gabbar and bring him in alive.

Gabbar Singh is one of the most popular villains in Indian cinema and some of his lines are quoted by many. He appears in the movie later then usually villains do in movies, but you hear about his doings from the begging of the movie. Before he appears, he is heard walking on the rocks and his men’s face terrified of him. Some of his most memorable and quoted lines are “Jo dar gaya samjo margaya”, (those that get scared, are dead). “Are o Saambha, kitne admit ay”, how many men were there? “Bahut yaarana lagta hai”, you are hot for each other.

Veeru (Dharmendra) childish funny guy and his friend Jai (Amitabh Bachan), the other thief, are both brought to the village to help the Thakur with Gabbar. And like all other Indian movies there are songs, dancing, comedy, drama, violence. Veeru falls in love with Basanti, and Jai with Thakur’s widowed daughter in law. These four, Dharmendra, Hema, Amitabh, and Jaya were involved with each other also off screen and ended up marrying each other.

Sholay has influenced many blockbusters like Main Hoon Na, Musafir, and Main Pyar Kiya, all of which of either quoted the film or made some kind of reference to Sholay. Some places still continue to run this movie with full theaters, this movie’s songs are still heard in parties and taxis and many other places. They also tried to do a remake of the movie called Aag, but like remakes of any other great movie, Ram Gopa Varma did not get close to what Sholay was. The songs are not as good, the casting, choreography, the emotions drama and thrill are all missing.

I have loved Sholay ever since I first saw it more than 15 years ago and many more times since. The songs, the action, drama, humor, characters, the script, heroes and the villains are all amazing. I think anyone who is interested in Indian cinema should watch this movie, the most quoted, one of the most played and highest grossing film in Indian cimena.

Rachel Newsham

Screening India

Professor Brueck

7 March, 2010

Sholay Film Review

In following the pattern of a “Masala” film, Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay is interwoven with a myriad of issues, each evoking a particular emotion while carrying a weighty message that either directly affirms or opposes the underlying values of Indian society. Through the lens of a strong friendship, the audience is taken for an adventurous ride that touches on several cultural issues and injustices suffered by Indians. Many of these issues are not firmly resolved, but the underlying message is that justice, in the end, will prevail for the greater good.

As a “buddy film,” the focus of this movie is on the relationship between Veeru and Jai, the two main male characters. Veeru and Jai, are brought to a rural village in India where Thakur Singh asks for their help in avenging the death of his family and the loss of both of his arms by going after Gabbar Singh, the villain. Gabbar Singh has set himself up to be a warlord-like figure in the village, demanding a share of their crops while claiming to provide them with protection. Veeru and Jai, common criminals, accept this adventure finding love, sacrifice, and revenge along the way. Although Jai dies in the end, the villain is destroyed and, as typical in Bollywood films, the order of society is restored.

The role of women in this film has been significantly reduced compared to the female roles in the “golden age” era, where women were often a central part of the film. Although their roles are moderate at best, Basanti and Radha contribute important themes to the movie. When they are younger, both female characters are said to be “chatterboxes:” chatty, playful, energetic, and shallow. As the film progresses, the simplicity of their lives is countered by trials and hardships that force them to mature and leave behind their carefree days. In the case of Radha, this is accomplished through her marriage and later through her widowhood. In Basanti’s case, her maturity is realized in the scene where she must keep dancing in order to keep her lover alive. Their roles lend the movie the needed female character that represents the stability of Indian culture and traditions through acts of renunciation and the ultimate protection of their laj, chastity.

Basanti’s role as a widow brings up a significant cultural and religious issue in India. During the Colonial Era, the British pointed out the act of Sati, a practice of a widow immolating herself on the funeral pyre of her husband, as being inhumane and barbarous. Although Sati is now illegal in India, widows are often spurned in Indian society and are rarely allowed to remarry. Jai, aware of the social stigma attached, loves Radha and wants to marry her. When discussing the situation with Veeru, Jai comments: “Even thugs and criminals are given a second chance in life… Radha has done nothing wrong. Has she no right to start life afresh?” Thakur Sing, while discussing the matter with Radha’s father comments further that: “The society and community are meant to save man from loneliness. They’re not meant to isolate someone.”

