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4.50 

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Mashaal Reviews

Mashaal - The 'Blazing' Torch
Nov 06, 2006 09:33 PM 4324 Views

There are very few Hindi films that impress me and Mashaal is one of those few.


The highlights were, of course, a powerhouse performance by Dilip Kumar, a well-grounded finely etched portrayal of a youth from the slums by Anil Kapoor and a sinister yet commendable performance by Amrish Puri as SK Vardhan. But what really stood out for me, personally, in this movie were the very real and strong female characters played by Waheeda Rehman and Rati Agnihotri. I strongly feel that there was a genuine effort on the part of these two versatile actresses to break away from the quintessential Hindi film stereotypes of MAA and HEROINE. So, while you had a very pregnant Waheeda standing by her husband in his fight against injustice, you also had an educated Rati Agnihotri encouraging her beau Anil Kapoor to continue his further education while she stays back and helps Dilip Kumar in his fearless journalistic pursuits. I mean, how many contemporary Hindi movies can you remember where the women characters had such a purposeful and strong portrayal of the all-important roles of mother and fiancée. Sadly, such roles and performances are scarce in our industry.


The directors of today ought to take a leaf out of Yash Chopra's directorial life and give back to Cinema some more of these powerful female characters and maybe help the medium which has been reduced to commercial glorification of such strong influences on the life of the male species.


DILIP KUMAR BLAZES THE SCREEN.
Jul 09, 2003 01:49 PM 5335 Views

Dilip Kumar is often referred to as Tragedy-King.However,


he has displayed histronics in every type of role.In Mashaal


as ANGRY OLD MAN he lights up the screen and makes the


excellent movie a classic.


The story involves Vinod Kumar(Dilip Kumar) who is a


fearless journalist trying to clean the city of Bombay from


crime.He resides in a chawl with his wife(Waheeda Rahman).


There is a gang of goons who live by the street and proclaim


it proudly in the song ''FOOTPATHON KE HUM...''(A sentiment


echoed 10 years later in ''Yaaron Sun Lo Zara...'' from


RANGEELA).The gang is headed by Raja(Anil Kapoor) who is a


wayard guy and the rest of the gang comprises of Gulshan


Grover and Madan Jain.Enter the bad men the Puri brothers


with Vardhan(Amrish Puri) the chief and Tolaram(Madan Puri,


Amrish's real life elder brother)as his assistant.What


follows is a fight of good v/s evil but the story takes


many interesting twists and aided by some great script and


remarkable performances make it a worth watching movie.


Yash Chopra is known mainly for his Switzerland based


love stories but he did made some hard-hitting cinema like


the trilogy of DEEWAR,KAALA PATTHAR and TRISHUL with Amitabh,


Shashi Kapoor and SALIM-JAVED.In Mashaal Yash shows his


class in handling such a intense movie.The direction is


absolutely amazing.The backbone of the movie is a superb


story,gripping screenplay and excellent dailogues by Javed


Akhtar,who by now had split with Salim.The movie shows his


ability to create ANGRY OLD MAN alongwith his trademark


ANGRY YOUNG MAN.The dailogues whenever Dilip Kumar and Anil


kapoor come face to face are brilliant.Mashaal remains one


of the best movies written by Javed Akhtar after he broke away


from Salim.Another high point of the movie is its excellent


music.Hridyanath Mangeshkar has never been a big music composer


but in Mashaal he gives a superb sound track.All the songs


''Footpathon ke hum...'',''Holi aayee..'' and ''Mujhe tum yaad..''


are very pleasant on the ears.The tunes are aided by some


fabulous lyrics by Javed Akhtar who proves his ability as a


lyricist also.However,the icing on the cake is the song


''Leeye sapne nigaahon mein...'' which opens infront of


Bangalore's Vidhan Sabha.The song is excellently sung by


Kishore Kumar and aided by some fantastic lyrics and


melodious music make it one of the best songs ever picturised


on Anil Kapoor.The echoes of the feeling conveyed in the


song can be heard in ''Chaand Taare..'' from Yes Boss which


incidentally was penned by Javed again.


