It was long overdue. After recommendations from friends with exteremely divergent tastes in movies, I finally caught Ijaazat with a couple of friends a few weekends back.
Without being review-y, my impression of the film - outstanding. Naseeruddin Shah and Rekha shine as one would have expected them to. There is an easy onscreen relationship they share, making their husband-wife turn all the more believable. Naseeruddin Shah is particularly good - a full range of expressions on his mask-like face underlining a fine performance. Anuradha Patel as Maya is slightly disappointing - I found her demeanor more childish than I would have liked.
My conversational hindi is competent at best - that I speak reasonably well is more of a tribute to the fact that two of my room-mates in CMU were very good hindi speakers. However, my understanding of it is much better - kind of like my cricket.
Which leads me to the best part of the film - Gulzaar saab's writing and lyrics. The play on words and the man's mastery of the idiom is evident in gems like:
"Sab kuchh to wohin hai. Lekin kuch bhi to wohi nahi hai".
Translating it won't cut it all - let's leave it at that. Classics "Katra Katra" and "Mera Kuchh Saman" are songs that I've liked without 'getting' them the way I did when I saw the film. Some of RDB's finest works (IMO) have come in combination with Gulzarsaab and this is another fine example of that.
A great film, recommended to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
Without being review-y, my impression of the film - outstanding. Naseeruddin Shah and Rekha shine as one would have expected them to. There is an easy onscreen relationship they share, making their husband-wife turn all the more believable. Naseeruddin Shah is particularly good - a full range of expressions on his mask-like face underlining a fine performance. Anuradha Patel as Maya is slightly disappointing - I found her demeanor more childish than I would have liked.
My conversational hindi is competent at best - that I speak reasonably well is more of a tribute to the fact that two of my room-mates in CMU were very good hindi speakers. However, my understanding of it is much better - kind of like my cricket.
Which leads me to the best part of the film - Gulzaar saab's writing and lyrics. The play on words and the man's mastery of the idiom is evident in gems like:
"Sab kuchh to wohin hai. Lekin kuch bhi to wohi nahi hai".
Translating it won't cut it all - let's leave it at that. Classics "Katra Katra" and "Mera Kuchh Saman" are songs that I've liked without 'getting' them the way I did when I saw the film. Some of RDB's finest works (IMO) have come in combination with Gulzarsaab and this is another fine example of that.
A great film, recommended to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
2 comments:
Everytime I listen to Mera Kuch Saaman, I just wonder how RD managed to such poetry to music! I wonder if the song is more famous than the movie.
I think it is. I'd heard both these songs (mera kuchh samaan and katra katra) much before I knew what movie they were from
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