These statements seem to be very bold for Hindi films. The movie Water was recently banned in India for making too strong of a statement on widowhood in India. Perhaps Sippy is able to get away with this statement by not letting the characters realize their relationship. As Jai lies dying in the arms of Veeru, he looks up at Radha and comments on how their relationship is “yet another incomplete story.” After viewing Jai’s funeral pyre, the melancholy sound of the harmonica leads the gaze of the audience to Radha who closes the window of her house representing the idea that she will never be able to find “color” again.

Imman, as a devote Muslim, was the central religious character within the film. His ultimate purpose is to remind the villagers that they are a community, and to point out the injustices of the villainous characters. His climactic role comes with the murder of his son. Although he only had one son, he claimed that his death was worth sacrificing on behalf of the village and his only regret is that he did not have more sons to give. I thought it odd that the producer gave such a weighty role to a Muslim. I was under the impression that the underlying principal of Bollywood films was to affirm Hinduism as the foundational religion of India. Perhaps this principal is fulfilled by the death of his only son, leaving no kin to carry on his religion.

Marriage also plays an interesting role in Sholay. Unlike Western society, the couple’s fathers traditionally arrange marriages in India. Because Veeru did not have a family member to arrange the marriage for him, he turns to his friend to fill this role. Although this situation is not as modern as a “love-marriage,” it may still be seen as overstepping the traditional customs. Marriage for these two criminals is seen as a turning point in their lives. When discussing the idea of settling down, they mention how their marriage will help them lead “straight and simple” lives. When Veeru asks how they will learn how to wield a plow, Jai answers: “Our vices taught us to wield guns; our virtues will teach us this.” Marriage, having a wife and children, is depicted as the social norm for a man who desires to live a good life.

The songs in Sholay also contributed to “making meaning” within the film. The first song is a song of friendship between Veeru and Jai in which they confess their undying love and devotion to one another. Some have interpreted the different phrases and symbolism throughout the song as opening up a space for homoerotic interpretations. Nonetheless, it is a song that emphasizes the uniquely intimate relationship these two men have for each other. The third song, Mehbooba Mehbooba was an overly sexualized song complete with a profusion of suggestive movements, camera angles, and lyrics that eroticized the female body. Because this song takes place within the villains’ camp, the underlying message may be that villains are so separated from Indian culture to the point where the woman no longer represents traditional values, but is seen merely as a figure of pleasure for men.

I was not sure what to think about the film after watching it. Overall, I was upset by the loose-ended messages that were presented and my inability to understand the deeper meanings, but it was also a very enjoyable film. Although the film brought up many important issues, it seemed to quickly glance over them and move on. Perhaps this is the only acceptable avenue for Indian film producers to make a political statement. Regardless, I enjoyed the Western-like setting with the wide-open countryside, rough terrain, and musical addition of the harmonica. It added a special dynamic to this film of revenge, making it more accessible to those familiar with Westerns. I also appreciated the promotion of fulfilling one’s duty over getting carried away by one’s emotions. I would definitely recommend this film to others.

Charlotte Morgan

Deewar Film Review

Screening India

March 1, 2010

The film “Deewar,” directed by Yash Chopra, was a very interesting transition from “Guide” into the role of the hyper masculine male hero. In the beginning of the story, we see the father figure of a family get shunned from his village, allegedly for being a thief, who then banishes himself from his family and his home. We are left with his two sons, Vijay and Ravi, and their mother, who are harassed so badly by the rest of the village that they have to run away with nothing. The two boys and their mother end up living under a bridge in complete destitution and poverty in the slums of India.

