The Burning Train

Okay this is the kind of film you need to approach with an open mind and be much less critical about - this is mindless entertainment. If you spend your time looking for flaws while watching it, you will indeed find a few and and there's no way you're going to enjoy it. There isn't much logic in The Burning Train, it is an action potboiler, but I mean it in a good way because for once some effort was made to try something different and innovative. Among the shortcomings, the film takes quite some time before it starts picking up. I think it would have been better had it started with the train ride and shown the silly romantic cliches in flashbacks instead of giving such a lengthy prologue to the actual fun that everyone is set up for.

And once the train takes off, there's a long way to go - the premise set by the title materialises just shortly before the film ends. Does it mean the wait is not worth it? I'm not sure, the film is quite enjoyable and at least there's something to wait for given the title. The four actors are all quite good, and the contrasting archetypes played by the two leading lady are particularly interesting - one is a modern, new-age woman, the other is a traditional, conservative sort of self-righteous heroine. This distinction is brilliantly captured in the film's first song - "Meri Nazar Hai Tujh Pe" - sung by the sensational Asha Bhosle. Sadly the film doesn't give you much to marvel at, but it is quite enjoyable, and its final sequences are pretty fun.

The Burning Train is an action thriller disaster film directed by Late Ravi Chopra. The film stars an ensemble cast of Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Late Vinod Khanna, Late Parveen Babi, Jeetendra, Neetu Kapoor, Late Vinod Mehra, Late Navin Nischol and Danny Denzogpa.

Indian fastest passenger train met with a tragedy in its maiden voyage due to sabotage.

The film was an average grosser upon it's release but is now considered as classic and is one of it's kind film ever produced in the history of Indian cinema. The film is not only entertaining but can also be called as an high octane film which will keep you engaged with the fast paced screenplay primarily in second half of the film.

The plot of the film is unique and execution is good, the first half of the film makes the foundation of the film and second half delivers. The only drawback which I felt and wasn't required was too many subplots which I didn't wished to share to avoid spoilers, these subplots might irritate viewers and also breaks the rhythm of the film.

Acting in the film was mind blowing and all the characters were perfect but a very special mention for Danny as he was yet again terrific in his negative role. The acting was so perfect that even the smaller roles of Asha Sachdev, Late Rajendra nath, Late Yunus Parvez, Asrani and Late Dinesh Thakur left an impression.

The music of the film was mind blowing and all credit to the legendry Late R. D. Burman for such a marvelous music. Climax of the film was perfect and gives a great closure to the film. A must watch film.

I think this movie was ahead of its time, and would be a great film to remake with current technology and sensibility. It is a flawed film, and many of these flaws are due to its 80 Bollywood tropes, but it has a lot of plus points which are still impressive in 2016. I will mention them first before I discuss the flaws:

Great character drama. The train is full of all sorts of different kinds of characters, funny, quirky, sexy, angry, criminal, religious, young, old, family, couples, single, and the interactions between them make for very entertaining drama. Think of a road trip movie, except on a train with a myriad of characters.

Great screenplay. Except for the speedbreakers at the start, once the journey on the train begins the screenplay packs a lot of interesting situations and turns of events that keep the journey interesting; the initial character introductions and banter, the realization the breaks have failed, the train catching fire, the attempts by the passengers to save themselves, the frantic efforts by the railway officials to come up with ideas to save the train racing against time. There is never really a dull moment.

Great action. I would not have thought an 80's Bollywood movie would have had such technical finesse. The fast moving burning train actually looks real, the interiors look real, you actually feel like it was shot in an actual train(I am sure some portions were) The parts where some of the characters climb out of the moving train and then try to get to the next cabin by going across the windows or running on the top of the train looks like they really did it. The pyrotechnics are on par with 80's Hollywood. It is evident that this was a big budget movie for its time and it is executed with the same professionalism as similar disaster movies like Towering Inferno.

Great acting. Aside from the 80's acting style, another layer of realism is added by the reactions of the passengers to the impending doom, the desperation to survive and amidst all the mayhem to maintain their humanity. Vinod Khanna as the train's engineer particularly is notable and very handsome, you do wonder why the gene was not passed on to Akshay Khanna.

