Ghulam

I first saw this in a theater in the late 90s. Revisited it recently. The film is an unofficial remake of On the Waterfront. While this one aint no masterpiece like the original, it has lots of action n thrilling moments. The most iconic one is the train sequence. The final showdown between the hero n the villain is a solid one too. The performance by the lead actor Aamir Khan is the highlight. Rani Mukherjee looked stunning throughout n very nice in the last scene with her black tshirt. Deepak Tijori's sideburns n his jacket is a big lol. The film does have its flaws.

The boxing match looked clearly rigged n not at all an official championship one. One of the fighter is not landing punches or defending himself but jus stayingin in one place, hands behind the rope n suffering punches by the opponent. The house/bldg doesn't have any safety hedge or any grill around. The jackets worn by the bikers are pathetic. Some of the side characters who played the bikers looked uncles n not at all youngsters.

Siddhu, a tearaway and ned, is a boxing champion. His elder brother is the accountant and henchman for a slumlord. The slumlord is a former boxing champion who rules the local community by terrorising people, extorting money from local shopkeepers n hoteliers n sometimes by match fixing. Siddhu convinces a social worker who reminds him of his dead father, into an ambush, preventing the social worker from persuading the local people to sign a police complain against the slumlord. Siddhu assumed that the slumlord's henchmen were only going to have a talk with the social worker to pressure him into not convincing the local people to file a police complain against the slumlord but is shocked when the social worker is killed.

The movie is one complete package of romance, action and thriller. This used to be my my favourite watch in my younger days. It had everything to enjoy for a kid like me. Aamir Khan though a bit skinny looked hot as hell. Rani Mukherjee, she was the perfect role model of the beauty for me in those days. Everything of her was perfect.Her voice, man so real it was, her eyes, her face. She having that bike ride with Aamir used to be and I think still is one of of the most romantic couple goals one can ever have. I always wanted to do that, may be someday, though I think traffic rules will hardly permit that. The action sequences specially the train one was amazing and perfectly shot, gave me goosebumps when Amir had a near miss on that railroad. That last fight between Aamir and the villian was so real that I can give one enough impulses to confront any goon on this god damn planet. A must watch, at least once for anybody who wants to relish the pleasure of one great entertainment. #Ghulam1998

Siddhu is a small time felon in Bombay who's morals can be summarised as `every man for himself'. His lawyer has faith he can change and is trying to help him by keeping him out of jail for petty offences. Siddhu's brother works for Ronny, an ex-boxer who now runs organised crime in the area. As a result Siddhu gets some muscle work for Ronny. One day Ronny's thugs are beating up some shopkeepers for money by Siddhu's house. Afterwards Siddhu meets the eldest, Hari, and befriends him. However Hari is responsible for causing Ronny trouble and hence Siddhu unwittingly helps Ronny to kill him.

I have only seen a handful of Bollywood films of these I have loved one (Lagaan) and been indifferent to the majority. I find that they have all the flaws of Hollywood exploitation movies without many of the production values. Ghulam (The Slave) is a fine example of the standard Bollywood formula - songs, pretty girls, manly heroes, hairy villains, overacting and dramatic music and direction. As such it is OK but I'm not a fan of these standard formulae. I'd rather have them with at least a bit of a new spin. However this film doesn't want to do that and gives it to us straight. The plot is a basic `do the right thing' film that borrows heavily from `On the Waterfront' in many different ways.

The action scenes suggest a Bollywood Jackie Chan but they lack any of his flair and imagination. The love interest is dropped into the film so heavily that it hits with a heavy clang - the first hour is basically just that, it isn't integrated into the film so much as just added on. It does allow about 5 songs to occur that don't fit with the tone of the film. I'm a little biased because I always struggle to tell one from the other with these things. I know that they films are meant to be whole adventures for an audience but it just felt pretty disjointed to me.

The direction is typically hilarious - rushing cameras etc that really play to the traditional Bollywood clichés. The sound effects sound too fake and don't match the action and the different in sound quality between dialogue and singing is so noticeable that it bothered me. I know that the singing is mostly done by other people in a studio but can't they at least try and match them up in terms of quality at least.

The acting is also very clichéd. Khan was a good hero in Lagaan but he was helped by the more professional feel of that film. Here he fits with the mood of the film in that he just overacts where needed - tears, anger, frustration etc, all emotions are on his sleeve for all to see. The villains are typically bad and gruff and overact like the best of them. Meanwhile love interest Mukherjee (Alisha) is suitably air brushed, pretty and shot with a constant breeze in her hair and soft focus lens!

Considering people make a big deal of Bollywood movies being a big culture. To me this just smacked of American influence. Chicago Bulls tee-shirts, T2 posters etc all clutter the sets. Meanwhile the plot borrows from lots of American films. Like I said the plot itself is just On the Waterfront without the subtext or drama. They take it and just throw out anything of value and add songs! Even the boxing scene sees the opponent being a mickey-take of BRITISH boxer Prince Naseem Hamed. Even the climax is a mix between a wild west stand-off and a Rocky movie! Does no one else see the influence of American culture in this film? It's not a bad thing but why pretend that Bollywood films are something exciting and new?

Overall this film will please those who happily accept the Bollywood film formula with all it's weaknesses. For me I view it on the same level as any other film - it's plot is weak, a basic good versus bad story, with average acting, misplaced songs and not very much to enjoy for an even slightly demanding audience.

Sure, its formulaic, but personally I think there is an element of spoof in it. Look at some of the dance routines. Especially the one where they are in a log cabin. They are not taking themselves too seriously here. And it does have a charm about it. My favorite song in it is the one about going to Chandala. And the scene where he enters her window about 16 stories up - it is completely ludicrous but is hugely entertaining and I feel for the right reasons.

Amir Khan also appeared earlier in "andaaz apna apna" which was very much a comedy, allthough it did tend to veer to much towards farce at times.

Although there was some sort of an action story and a moral theme to it, i think much of it was meant to be a light comedy romance, and those parts of the film worked quite nicely.

Sure its not a particularly memorable film and isnt ground breaking cinema, but its not actually a bad film, as long as you arent expecting too much out of it. And its quite watchable.

i was not a big amir khan's fan before this movie but after watching "ghulam" it not only made me amir khan's fan but also at the same he stamped himself as the bollywood ace...

"Ghulam" shows the sudden change in the life of sidharth who first being non-serious in his life soon realise the reality of the life and when he becomes more loyal he has to pay for the changes.. emotional scenes are wonderfully executed by amir khan, the way he has tackled difficult scenes shows what a brilliant actor he's been for bollywood... whereas rani mukherjee looks gorgeous but have little to offer in a brief role.. all in all a very good movie with a good twist and a better second half... also the climax was very astonishing... the music is good to ear... highly recommended to all amir khan's fans!