The film breaks many new grounds like working of press,


the threat to fearless journalists from underworld,the life in slums,the lives of


a gang of goons who are not that brute,changing of sides


after the interval between the 2 male protagnists(there


is even a mention of football match).The sets showing the


slums are very real.The topic of a gang of goons wandering


aimlessly came later in movies like Arjun(again written by


Javed Akhtar) and Ankush.The slum life again came on the


screen in underworld sagas like Angaar and Vaastav.It was


much later that films on press like New Delhi,Surkhiyaan


and Main Azaad Hoon came into light.Although the concept


of male protagnists first appeared in Roti,Kapda aur Makaan,


it was with Mashaal that it got famous and an entire movie


called Lakshman Rekha was beased on the concept.The film


does not have many light sequnces and people expecting


over the top comedy will be disappointed.The character of


Dimple Kapadia in Krantiveer where she portrays a journalist


who wants to reform the society and stays in slums has


strong shades of Dilip Kumar's role in the first half of this


movie.Infact a few years ago a film called Laawaris(the one


with Jackie and Akhsaye Khanna) was made which was a poor copy


of Mashaal.


Anil Kapoor as Raja delivers one of his best


performances till date.In a role which initially was


supposed to be written for Amitabh bachchan(evident from


the language he uses)and first offered to Kamal Hasan,Anil


shines throghout the movie.His honesty in his performance


is so much present that u miss such honesty in his later


films.Although,Anil later admitted of developing cold feet


on the thought of acting opposite Dilip Kumar,he stands


on his own very well in everyframe.It is said that a Feroze


Khan and Subhash Ghai signed Anil for Jaanbaaz and Meri


Jung respectively just after watching the movie's premiere.


Infact Anil Kapoor somehow got trapped in a tapori image


for a long-long time after Mashaal.His characters in


Andar Bahar,Tezaab,Ram Lakhan to the recentnt dud-Rishtey


all have shades of Raja of Mashaal.Anil Kapoor again worked


with Dilip Kumar in the blockbuster KARMA.His other refined


performance in a Javed Akhtar scripts are Meri Jung and the


recent Armaan.Anil kapoor won his first Filmfare Award for


Best Actor In A Supporting Role for Mashaal.


Somehow I miss the Yash Chopra,Anil Kapoor and intensity


of Javed Akhtar, the way they were in Mashaal.


Waheeda Rahman as Dilip Kumar's wife gives a superb


performance.It was after 16 years that she acted opposite


the thespian the last being Aadmi(1968).Rati Aghinotri as


Anil's love interest also gives a decent performance.Amrish


Puri as the bad guy delievers another good performance.


Incidentally,Amrish acted opposite Dilip Kumar in almost all


his later movies where he played the Angry Old Man and puri


the baddie.Vidhaata,Duniya,Shakti and Saudagar are other


movies where both of them clash.The performances by Madan


Puri,Gulshan Grover and Madan Jain are well enacted.Yash


Chopra uses some great stage actors -Saaed Jaffery,Nilu Phule,


Alok Nath and Mohan Agashe in this movie and extract some


fine performances from them.


Although when released in 1984 the film flopped but it was


slowly and steadily that it became famous and acclaimed.Now


thanks to several re-runs it enjoys a classic status.


Last but not the least,Dilip Kumar delivers a knockout


performance.From a fearless journalist to a man running a


crime syndicate the legend shows amazing verstality in his


performance.His eye expression,dailogue delivery and usage


of hands makes this performance of his one of his best


ever.Whenever we see any actor mimicking Dilip Kumar,most


of the times they enact the sequence from this movie


where he tries to stop car on the street hoping that someone might


help his dying wife.That speaks volumes of the impact he


made in that scene.A similar scene apperaed in Ghayal and


later in the dud-Yaadein.Yash Chopra is said to have shot


the entire scene in 4 nights on Bombay streets and according to him the thespian


maintained the same emotional graph throghout all 4 days.


ABSOLUTELY AMAZING DEDICATION!!


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