After a lot of coaxing from a whole lot of people - primarily friends and work colleagues....I finally saw the movie which many regard as one of Bollywood's great productions, considered also, in some circles to be 'the most amazing Hindi movie'. Yes, if you haven't guessed even after reading the title of this post (pay attention yaar !) , the movie is none other than - Andaz Apna Apna.
Heralded as one of the all-time greats starring, inter alia - Aamir Khan,Salman Khan,Raveena Tandon, Karishma Kapoor, Shakti Kapoor and Paresh Rawal - the movie continues to have a strong fan base even in the second decade of the 21st Century.
Before I begin my analysis, let me start by giving credit to the film-makers for making the movie extremely gripping, as at no point during the running of the film was I bored or distracted (even by the loud construction work going on next door). The firm grip that the movie had, is worth applauding because while the ending of the film as pretty certain, I for one had made up my mind that if I like this film, it would be due to - its quick pace, interesting twists & turns and a generous peppering of comic scenes. And yes, Andaz Apna Apna or AAA delivered on all fronts and unlike the US debt rating the movie stays true to its title and gets a AAA from my side !
I do however, disagree with the film's music. Firstly, with the number of songs and secondly with the quality of songs. None of the picturised songs were anywhere even remotely close to the Bollywood songs of the 90's which I've come to love. The only bit of music which I appreciated was the instrumental tune which plays at the start, end and during certain scenes of the movie.
On the acting front - Aamir outclassed Salman in every scene. I particularly liked the scene when Aamir dresses up as 'Bade Mamu'. On the other hand, a lot many times I felt Salman was struggling with his character, perhaps because his character was not built strongly. It seemed that while a lot of thought was put into while building Aamir's character; Salman's character seems to have been rummaged out and put together in a hurry. I was disappointed because at the start of the film, I felt that Prem (Salman's character) had more potential as Prem was depicted as more 'aawara' and more of a film-buff than Aamir's character - Amar.
Despite his miniscule role in the film, hats-off to Jagdeep (he played the part of Prem's father - Bankelal Bhopali) who delivered a thoroughly brilliant performance. After a long time I saw a classic comic peformance with perfect timing and old-school expressions - especially in the scene when he is having a conversation with the new owner of his house. Great performances by 'Anand Akela', 'Raabert' and 'Bhalla'. Paresh Rawal, I think cannot give a bad performance at all.
Nothing much to say about the actresses - the performance was good, though I felt neither female character was challenging. In fact there is a flaw in Raveena Tandon's character as when she first appears at the airport she struggles to find proper Hindi words to complete her sentence and then later on...somewhat magically.. is able to speak fluently in Hindi. On a seperate note, the absence of an item number (which has become commonplace and sometimes sine qua non in present movies), was not missed at all.
Another minor flaw (after all a flaw is a flaw!) is that at the end of the movie Paresh Rawal while announcing the marriage he uses the words 'meri betiyaan' (my daughters) even when it is clearly explained that only Karishma Kapoor's character is the real heiress and Raveena Tandon's character is the daughter of Paresh Rawal's accountant.
But enough with the flaws, all and all a great movie, though I wouldn't put it right up there with my favorities, but definitely in my Top 20 list. I still maintain that no Hindi movie can beat SRK's Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naan. Call me biased, but KHKN in my view is paramount.
Before I end this post which happens to be the very first post on this blog - I would like to explain the meaning of the words 'cab-critic' appearing in the title of this post. I call myself a cab-critic because I have enthralled (maybe even sometimes irritated) a lot of my fellow cab-mates on quite a number of occasions, when films (from both Bollywood and Hollywood) are discussed thread-bare at the back of a Toyota Qualis at a quarter past eight in the evening. And now I intend to enthrall (or irritate) you with my somewhat unique take on not just movies but any topic / issue that spurts up in my mind because......mujhey kuch kahna hai ! :)
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