The idea of the state is present through their poverty, especially in the scene where Ravi is watching the schoolyard, dreaming of an education, while the national anthem is playing in the background. This demonstrates how the slums were being kept out of national development. As the story progresses, Vijay chooses a life of crime, while Ravi becomes a police officer. From this point on, Ravi’s character is the embodiment of the state, displayed through his education, “ideals and principles,” and loyalty to his nations law through his work.

A very interesting aspect of “Deewar” is the female social critique that we have from the mother of the boy who Ravi shoots on the train tracks. The woman yells and displays Ravi’s misguided justice in shooting her boy, but then is immediately shushed and pushed away by her husband, who disregards her as “uneducated.” The wife brings up the important issue of the police working with a corrupt system, which punishes the poor and the disadvantaged, and serves to make the only link in the movie between what smuggling does to society. The woman is pushed away, and we see the father figure then represented as wise and intelligent because he says that he is a teacher.

Throughout the film “Deewar,” we see the idea of religion present in the everyday routine of Vijay, Ravi, and their mother. Vijay refuses to go into the temple after his father has left them, yet his devotion to his mother remains in the fact that he still goes with her every day and waits outside. Vijay goes on to lead his life of crime, and in the end his faith is what ultimately saves his mother, and saves him from himself. He finally goes into the temple to pray for his mother’s health, which proves successful, and ends up dying in his mother’s arms on the steps of the temple. When he is dying, he returns to his innocence by shedding his sins and his badge, a symbol of his strength. Anita, the other character in the film possessing the “universal bad,” has a similar enlightenment at her death, where she says she doesn’t feel like she is dying but instead is being reborn. Both of these characters’ demise eventually leads to a spiritual end, both being rescued from their previous lives.

The idea of dating and relationships in the movie “Deewar” were very different to what we have been seeing previously, especially in the way that premarital sex between Anita and Vijay was so blatantly exhibited. This premarital sex resulted in Anita becoming pregnant, and I believe foreshadowed their deaths. The dating between Anita and Vijay, and Ravi and his girlfriend was more modern and physical, and was unknown to their mother, which was seen in the scene at the train station between Ravi and his mother.

Most importantly, I think “Deewar” illustrated the idea that the slums were being outcast from the progressive movements at the time. Vijay, to me, represented the slums and the reality of the situation, where Ravi represented the law and the government, which was naive to what was actually going on. I think this can be seen in the scene where Vijay and Ravi meet under the bridge, which ironically opens with the national anthem, where Ravi vaguely goes on and on about his “principles and ideals,” and defending his nation. Vijay responds by reminding him where he came from, and that ideals and principles cannot provide you with food. On a larger scale, this is saying that the elite can easily spout things like ideals and values because they cannot begin to understand that the people in the slums have to fight for everything that they have. The bridge in this scene is a crucial symbol in the movie, because it is the only thing holding the two brothers together. It is their home and their origin, and the only thing that they still share.

The western clothing and language, as well as Anita being the embodiment of a westernized woman, contributed largely to the film. I interpreted this as being a factor of a changing society in India, becoming more modern in ways such as dress, language, and interaction between couples.

There were only about 3 songs in “Deewar,” which was a surprising change from the extensive love songs in Guide especially. The film was more focused on the masculinity of Vijay, and his role as the bad hero, which made the song sequences more about him and his action, and less romantic. Vijay’s relationship with Anita wasn’t particularly romantic either, which would explain the lack of love songs between them. On the other hand, the song sequence between Ravi and his girlfriend was much more romantic and sing-songy like “Guide,” except I found it to be much more physical.

I liked the film “Deewar” very much, and so far it was my favorite. Although I love the beautiful dance and song sequences and traditional clothing, it was a nice change to see a plot with more action and less romance. One thing that bothered me was that Vijay and Ravi’s father ran away like a coward, when he could have left with them and helped his family build a new life. I also was disappointed in the way that Ravi came out as the hero in the end, because I see him as ungrateful and naive to what reality is. I believe that was the point of the ending though, because even though the character that followed the law and was the “embodiment of the state” ended up on top, the audience as well as their mother favored Vijay and what he stood for.

