Die Wut des Albert Pinto

'Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai' revolves around the Pintos and the people connected to them. There's Albert who's pretty much angry at everybody. His brother Dominic who thinks it's better to be jobless than to work an underpaid job, his patient sister Joan who works at a sarishop, his independent girlfriend Stella who feels under-appreciated by her boyfriend, his father and his colleagues, client and Stella's family. The film is very much a social commentary about Middle-class life in Bombay during the late 70s and the conflicts arising in the labour force because workers were getting severely underpaid. Saeed Akhtar Mirza and Kundan Shah don't follow a story with a distinct resolution. It's more of a collage with the Pinto family at the center and how the conflict in labour force affects them and the people around them. The writers give it a touch of comedy satire but they're also serious about making a relevant point. Akhtar Mirza succeeds in his approach to bringing the story to screen. Naserrudin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Arvind Deshpande, Sulabha Deshpande and Om Puri deliver outstanding performances. I particularly liked Smita's straight to the point Joan who has to live with a physical handicap and yet she manages to keep her head high and go to work. While everyone around her is either worried or in chaos, she remains calm and patient and has the answer to all questions.

Directed by the creator of the rags to riches story "raju ban gaya gentleman" and the excellent tongue-in-cheek comedy "Yes Boss" this is a superlative movie about the life of the Indian lower middle class of the late 70s. The angst, the issues are portrayed in a poignant manner. The acting is memorable with Naseerudin Shah as the titular character overshadowing everybody else. There are also other great actors like Om Puri in a two bit role, Satish Shah in a small but effective role as a local ruffian, Smita Patil as the handicapped sister of Albert(absolutely intense performance) and above them, Shabana Azmi as the girlfriend of Albert who has to bear his tantrums and face his insecurities regarding her. The movie plays on the backdrop of the Mumbai Cloth Mill strike. It perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the 70s like Dev D. did for the the first decade of the millennium. A must watch for every lover of good cinema. This is one movie which Indians should be proud of. The technical details could have been better but it has its heart in the right place. 4 out of 5 for this. A shame that no channel carries such socially relevant movies any more.

If you watch this movie with the hope that it will unravel some secret aspect of Albert's life to you which will explain all his anger, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. This movie is not about the person Albert Pinto, but rather its a socio-political statement on middle-class life in Mumbai during the 70s. In some ways, there is no plot. Its a sketch of family ups and downs, mostly downs. But its a very honest and terse sketch. Lots of good actors and realistic acting in the movie give it a very non-filmy feel. I specially liked the characterization of the women - played by Shabana and Smita. Very strong and opinionated and hardy. I suppose that the broad message of the movie is that the average man in those days was generally speaking angry because society holed him into only that slot.

Albert Pinto(Naseeruddin Shah) is a man with anger issues. He gets angry on almost every other issue. Reason for albert's anger is not shown exactly but we can easily guess why he is so angry at every other issue. It's because of the social issue, hardship from which a middle class man's family has to go through. The economic inequalities, the fight for survival, the difference between privileged and underprivileged. The film is basically a portyal of a man who is just angry from everything happening around him.

This movie does not aim for the reason or the solution or raises any question with its narrative, its rather the sketch of a person named Albert Pinto and his family which seems so real and you really get an sketch of middle class life in Mumbai around the 80's.

This movie is like showcase of talents. You see Nasseruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Om Puri, Dilip Dhawan, Smita Patil, Satish Shah, all the actors in their early days and its so good to see how natural were they even back then.

Naseruddin Shah was no where in the movie, all we can see was Albert Pinto. He was so much convincing. Other than him, I really liked Dilip Dhawan, altough in a limited role. His earlier movies were so much promising and he delivered strong performances in almost every movie.

The movie points out many social, economic and moral issues in the story line up. Somewhere it will make you think.

You can list this movie as one of the important movie in Indian cinema. A rare gem.

This is a slow movie depicting life style of average christian in commercial Indian society of early 80s. The time set of the movie is that of the great strike in the city of Bombay. Apart from an insight into the life style and the nature of the city itself, there is very little for a viewer to find out of the exact life of the christians in India.