Kaala Patthar

An ambitious film that suffers, unfortunately, from what might be the worst cinematography in the history of film. Even an American special effects team could not save the film from somtimes sloppy editing and shoddy camera work. However, the film is worth seeing for the issues it brings up regarding worker/management relations. A good story and great acting soften the blow of the weak cinematography. Yash Chopra is a very good director, but this film makes him seem like a hack.

Kaala Patthar review :

A lesser celebrated film of director Yash Chopra; Kaala Patthar was loosely based on the real life Chasnala mining disaster with some wonderful characters written by the legendary Salim Javed.

Amitabh Bachchan is Vijay, an ex army officer who is working as a mine worker in order to forget his past guilt. Shatrughan Sinha in his career best act played Mangal, an escaped convict who takes a job in the mine to evade the cops while Shashi Kapoor is the honest and 'dil ka achcha' engineer who warns the greedy mine owner (Prem Chopra) against the impending flood in the mine.

The performances were universally first rate. Amitabh Bachchan spoke through his eyes and his simmering intensity reaches a crescendo when he yells at Prem Chopra in a superbly executed scene. Shatru's "Teesre baadshah hum hai" is still memorable and oft repeated catchphrase. Prem Chopra was apt as Dhanraj Puri, the loathesome mine owner who treats his employees like slaves. Rakhee, Parveen Babi and Neetu Singh provided the romantic angle to the three heroes.

Kaala Patthar was a technically slick and well executed disaster drama but despite all its positives, didn't work that well with the audience. Maybe, it was the grim subject and lack of comedy which kept them away.

Nevertheless, this is one of Bachchan's finest performance. Whether it is the scene where he grabs a knife from Sharat Saxena or the rescue operation in the climax, Amitabh was simply extraordinary. He as well as Shatrughan Sinha were nominated for the Best actor and best supporting actor at the Filmfare awards that year. Unfortunately, they didnt win the honours. Just like the film!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

The Stellar star and production cast speaks for itself. Amitabh well and truly on his way to becoming the Badshah of Bollywood and the No.1 in the early 80's, this is one of his best movies and performances in the late 70s as the Angry Young Man with a Past. Shatrughan is unforgettable as the Bad good guy, Shashi Kapoor at his debonair best, Prem Chopra the consummate villain - and best of all unlike other Bollywood glamorized movies this one is shot thru with an extremely strong dose of realism - you can almost taste the coal dust and grit in your mouth - one of Yash Chopra's very best and India's nod to the Hollywood disaster hits of the 70s - but then of course the crown jewel is Amitabh all the way - a towering electrifying performance. Soundtrack is awesome too (Ek Raasta Hai Zindagi by Kishore especially) - Quality of the movie on Amazon is great - crisp and original quality with no digital artifacts - pitch perfect digital version

KAALA PATTHAR is my all time favorite movie. I never imagined even in my dreams that I'm going to watch this masterpiece with my father on the Big Screen and that too on Amitabh Bachchan's 80th Birthday. Mr. Bachchan as Angry young man, Vijay was phenomenal he is an absolute legend. After 43 years of its release this movie is still impactful with the powerpacked performance and striking dialogue delivery of Shatrughn Sinha and pleasant appearance of Shashi Kapoor. Beautiful Multistarer Direction of Yash Chopra, Script by Salim-Javed, Playbacks of Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Md. Rafi and Mahendra Kapoor everything was there to make it one of the most heroic Bollywood cinema.

#HappyBirthdayAmitabhBachchan #AB80 #KaalaPatthar.

I thought it was an Indianized version of Lord Jim, which was itself based on the true story of the abandonment of a ship called PATNA! In Lord Jim too the protagonist lives with the fact of his own cowardice and eventually redeems himself by taking on ugly forces that prey on the poor and weak. Kaala Paththar had two other men in the story - and followed the usual 70s/80s cliché of the man with the criminal background having to die in the end. But it was also quite uncliched in having no overt romantic track between Shashi and Parveen Babi, and a very quiet connection between Amitabh and Rakhi. Rakhi never enunciated well in Hindi and it got worse in moments of agitation. Here she did not have to speak much and was OK. I always liked Neetu Singh and she was good in this one too. Shatru was never a favorite but he was quite restrained here IMO. For a film from the 70s, this was indeed quite a different one and I enjoyed it. Amitabh was excellent as the coward, then the slowly burning up with self-disgust man, and finally as the hero. The mine disaster was well shot and the dark and claustrophobic kind of picturization made is seem realistic. There were not really many songs to disrupt the narrative - another unique feature for a film of its time. Fr instance, no sad number with wailing violins as the hero sits and stares at the stars and broods over his past! I gave it 8/10.