Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver (1954) : Brief Review -

Dev Anand and his wife Kalpana Kartik's chemistry saves Chetan Anand's run-of-the-mill romantic drama. There is one trivia about this film that some people know already, but still, I'd like to share it again. Dev Anand and Kalpana were married during the lunch break while shooting for Taxi Driver in 1954. Now, that's an interesting one. Generally as well as logically. Their chemistry in the film showcases the love they share for each other, and that's the best thing about this film. Chetan Anand's Taxi Driver is a typical romantic drama with mainstream commercial elements, and most of them are too predictable. Taxi Driver wasn't supposed to be a philosophical film or a cult film at all, so all it does is justify its audience-friendly vision. Romance, drama, thrill, love triangle, action, happy ending, etc. Used to be the essential elements of any Hit film of that time, and Taxi Driver runs on the same fuel. Mangal is a taxi driver who enjoys his typical daily life that includes work, drinking, and a little bit of flirting with a club singer, Sylvie. One odd night, he saves Mala from two hoodlums and then takes her home. Both fall in love, but Mangal has to leave Mala for her own good. Dev Anand's Mangal is a regular street-type fella with no philosophies or principles in life. That's why he fails to generate sympathy. Surprisingly, Sylvie's character comes out as a clever and kind one, and you simply just can't hate her. Dev's chemistry with Kalpana is superb. Not just the romance, but they have some good comic and emotional scenes too. That scene when he transforms Mala into a male cleaner and the one when he leaves her outside Ratanlal's house is fantastic. I was expecting an intellectual climax, but Chetan Sir chose the commercial and ordinary way. Overall, a good flick for its time, but doesn't do anything outside of that.

RATING - 6.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

The young Dev Anand cruising through his taxi in real natural picturisation of old world Bombay was wonderful. Music was awesome with a peppy song by Kishore Kumar and sober song by Talat mahmud. Kalpana kartik and Dev s real life romance was palpable.cigarate smoking is there every scene ..was it a style statement by men thoe days?.watched after 69 years of making. Romance with a crime thriller twist makes it a good entertainer. Dev Amand becomes the charming hero before his "star quotient* of his head tilt and head shaking acting.so watch it for purity of simple life of aspirational youth.ok.

The popularity of Taxi Driver established Dev Anand as one of the three most popular romantic heroes of the fifties/sixties.The other two being Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. Dev was more dashing and debonair.With Taxi Driver and Baazi before that, Dev also punished baddies with punches and arms twisting to give a tougher image to his acting and please his fans. Coming back to enormously popular and financially successful Taxi Driver, the film had all round appeal. This was a trend setting crime thriller noir one of its kind. They do'not make like this any more.Good acting, story, photography, music, direction, you name it and all is there. Songs like JAYEN TO JAYEN KAHAN, Dev singing on juju sea beach after writing MALA (Kalpana Kartick) on sand swept by sea wave, is very touching. Talat Mahmood, the background singer is at his best, so are Sahir Ludhianvi's lyrics and music by immortal Sachin Dev Burman, Dev Anand's favourite music director. There are other unforgettable songs in the film. Taxi Driver remains one of Dev's greatest films.

Story: Hindi cinema of the current times has matured considerably since the golden era in that writers generally stick to one well-defined theme and characters are nicely developed throughout the story. While Taxi Driver' succeeds in sticking to just the main theme instead of going all over the map, it fails in delivering a structured flow where the scenes do not feel disconnected. I mean, we have goondas sporadically dropping in and out throughout the film. The story and the presentation was not gripping. The movie is ideal for putting on the DVD while doing your chores and occasionally curiously glancing at TV, say every few minutes.

Action: When I was growing up, I saw Dev Anand as a chocolate hero. He came from an era prior to a time when the hero was usually modeled as a macho image -- not unlike the one painted by Amitabh Bachchan in Janjeer. The action scenes shown in this movie were probably good enough for the 1950s Hindi film standards. But still, watching Dev Anand beating up four goondas was not even laughable.

Songs: I've was familiar with a couple of songs before watching this movie. The rest were new to me. The music was not the typical SD Burman kind. It sounded more like RD. Overall, it was just OK.

Rating: Had this movie been made after ... say 1980s, I would have dropped the rating to 2 or 3. But just like my other reviews of old movies, I've included extra points for the nostalgic factor and, thus, have placed this movie at 5.

I have seen this move 52 years ago when it was released first and I was a high school student. Again I bought the DVD and watched it last night. I can't believe it, it is still so good! I particularly enjoyed a sort of pathos of Sheila Ramani and putting on a happy front. I also loved all her songs. I wish to correct a commentator, it is a movie of 50's not 60's (I should know it).

It is true Dev Anand, his wife in real life Kalpana Kartik, the songs of Talat etc are all excellent. Chetan Anand was at his best. I particularly loved the Guest Actor being Bombay City.

It is such a simple story and so well narrated without any extra stuff. Even the somewhat superfluous sister-in-law episode was funny and not too out of place. All in all I am so glad I bought the DVD. I recommend this movie to my age group as well as young crowd.