Saudagar

Close to my heart. Childhood memories, teenage memories, adulthood memories and will be my old age memories.

Saudagar review :

They didn't call Subhash Ghai the 'SHOWMAN' for nothing!!

Only he could think of bringing the two titans - Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar - together as besties turned foes in a magnum opus loosely adapted from Romeo and Juliet. The focus was more on their feud than the love story of the young couple from the original classic tale.

Saudagar is a complete director's film and Ghai showed his true calibre by not only handling the two veterans who hadn't worked together after Paigham (1959) but also by introducing two fresh faces - Vivek Mushran and Manisha Koirala- out of which one went on to become a big star of the '90s.

Laxmikant Pyarelal always reserved their best for Ghai and the love duet 'ILU ILU' ruled the music charts for nearly one and half year after the film's release. After Tridev's Oye Oye, Ilu Ilu became eve teaser's favourite anthem and the police would actually pick anyone singing it loudly.

The confrontation scenes between Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar were epic stuff and the dialogue "Hum tumhe maarenge aur zaroor maarenge. Par woh bandook bhi hamari hogi, goli bhi hamari hogi aur waqt bhi hamara hogaa" joined the ranks of Raaj Kumar's best.

Clocking more than three hours, Saudagar opened to packed houses across India and it was simply impossible to procure tickets in its first week. I got to see the film only on its second tuesday at Matunga's Badal Cinema which was still going full. Most of the crowd were repeat and they were screaming the dialogues and cheering so loudly it was difficult to hear the screen. In 2017, Subhash Ghai re-premiered Saudagar at his own New Excelsior theatre in Mumbai and that was my second theatrical watch of this grand movie. This time, I had Ghai himself with Anupam Kher and Gulshan Grover seated in the row ahead of me. Wow!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

it's sad to see Saudagar being left behind in today's cinema. This is a movie which will be remembered for two most talented actors and one of the best directors of Indian Cinema ... For Indians like me, This will always be an awesome movie .. with incredible performances. Raj Kumar and deelep Kumar, who have always been known for their talent ,give outstanding performances. Anpuam Kher plays his character beautifully . Manisha in her first film was also good with Vivek. Subhash Ghai who has giving many brave and beautiful movies, once again proved to be a excellent directors as he was able to manage film actively. All Scenes between Deelep Kumar and Raj kumar are beautifully shown. They both in their characters are very convincing and powerful.

Typical early 90s movie. It might be a bit difficult to enjoy this one in 2024. Manisha does what is expected of her - she looks pretty, dances and cries. Vivek Mushran doesn't add much value; his highlight of the film are his impish expressions in the song ILU. Deepti Naval isn't given much to do. Jackie Shroff is good in his blink and miss role. The usual roster of baddies are also there - Amrish, Dalip and Gulshan Grover. There is a bit of everything - mellow-drama, enmity, love story, friendship, scenery and a couple of good songs. The highlight of this film are no doubt Raaj & Dilip Kumar. Raaj is majestic and Dilip is an enigma. Watching them together onscreen is like watching history in the making, you cant take your eyes off of them. Expectedly, they outperform everyone else. The story between their characters is what drives the film and if you are a fan of either of them (especially Raaj Kumar) than you will enjoy this but if you are looking for something new, I would give this one a skip.

. . .two giants of the Hindi film industry Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar together on a screen. This movie also introduces Manisha who went on to become one of the most talented actresses of 90's. The story is not original but the music, dialogues and photography compensates for it.