Review of SooryaVansham(Amitabh)
ra...@rocketmail.com
Few years back, A tamil movie "SooryaVansham" drew
huge appreciation and went on to become a MonsterHit. It
also swept many awards , including the best actor category
for SarathKumar who played the double role. Unfortunately,
i gave it a skip at that time, given my slight and unexplained
bias against "ruralistic" themes of many Tamil movies,
under whose category this movie seemed to belong to.
Then, a year back, there was news that the movie was
going to be remade into Hindi, with Baccan in the lead playing
both father and Son. Not many were excited, given the
pathetic response of a few of his comeback movies.
And , when i noticed that this was going to be directed
by the "ace comedyking director" of Telugu Films, EVVsatyaN,
i thought this would be another entry to the list of
comeback dud's of AB. Also, this was being presented
by PadmalayaPresentations, famous for all those Jeetandra-Sridevi
remakes in the 80's.
The movie made a quite release this week, without much hype or
expectations. (unlike the preceding AB's movies, Mrityudata or
Lalbadshah ). I couldn't resist checking it out, just out of
mild curiousity. ANd with extremely low expectations.
The opening few minutes of the movie didn't seem encouraging.
AB senior gets introduced in a typical Masala fashion, with loud
background "noise" (by Koti, the once upona time Music director of
telugu movies with Kreem). An attempted Rape follows in the next
scene. The typical thakur lingo follows that. Oh! there we
go again, was my silent groan. But that was last minutes of boredom
in the movie. What followed next, till the end of the movie - the plot
and most importantly Bacchan's Acting prowness , kept me hooked
for the next couple of hours . At the end , i realised
this was vintage stuff from AB. The Amitabh ,we had known and admired,
before he entered that cesspool of politics. This was the Amitabh,
who was called the one-man industry. This was the Amitabh, who
used to give credibiilty to the most ridiculous roles with his
acting skills. In short, this was the Amitabh whom we feared had
vanished and was popping as a caricature in movies like Mrityudata
or Bademiyan etc etc.. and we had pretenders (like the overhyped
SRK) to the slot vacated by AB, indulging in disasters like "Duplicate".
Fortunately, AB proves that given a strong and decent role, he
can deliver the good like very few do. And the role of Son in
SuryaVansham was the ideal platform for AB to do that.
Ofcourse, the only jarring aspect was that he looks Old for
playing a young Son. Leaving aside that, he gives a remarkable
performance and makes the audience root for the "underdog, low in
confidence, ill-treated, silent suffering" character. Fortunately,
there are very few "theatrics" in the movie. No long-winding dialogues,
No bloody fights (except the one in the end), No ridiculous dances
(there were two songs which was not that garish). I seemed
to've underestimated EVVS's direction ability. (even though he has
directed some likable comedies). May be, the director faithfully stuck
the original tamil plot, without making too many changes and did
a good job at that.
The story in short, revolves around a family . The father (played
by AB) is the "strict, no-nonsense, straight as an arrow" type
who expects the best from his Children. The youngest son (AB again)
doesn't match his expectations and things come to a fall when
the marriage between AB and his childhood love breaks off. His value
is lowered in the house and he ends up doing menial tasks.
A female visitor to his home, gets attracted to him and proposes
to marry him. The rest of the plot deals with this pair comething
together and the gradual reconciliation between the Son and the father.
AB dominates completely. Among the rest of the starcast,
Soundarya, a popular actress in south, is pleasing and effective in her
role opposite ABjunior and manages to make an impression.,'
AnupamKher and KaderKhan provide the comedy angle, which is fortunately
without any double-entendres. I guess the Senthil-goundamani comdey duo
did the same roles in the Tamil version. Music and Technical aspects
are passable in this emotion-filled movie. It's a relief to
see a Strictly rural based movie for a change! We had enough of the
western plots, dances, music, dresses (tommy's etc etc) prevading the
Hindi movies of late. There hasn't been a decent Family type
movie in recent time, thanks to all those casual romantic flicks
and action potboilers.
In short, don't miss this one. You will be in for a pleasant
surprise.
cheers
raj
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Sharmila Taliculam
<Picture>A still from Sooryavansham. Click for bigger pic!
It doesn't happen very often that someone with two miserable
films comes back with a humdinger. But common rules hardly
apply with Amitabh Bachchan, do they?
And so, after those terrible 'comeback' films, Mrityudaata
and Lal Badshah, he's proved that it may be human to err,
but it takes someone a little greater to grab his luck by
the scruff of its neck and turn it around.
