Amar

Madhubala overshadowed the whole cast. Dilip kumar also has done a great job. Nimmi also has done a great job by performing the role of a village girl. But sometimes her role is boring. Talking about the performance of madhubala , She is absolutely very expressive in this film. She has portrayed the emotions of Anju so gracefully. It's sad to see after all Anju is the main victim of this story.

Amar is truly a classic with a finest story and wonderful Dialogues.Amar is a classic with a message for everybody.Old is gold and this is a golden classic.One of the early good movies made in India. The story of the movie is very much relevant and the director has described the life of a simple and innocent girl in a best way to salute him.Amar is one of the early films about lives of people in India.The movie surely has all ingredients required for a classic. A forever classic that requires high Honour even today.Amar has good soulful heart breaking songs. A classic and a good movie for everybody to watch and know about lives of people of early India.Old is gold and gold is more precious.

'Amar' is very much a typical film of the 50s. The screenplay, though interesting is very flawed leaving several plot holes. The editing is quite messy in places. In the first half, it moves at a sluggish pace but in most of the second half, it jumps from scene to scene at a rapid pace that actually ended up confusing me. Even though it is a very melodramatic, the background score is extremely intrusive. Songs are very nice but excessive and really stretch screenplay (it's a long film). Characterisation also suffers. The Jayant character at times seems evil and at times seems kind-hearted. Even Nimmi's character suffers due to poor writing. She's a very poor but cheerful hyperactive wild village peasant. When she gets raped (by none other than the man she's attracted to), we see her pain and confusion but later she is shown to fall in love with her rapist (something that was quite common in older Bollywood films. This may be because she forgave him when Amar admitted to her at her wedding ceremony that he didn't have the guts to admit the truth but a lot more was needed to show the development of her feelings.

A few scenes have been brilliantly shot. For example, the scene at Sonia's wedding ceremony with the three main leads, the scenes between Nimmi and Madhubala, and the scene where Nimmi hides underwater to save herself from the evil Jayant. Performances are great too, especially the two leading ladies. Though one might say that Nimmi is loud and tends to go overboard, I thought she played the character with complete ease and did nothing short of a fine job. Madhubala does an equally wonderful job. One of the other things that stand out is the contrast director Mehboob Khan shows between these two characters. One is that of a wealthy, calm, gentle and helpful lady and the other a poor but cheerful energetic young lass. Dilip Kumar does well in most parts but sometimes he seems to have difficulty with his emotional expressions. However, he conveys Amar's guilt with gusto. So what really do stand out are the performances and the nice songs (but they're too much). I'd recommend it to fans of the actors. As for Mehboob Khan, his unforgettable 'Mother India' stands on a much higher pedestal than 'Amar'.

Amar (1954) : Brief Review -

Mehboob Khan and Dilip Kumar's pathbreaking attempt at changing the innocent image of the quintessential Hindi movie protagonist. You might have seen many movies based on raped women, right? Well, here's the film about the man who raped the woman. Had he been a bad man already, he would have enjoyed it and killed the woman. But what if the man who raped the woman was not bad? That one wrongdoing, that one bad night, and even a man with great principals is destroyed over the course of one night. Amar is about that immortal guilty conscience he is going to carry for a lifetime. To make it dramatic and very well done, there is a love triangle too. The man falls in love with a teacher and is set to be married. But then, that one night changes his human conscience forever. He is not willing to marry her without informing her about his own sin because he doesn't want to feel tormented all his life. On the other hand, the raped woman is actually in love with him and is trying everything to save his dignity. She becomes pregnant and is ready to get killed, humiliated, and whatnot, just to save the dignity of the man she loves and respects a lot. Now, this part didn't go well with me. I mean, why would that girl respect and defend a man who has raped her? It wasn't consensual. Amar has a lot of drama in the last 40 minutes that might bore you today, but I guess, almost every Bollywood movie in the 50s had to go through this because the standard of filmmaking was such and it suited the contemporary audiences. There are too many songs that make it slow, again using the same contemporary filmmaking standard. So, as a whole, Amar still finds its way as a pathbreaking Hindi drama that broke the myth of a quintessential innocent protagonist who can never do wrong things. Gutsy, but very well attempted. I would have preferred a negative ending for timeless impact, though. Dilip, Madhubala, Nimmi-it couldn't get better than this.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

A misunderstood classic brilliantly shot in b/w in a style reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock.Possibly many are baffled by the way the story is churned out but it follows a definitive pattern leading to the poetical climax.Excellent use of the temples highlightens the subjects of rape and unmarried mothers.Definitely a thinking film though the frequent songs may seem absurd.Madhubala and Nimmi are outstanding.Dilip Kumar's acting has been misunderstood because his role is opposite to the usual tragic,heroic types he is known for.But the depth he takes his character into is amazing.I rate his acting in this film as the most sophisticated of his career.The music and songs are above average and the script is good.The supporting cast is strong and all excell in their roles.As in all Mehboob films the message here is the downtrodden in society,here a victim of rape left to the mercies of a bigoted community.This film will be hailed in the future because it's message and style was too complex for its time.