Waqt

The story of Waqt is pretty standard: an earthquake separates the members of a wealthy family with three sons, who are brought up as a result in separate and quite different circumstances. Eventually, of course, the family is reunited, but not before variuous twists and turns culminating in the three brothers appearing in court in connection with the trial for murder of one brother, with the other brothers being the defence counsel and a witness for the prosecution, respectively. Pretty standard stuff - but stylishly presented and with strong performances,particularly by Sadhan as the love interest of one of the brothers, and Sunil Dutt as the lawyer brother. Nice stuff, great music, lavish sets, and a pretty cool courtroom denouement!

This is an old wine. This movie's story is like a fairy tale.

This movie got everything,eg- drama, tragedy, action, romance etc.

Full on entertaining, nice courtroom drama at the end of the movie.

Balraj Sahni is affluent and cocky, living the good life with his beautiful wife and three young boys. He thinks he can control destiny but TIME wills otherwise and an earthquake scatters his family to the winds. His eldest turns into a suave thief Raja, played by Raj Kumar. The middle son, played exceedingly well by Sunil Dutt, is brought up by a very wealthy couple and turns into Ravi the lawyer. The youngest is Vijay, played by Shashi Kapoor, who lives with his mother in penury. He finds a job as a driver with Chinnoy Seth (Rehman), a master criminal. The two older brothers both fall in love with the beauteous Meena, played by Sadhna, while the younger romances the peppy Renu, played by Sharmila Tagore. Of course the brothers have to cross paths and in fact they meet and part and even bump into their father on the streets. By a quirk of fate Raja discovers that Ravi is indeed his brother and now blood will tell. He wants to smoothen the path of love for Ravi and Meena but is framed for a heinous murder committed by Chinnoy Seth. Chinnoy convinces Vijay to lie for him. An exceedingly well enacted courtroom drama, with the rookie Ravi defending Raja, terminates in the obligatory happy ending for all but the journey is most pleasant.

Waqt is Yash Chopra's finest film, evergreen, well written, well acted. It boasts of some of the most classic dialogs pre-Sholay - 'Chaku Se mat Khelo, Chot Lag Jayegi'. 'Jin Ke Khud Ke Ghar Sheese Ke Hon Woh Doosron par Patthar Nahin Phekte Chinoy Seth' etc. The court scenes are very engaging and have high drama but not much melodrama. The acting is great all around but the top folks are Balraj Sahni, Sunil Dutt (Gule Gulzaar Bulbule Yaar!), Raj Kumar, Sadhna. Oh - the film scores high on the looks quotient too! Sunil and Shashi are absolutely yummy, Sadhana is beautiful and Sharmila the sweet naive one.

Music is melodious - O Meri Zohra Zabeen, Hothon Pe Khushi, Kaun Aaya , and my personal favorite Aage Bhi Jaane Naa Tu. This one is a keeper and worth revisiting.

I just watched this film and I highly recommend it to anyone who feels like making a trip into the Hindi cinema of yesteryear. While by no means original, the story has the perfect combination of drama, fun, romance, hardship and lucky coincidence. The court scenes at the end are wonderful, with Sunil Dutt in full 'Perry Mason' mode, and the finally comes with all the tears and high emotion that I've come to know and love from 'Bollywood' films. The songs are nice (a personal fav is 'O Meri Zohra Jabeen'), the ladies stunning, the gentlemen charming, and the young Shashi Kapoor divine! It took quite some searching to find a copy of this film on DVD but it was well worth the hunt.

Watching 'Waqy' was like making a pleasant visit to yesteryear's cinema. One wonders how Yash Chopra put it all together as it includes a stellar cast, wonderful music and engaging plot. Not only did he direct, he was responsible for other crew-work like choreography. even though the screenplay isn't original today, it was path-breaking at its time and it finely balances, comedy, drama, romance, hardship, music and suspense through coincidences. It is 'Waqt' that becomes a reference source for all of Chopra's future films e.g. Rani Mukherjee's rookie lawyer in 'Veer Zaara' parallel's Sunil Dutt's, Rekha (Silsila), Sridevi (Chandni), Preity (Veer Zaara) and pretty much every heroine in Chopra's films parallel Sadhana's grace and Juhi's (Darr) and Sridevi's (Lamhe) chirpiness parallel Sharmila's Renu.

Chopra does lightly tackle some issues such as coincidences, living in the present etc but 'Waqt' is an entertaining film, not one that will make you pick your brain. Though it is predictable, it remains enjoyable. Chopra had the three Kapoors (Raj, Shammi and Shashi) in mind to play the 3 brothers but (thankfully) he opted for Raaj Kumar and Sunil Dutt to play the elder brothers. The three brothers are different from one another. The eldest one is a charming and elegant thief, the younger one is an energetic hyperactive lawyer and the youngest one is a calm introvert. Raaj Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Shashi Kapoor fit their parts brilliantly. This is one of Raaj Kumar's best performances. Dutt and Kapoor are already known as fine actors. Sadhana brings grace and the actress has a delightful screen presence. A cute and chirpy Sharmila Tagore brings a smile and the voluptuous Shashikala makes a brief appearance too. Achala Sachdev is a complete natural and she shows the transition in her character with ease. Mr. Chinoy was made for Rehman and lastly, what would 'Waqt' be without Balraj Sahni? The actor just makes the cast complete.

'O Meri Zohra Jabeen' might be the most memorable track but the other songs are just as beautiful thanks to the magical voices of Asha Bhosle and Mahinder Kapoor. All have been wonderfully shot. I particularly liked the way Asha Bhosle's cabaret number 'Aage Bhi Jaane' was shot.

This is one evergreen classic that I've already watched numerous times. And, I haven't tired myself of it.