Deewar, Chris Norrod

Christopher Norrod

Deewaar Film Review

Screening India

2/28/10

Yash Chopra’s Deewaar is a story of brothers walled apart by the paths they take in life. To escape the poverty they were left in, the older brother, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) turns to crime.  The younger brother, Ravi (Sashi Kapoor), turns to an education, and ultimately becomes a police officer.  Produced during a particular tumultuous time in Indian history, six months before the Indian Emergency, the film’s emotions reflect those of working class and poor Indians across the nation.  Anger and uncertainty is directed at those who have wealth and those who have power; Amitabh Bachchan embodies these emotions with his angry young man performance.  He has been put down by the world around him, and he is filled with a quiet rage that follows him throughout the movie, and at several points it explodes out in a furious manner.  Deewaar has two major themes: the nature of justice and injustice, and the conflict of duty between family and society.  Leisure suits and leather versus uniforms, the movie comes down in favor of the law, but the angry young man becomes the Bollywood star.     

One notion underlying Deewar is that justice is often harsher towards the poor.  The poor have no rights, but when they advocate for those rights the resulting disorder also causes human suffering.  The Verma family struggles begin when the father attempts to advocate for the rights of coal miners.  The father is threatened into submission by corrupt businessmen into betraying his fellow sympathizers.  The older, innocent son, Vijay, is kidnapped in retaliation, and given a tattoo on his arm saying “My father is a thief”.  That moment is the first most personal taste for Vijay of injustice.  The Verma family spirals down as they flee their home, the father runs away, and the mother is forced to labor in extreme poverty.  She loses her job when she falls down and breaks bricks.  Vijay polishes shoes, sacrificing his own education to support his younger brother.  Another important moment in the film for Vijay is his response to the injustice of turning over a percentage of pay as tribute to organized crime.  Instead of turning to the law, he turns to his fists.  He beats up the mobsters and ultimately turns to crime.  As Vijay becomes more wealthy and powerful, he comes to the attention of the law, and Ravi.

Ravi, too, is no stranger to injustice.  Ravi too grows up on the streets of Bombay, and dealt with the hunger and poverty of street life.  He is refused a job because he lacks connections.  However, he ultimately lands a job in law enforcement.  His job as a policeman leads him to shoot an unarmed young boy for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his hungry family.   One important scene in the movie is when Ravi visits the family of the boy he wounded.  The mother cries for him to get out.  She argues that Ravi should be prosecuting the rich and powerful and not her son. However, the father accepts the shooting saying it makes no difference if you steal a little money or a lot.  The father, a humble ex teacher states that millions of Indians die of starvation, and not all turn to theft.  This is a scene that portrays this underlying notion of justice and its meaning.  Ravi bows down to this wisdom he “could only have learned in the home of some teacher.”  The film seems to wrestle with whether the law is a tool for the rich and powerful, and whether or not it can effectively serve justice without bias.

There is also a constant struggle between the men’s duty to their family, especially their mother, and to society.  Vijay’s lifestyle leads to great riches for his family, though at the cost of his mother, a proper Indian woman in a sari, when she discovers the source of her son’s income.  As any frequent Indian cinemagoer would know, the mother is a powerful symbol for the Indian state.  His mother leaves Vijay’s house, and lives with her other son.  Ravi is not as successful as Vijay nor is he as loved by his mother, yet she chooses to stay with him because he leads a more righteous, a more dharmic, lifestyle.  This struggle between duty and family leads to the climatic scenes when Ravi and his mother decide to apprehend Vijay.  Ravi is told by his mother to not let his hand tremble when he shoots, effectively giving him permission to commit fratricide.  Society ultimately prevails as Vijay is gunned down in the streets of Bombay, and Ravi and his mother are awarded for their efforts.