Sooryavansham proves the critics wrong, Amitabh right. It
makes you certain that he'd never lost his touch, only that
he'd landed roles that no one could do justice to, that it
would be an ass of a producer who did not know that he'd
come good in a big way sometime. In fact, Sooryavansham
makes you an Amitabh fan all over again.
The story, we must admit, is still cliched, dwelling on the
father-son conflict rendered famous by films like Shakti,
Trishul and Aakhri Raasta. Amitabh plays both father Thakur
Bhanupratap Singh and illiterate son Hira. The thakur has
scant respect for his son and shows it. The meek and
obedient son makes no protest.
That's the difference between earlier Amitabh films about
the father-son divide and this one -- there the sons
rebelled against the parent's demand for conformity; in
Sooryavansham the son feels he can't measure up to what his
father expects of him. He doesn't rebel, just blames himself
for the pain caused to his family and is rendered passive
due to his terror of the consequences of action.
Then Radha (Soundarya), falls in love with Hira and proposes
marriage. He accepts, and that annoys enrages the thakur so
much that he tosses the couple out of the house.
<Picture>Click for bigger pic!
So there you are -- you have the unbending patriarch, the
docile son, the black sheep... So many cliches, yes, but
then you don't mind, considering the performance Amitabh's
given here.
The characters have been presented very well. That there are
conflicts is evident, but there are no lengthy dialogues
between the two protagonists. While the father is introduced
a bit dramatically, the son ambles in in one frame and he's
hardly given much attention.
The father's role is closer to stereotype -- he is shown as
being unbending, unwilling to listen to reason. Even his
other children think twice about protecting the one he's
dubbed the black sheep.
And the son? He's subdued and sober and most willing to
listen to anything his father had to say, except on the
issue of his marriage. Despite his father-is-god attitude,
he avoids being exasperating, only inducing in you a degree
of pity.
So his parents and brothers don't tell him that his only
sister is being married off. He doesn't mind that. Similarly
he doesn't hesitate when the heroine, who doesn't know him
at the time, asks him to iron some of her clothes. His
hesitation and helplessness are evident, as is his
unwillingness to annoy his father. The weak man's
vulnerability is captured very well.
<Picture>Click for bigger pic!
And it's particularly good in a scene where he's he makes
excuses for his father not being present at the inauguration
of a hospital. It's as if he's trying to convince himself
that his father really had a reason, other than his
annoyance with his son, for not being there.
Amitabh is very understated as both characters. The voice is
deeper for the older man, and it's a bit reminiscent of
Agneepath. There are only two fight sequences, both rather
cliched. Thankfully, the younger man doesn't have to go
through the dance, fight and romance sequences.
Though his age is evident in some scenes, Amitabh still
manages to make you ignore it most of the time, the role
being as sober as it is. He manages to look right for the
heroine.
There are only four songs in the film, of which one is
repeated thrice, another twice. They are all a little
superfluous.
Thankfully, the father-son conflict is bereft of tired
rhetoric. This is no Shakti where father Dilip Kumar and son
Amitabh discuss their personal philosophies in detail to
underline their differences.
Sooryavansham is a remake of a South Indian film of the same
name. Sharat Kumar played the patriarch and his son in the
Tamil version. That was a huge hit. The Hindi remake is
faithful enough to retain the southern flavour, these
including huge ornate sets, commodious bungalows and a good
many melodramatic situations.
Sooryavansham is a reminder that Amitabh Bachchan is not yet
material for coffee table historians. All those who have
been demanding his retirement could spend their time
watching Sooryavansham. It should be a rewarding experience.
Tell us what you think of this review ra...@rocketmail.com
wrote:
sudh...@hotmail.com
I thought this role was supposed to be done by Pooja Batra
the girl in the trailer looks like Chandni of 1942 a love story fame
someone who's seen the movie tell me who's that girl?
In article <ec%13.9675$X7.7...@nnrp2.clara.net>,
anand...@my-deja.com
ra...@rocketmail.com wrote:
<excellent review snipped>
>
>This was the Amitabh, who
> used to give credibiilty to the most ridiculous roles with his
> acting skills. In short, this was the Amitabh whom we feared had
> vanished and was popping as a caricature in movies like Mrityudata
> or Bademiyan etc etc..
and we had pretenders (like the overhyped
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> SRK) to the slot vacated by AB, indulging in disasters like
^^^^
"Duplicate".
Raj,
Loved your review as well as your comment on SRK! Eagerly looking
forward to your next writeup.
Anand