Now I will begin with the cons:

Takes time to start. The initial half hour is about introducing the leads and their love interests, and there are a couple of unnecessary songs. In fact the only song that really works in the movie is the lone song on the train between all the characters to entertain themselves on the journey. This actually can happen on Indian trains.

Female characters are weak. This is 80's patriarchal Bollywood when feminism had not really taken off yet, and it is evident here as the female characters have little personality and just react to their male counterparts.

At times OTT. Another 80's Bollywood staple is the "Disshom" fighting scenes which are cheesy and you have the OTT comic characters, the Johnny livers of their time, like Asrani with their slapstick routines. The villainous characters are one dimensionally bad.

If it was remade today for a contemporary audiences many of these 80's staples should and would be done away, leaving a great disaster movie. There are not many notable Bollywood disaster movies, so this would provide great material for a contemporary one.

"The Burning Train" is a very nicely put together, entertaining action thriller. The film is a tribute to India's railways, and to sacrifice and heroism. The sacrifice made by the heroes of the film in trying to save the 'burning train' is nicely mirrored by the sacrifices they make in their personal lives, often with less than happy results.

The movie is also a very satisfying story about relationships (particularly the friendship between Vinod (played by Vinod Khanna) and Ashok (played by Dharmendra), envy, betrayal, redemption - and love.

Dharmendra(whom I love love love - that was 3 loves) and Vinod Khanna (whom I love love - that was 2 loves) are excellent in this movie (as always),putting in brilliant performances. They are very effective and complimentary leads, and they're also quite funny (the scenes where they try to snag their girlfriends by tricking them are great).

Hema Malini is excellent as well (I always love the energy between her and Dharmendra - see the classic 'Sholay', although Malini's character in this movie is very different from Sholay's 'Basanti'). Parveen Babi (in a smaller but very effective role) is good too. There are parallels between their roles and relationship in this movie, and the roles they played in 'Do Aur Do Paanch'. That's not a criticism, though - if it ain't broke, why fix it? I think they make a great pair.

Danny, who plays the villain ('Ranvir') does quite a good villainous face, I must say! With his pitiful 'wannabe great but know I ain't' demeanour (supplemented by even more pitiful hair), you can't help but feel sorry for the guy. Nice portrayal of how a villain can still manage to be really pathetic.

All the other performances (Jeetendra, Neetu Singh and the others - the scene when they all sing on the train is another highlight of the film) are fantastic as well.

The film is really well scripted...it never drags on and maintains a nice brisk pace. It's kept to a nice length as well. I also love the opening scene, which introduces the main characters perfectly. I had to go back and watch it after the movie was over.

The big-budget (for that time) special effects in this movie also deserve a mention. Despite a couple of forgivable poor shots of a model train, the 'burning train' of the movie's title is very realistically portrayed. You almost feel as though you're on the train tracks. Very nice work.

I also have to mention the lovely song sung by Vinod Khanna, Dharmendra, Hema Malini and Parveen Babi near the beginning of the movie (ok, I know it wasn't sung by the actors but by Asha Bhonsle, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar etc, but you know what I mean). Captures the mood perfectly - the bliss of love and friendship (sorry if that's not actually what the song was about - I don't understand Hindi and the song wasn't subtitled - so just guessing here)... just before life (as it usually does) jumps up and bites you in the behind. I love the song and the choreography.

By the way, if you don't like a healthy dose of sentimentality (in which case you probably don't like Bollywood movies in the first place), then this movie is not for you.

Anyhow, I think I've said enough...all that's left to say is this is a great, entertaining movie for the family. It has action, thrills, romance, comedy, everything. I wish there were more like this.

I have attempting to get hold of this film for a very long time and when i finally got it wow. However several bits did not make sense. The previous reviews says it is 142 minutes long, and i know for a fact that at least one of the five songs was missing - 'Teri hai zameen, tera aasman'. Having done a further search, the film is actually 185 minutes long. Although the film was great, the reason it did not make sense was because i'd seen the edited version, where they had taken out all the important bits.

The songs are absolutely great, the relationship between Vinod Khanna and Praveen Babi, and Dhamendra with Hema Malini was great, especially where they got together.

Still attempting to get hold of a proper copy so if anyone knows where then please let me know.