Love, Revenge, Sacrifice and Kashmir. Review on Bemisaal

When a deprived boy, bought up in a privileged family and indebted for virtually everything he has, lends in a perplexing situation, the life seems unfair to him. There are very few who actually appreciate benevolence showered on them. When it comes to repay such debt, many of us try to find excuse to avoid the difficult situation. But the protagonist of this movie is a noble individual, an ideal hero, who knows that everything he has in life, is owed to a family and when he finds himself in a situation where he has to give up his love and profession, he doesn?t look back.

Bemisal was definitely not Hrishikesh Mukherjee?s best movie, yet it along with few others form a silver lining in the dark decade of 80s. The movie has all necessary ingredients for a riveting drama, and it sure does make for a pensive viewing. To find a Dr. Sudhir Roy in today?s world is like finding a needle in a haystack. The movie starts with a love triangle, but moves on to deal with some engaging facets of an intricate personality of Dr. Sudhir Roy, which involves revenge and sacrifice.

The Love Triangle:

Dr. Sudhir Roy (Amitabh Bachchan), a child bourn in a deprived family is raised by a affluent Chatruvedi family. He and the Chaturvedi sibling Dr. Prashant Chaturvedi fall in love with Kavita Goyal (Rakhee). Sudhir makes way for Prashant, despite his reciprocal affection for Kavita. Intricacies of delicate relationship between Sudhir and Kavita are brilliantly narrated by Hrishida. So much so that Sudhir calls Kavita Sakhi, just like Krishna and Draupadi.

Revenge:

Sudhir?s mentally challenged elder brother Adhir Roy (Amitabh Bachchan ? double role) is languishing in mental asylum. Adhir?s student Ruby Dutt tries to seduce him and he eventually ends up becoming a victim of her father?s wrath, which disturbs his mental balance. Years down the road, Sudhir gets an opportunity to take revenge on Ruby Dutt and he callously does so. Honestly, I never could understand the purpose of including this episode in the story line other than depicting the other side of Sudhir. The sequence doesn?t impede the pace and flow of the story, yet I find it completely out of sync.

Sacrifice:

Prashant, after returning from higher studies in US, opens his own nursing home. The greed for easy money makes him indulge in unfair professional practices. In one such incident, he ends up killing a poor girl while performing an abortion surgery without her consent or knowledge. Sudhir takes all the responsibilities on himself and lets Prashant off the hook.

Watch this movie for?

Effective story telling by Hrishida and Amitabh?s brilliant performance. Especially, it is AB who carries the film on his stanch shoulders. Dr. Sudhir Roy?s character has many shades that of a steadfast friend, a lover, a caring Doctor, a vengeful brother, a mentally challenged victim and an obedient son. Only AB could carry a difficult role like this with marvelous ease. Each scene, each dialogue rendered by AB leaves everlasting impact. The climax scene between AB and Rakhee picturized in the visitor?s lounge of jail clearly shows geniuses of the superstar.

All Rakhee has to do in any movie is to express through her dazzling eyes. Her figure is far from stunning and in fact, as Bhavna Somaiya, once said what Zeenat had to do in Satyam Shivam Sundaram to look sensuous, Rakhee could do the same with her fetching eyes.

Vinod Mehra is a big let down. His role is truly simple with mostly grey shades, yet he fails miserably. He actually looks tiny and amateur against Big B. His face is mostly wooden and body language and dialogue delivery is just passable.

And Kashmir?

Initial sequences and two songs are entirely shot in beautify locales of Kashmir Valley. Every time I watch Rakhee standing in the middle of the gorgeous snow clad mountain ranges singing ?Aeri Pawan, Dhoondhe Kise Tera Man?, I get Goose bumps all over my skin. Jahangir was so right, when he said that Kashmir is heaven on Earth. The movie even has an entire song dedicated to Kashmir ? ?Kitni Khoobsurat Yeh Tasveer Hai, Yeh Kashmir Hai?. It?s my dream to visit Kashmir at least once in lifetime, hope it becomes reality one day?