Mard

Oh well, Mard is really an unintentional comedy, that's how I used to watch it, and that's what made me want to watch it to begin with back when I was a kid. A middle-aged Amitabh Bachchan plays a young brutal man, which was the greatest symbol of manliness. Mard is in many ways a quintessential Hindi masala potboiler of the 1980s - exaggerated action, many songs, some (often lame) attempts at comedy, heroes, villains, and basically more caricatures than actual human characters, tons of stereotypes, bad dialogues, and absolutely implausible, ridiculous situations. Some of these basically border on the absurd.

I often wonder why someone of the stature and talent of Amitabh Bachchan never used his star power to promote better, more quality work. After all viewers would see him in anything. It's particularly surprising considering how much good work he did the previous decade - from Hrishikesh Mukherjee to Yash Chopra, from Saudagar, Abhimaan, and Zanjeer to Don, Trishul, and Amar Akbar Anthony, he did it all, and he was so good and, mind you, successful at it. And he does some routine stuff he got used to and it seems like for him it was just another acting job, although he does seem to have fun.

Mard is watchable for those fond of mindless Hindi films, but it's also quite embarrassing. I guess if seen in the required spirit and taken in the right context, it can be quite enjoyable, senseless entertainment. I honestly can watch it for comic relief. Then the songs are so nostalgic - "Will You Marry Me?", "Sun Rubia", "Mard Tangewala". And I like Amrita Singh, too. I know there's a growing following nowadays of young foreigners who are slowly discovering new Hindi cinema, and Bachchan is one hell of a find. After all, this man is a phenomenal actor. I wish they wouldn't try to get acquainted with some of his 1980s stuff like this one. This is an acquired taste, for sure.

The British soldiers would normally come over to India and loot all its wealth and carry it over to there country. But once in a time they were all challenge by a king called Azad Singh, and caught and carry to Lady Elena but they all attack King Azad behind his back and he was wounded and treated by Dr. Harry (Prem Chopra) but Dr. Harry turn out to be a British employer despite being an Indian and decided to attack King Azad and his family which consist of his wife and baby son. And so the son was separated from mother and father at a very young age. He was grown up by a horse and dog and was named Raju Singh/Mard (Amitabh Batchchan) which took him one day to the enemy's/British house and daughter named Ruby (Amrita Singh) Dr. Harry's house where he will have to challenge and fight with his father to impress the British and also made a plan which will help him and his father outwit the British.

This movie is really great. It is a picture where Amitabh can show that he is very good in Action Movies , too. The performance he shows is great (which one isn't it?). The theme of this film is good, as well. A movie for Amitabh Fans who also loves his Action movies. Just watch it and make your own picture of the film.

I grew up watching this movie. This is one of the First Movies I've ever seen and i loved it. I have seen this 100 times and never get bored of it. This was at the time a Big Budget movie for Bollywood. The movie has loads of light hearted fun moments that keeps you entertained all the way. It also has some serious moments of torture that the British do to the poorer indians. It is definitely the Best Bollywood Period movie I've ever seen. Others include (Bhagat Singh, The Rising etc). The movie has some weaknesses which include the mother getting help from co-incidenses, which is not realistic, but Manmohan Desai directs it in a way that keeps the movie enjoyable. Even if you are not a Amitabh Fan (which is rare if you watch Bollywood) you might enjoy this movie.

Bollywood fans pretty much hold Amitabh Bachan's Mard in high regard but I think it is very overrated. Manmohan Desai collaborated before on movies like Suhaag,Parvarish,Amar Akbar Anthony,Naseeb,Desh Premee and Coolie and I have seen all of them I liked so I had very high expectations before I watched Mard and was bitterly disappointed. My main gripe about Mard is that it feels like Amar Akbar Anthony part 2,maybe Mr Desai ran out of ideas, after all he had been using that formula for years and years. 1. First of all some members of the cast is repeated from AAA, for instance the police inspector who brings up Amar, the Muslim who brings up Akbar, Nirupa Roy and a few more. 2. In AAA Nirupa Roy loses her eyesight, in Mard she loses her voice 3. In AAA there is the famous song (Shirdi wale sai baba)well in Mard we have Amitabh singing Maa Sherawali. Having seen AAA for over 1000 times I noticed that straight away.

My other gripes are that some of the situations just seem ridiculous, true Manmohan Desai made leave your brain at the door kind of movies but with Mard I thought he went too far. My last gripe is that compared to songs in previous Manmohan Desai movies I found the songs rather disappointing. I know it has many fans that swear by it but I didn't like it one bit. It actually pains me to write this review because I am such a huge fan and have loved his movies since I was a child.