Guide film review, Pasang Sherpa

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Pasang Sherpa

Guide

Directed by : Vijay Anand

Produced  by : Dev Anand

Written by : Vijay Anand ( From R.K. Narayan’s Novel)

Starring : Dev Anand (Raju)

                Waheeda Rehman(Rosie)

                Kishore Sahu (Marco)

Music by : S.D. Burman

Cinematography : Fali Mistry

Release Date : 02/06/1965

Running Time : 183 min.

        

       “Guide”, a Hindi movie released in 1965 is a collaboration of two brothers Dev Anand and Vijay Anand in the Bollywood industry. It is one unforgettable movie where we see the new kind of taste in Bollywood movies. The movie is based on a novel by R.K. Narayan.  The major theme throughout the movie was Raju giving guidance to the people and becoming the part of everybody who he guides. We also find a strange love story in the movie, the romance of Raju with Rosie, a married woman. Raju seems never to have achieved anything for himself in life; he is always trying to help or guide people trying to make their lives better. The story overall is tragic. The movie does not really focus on patriotism towards the country, but it is more concerned with building community.

            The movie starts with Raju getting out of jail. He is going back home, but he does not find a reason to go back, and story begins with a flashback. Raju is a famous guide in the town whom everybody knows. One day Rosie the daughter of a courtesan and her husband, Marco, comes to the town. Marco is a wealthy archeologist. He is more interested in his work than his wife. While Marco is busy with his work, Raju takes Rosie on a tour and discovers her talent and the reason why she was married to Marco. Rosie explains to Raju how dancing is not acceptable to Marco, and that is why she had to quit. Raju convinces her that she should not quit what she enjoys. When Rosie goes to visit Marco in the cave, she sees that he is having an affair with a different girl. Then Rosie leaves Marco and decides to continue doing what she like but she has nowhere to go. Raju takes her in and they fall in, love with each other.

          When Rosie moves in with Raju, everybody thinks that she is a prostitute as she dances in his house. Raju gets in lots of trouble trying to defend her from people gossiping about her. It gets so bad that Raju’s mother leaves him. Since Raju is not letting Rosie go, he loses everything his friends and business. Then Rosie changes her name to Nalina, and Raju guide Nalina to her successful career. But Raju starts gambling and drinking. One day Marco shows up from nowhere and tries to get Rosie back. Then he has his agent ask Rosie to release some jewelry, which is in a safe deposit box. Out of jealousy Raju forges Rosie’s name to release the jewelry, which will eventually tear them apart. And Raju is sent to jail. When he gets out of Jail, he goes to this village and he suffers from hunger and poverty in rags. One morning a farmer finds him under an orange shawl and thinks that he is a holy man. Bhola the Farmer tells him that his sister refuses to marry and it is his worst serious problem. Raju impress the girl and gets her ready to marry, so then people thinks he is a swami. People bring food for him and listen to his words. He makes lots of things possible in that village, and tells them a story about the holy man who fasted for twelve days, which resulted in rain to end the drought.

            Then drought actually hits the village, and due to a miscommunication a village fool interprets that Raju is going to fast for twelve days to end the drought that they are facing. He then gets in the trap and opposes the idea, but decides to fast for the sake of the village. With his popularity thousands of people come to see him and get his blessing. Then there he finds her mother as she came to get his blessing, Rosie comes to visit him and his friend. But the very random scene when this American journalist gets really surprised when Raju speaks in English. Then she asks him, “ Have you ever fallen in love?” Then it actually rains, and people are happy but the time has come for Raju to leave. 

           The movie overall is good, the dance scenes were different than in the movies shown earlier. They were dancing in the forest, in the mountain, etc. While Nalini was dancing, the stage was covered with statues of gods and goddesses. The movie brings the new flavor to the Bollywood industry. The movie is worth seeing again.