Kaala Patthar

Kaala Pathar is the story of Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) an ex-naval officer who is court-martial ed and dismissed from the navy for his role in as captain of a ship that sank and many lives were lost. Vijay is looking for a place so dark that even the hideous demons inside him that taunt him so terribly will get scared and go away. He finds that darkness in the depths of the coal mines where he now works as a coal miner, where he welcomes every danger, every threatening rumble of disaster as a chance to pay for his past Ravi (Shashi Kapoor), the engineer in-charge of these doomed mines. Doomed because the greed and mindless exploitation by its owners have made the mines into potential death traps. Ravi, seeing the terrible danger looming ahead, tries to alert the management but with little use. He is paid for his alertness by being fired from his job which is when he joins forces with the workers and Vijay in order to save the lives of the minors and fight the establishment. Mangal (Shatrughan Sinha), an escaped convict who is also looking for a place to hide, but unlike Vijay, not from himself but from the eyes of the law. And discovers that under his boisterous and egoistic exterior is a compassionate human being for whom the law of justice is more important than the law of the jungle. He ends up joining Ravi and Vijay in their fight for right. As these three men set off on their crusade, each of them also find love. From the trusting, simple miners and their families who see these men as messiahs and from three women. Sudha (Raakhee), a doctor who is as kind and caring as she is beautiful and sees Vijay's bleeding, repenting heart behind his stone-hard exterior, Anita (Parveen Babi) a reporter who falls in love with Ravi's fearless, clear-eyed belief in justice and in himself and Shanno (Neetu Singh), a gypsy whose sparkling eyes and racy sales pitch snares even the hardened heart of Mangal. Kaala Patthar is inspired by a real-life mining disaster that happened in India in the history of mining industry. On 27th Dec'75, the 'Chasanala' charcoal mine got flooded with water in which 572 workers were caught. It is an intensely dramatic film about the human heart. That as long as it beats with love and with hope, there will always be a dawn waiting at end of the blackest of nights. With a multi-star cast, a lively musical score and a nail-biting climax, Yash Chopra has made Kaala Patthar a memorable exception to the exquisitely soft, glamorous love stories that have become his hallmark. The technical side of the movie was good. The sets & make-up helped the film to become more realistic. Amitabh Bachchan's withdrawal into solitude was impressive. With a flame of anger in his eyes & confidence in his actions, he delivers minimum words and still makes an impact. Shatrughna Sinha is also good with his own style. Shashi Kapoor with his smart look is charming. Remaining Rakhi, Neetu Singh etc. are okay. The tea-stall confrontation between Bachchan and Sinha is probably the most explosive encounter between two heroes ever in Indian cinema; and Bachchan comes out with a subdued, yet strong performance.

I thought it was an Indianized version of Lord Jim, which was itself based on the true story of the abandonment of a ship called PATNA! In Lord Jim too the protagonist lives with the fact of his own cowardice and eventually redeems himself by taking on ugly forces that prey on the poor and weak. Kaala Paththar had two other men in the story - and followed the usual 70s/80s cliché of the man with the criminal background having to die in the end. But it was also quite uncliched in having no overt romantic track between Shashi and Parveen Babi, and a very quiet connection between Amitabh and Rakhi. Rakhi never enunciated well in Hindi and it got worse in moments of agitation. Here she did not have to speak much and was OK. I always liked Neetu Singh and she was good in this one too. Shatru was never a favorite but he was quite restrained here IMO. For a film from the 70s, this was indeed quite a different one and I enjoyed it. Amitabh was excellent as the coward, then the slowly burning up with self-disgust man, and finally as the hero. The mine disaster was well shot and the dark and claustrophobic kind of picturization made is seem realistic. There were not really many songs to disrupt the narrative - another unique feature for a film of its time. Fr instance, no sad number with wailing violins as the hero sits and stares at the stars and broods over his past! I gave it 8/10.

An ambitious film that suffers, unfortunately, from what might be the worst cinematography in the history of film. Even an American special effects team could not save the film from somtimes sloppy editing and shoddy camera work. However, the film is worth seeing for the issues it brings up regarding worker/management relations. A good story and great acting soften the blow of the weak cinematography. Yash Chopra is a very good director, but this film makes him seem like a hack.

This film has an amazingly ambitious story for its time. a story about poorly treated coal mine workers and a deeply powerfull hero destined to a life of pain and suffering for his mistakes in his past. this film boasts some powerfull performances from Amithab Bachan and Shatrugan sinha. Rakhee plays the soulful doctor destined to help the unfortunate wherever they may be thus on of the most famous lines in bollywood history when Rakhee is trying help The injured Amithab. "please why dont you try uderstand" "Pain is my destiny doctor and I can't avoid it!" Shashi kapoor plays the Dashing young romantic engineer together with Parveen Bhabi the news reporter who plays his girlfriend in the film. The story works well on a whole though technically the film leaves a lot to be desired. Though the scenes in the coal mines are well done. The rest is a bit shoddy in places, but some brilliant acting is what takes this film beyond its rather dull appearance. This film comes with a soulful soundtrack that really works well and some fantastic songs to be rememderd forever... they just don't make stories like this anymore.....shame really

Kaala Patthar review :

A lesser celebrated film of director Yash Chopra; Kaala Patthar was loosely based on the real life Chasnala mining disaster with some wonderful characters written by the legendary Salim Javed.

Amitabh Bachchan is Vijay, an ex army officer who is working as a mine worker in order to forget his past guilt. Shatrughan Sinha in his career best act played Mangal, an escaped convict who takes a job in the mine to evade the cops while Shashi Kapoor is the honest and 'dil ka achcha' engineer who warns the greedy mine owner (Prem Chopra) against the impending flood in the mine.

The performances were universally first rate. Amitabh Bachchan spoke through his eyes and his simmering intensity reaches a crescendo when he yells at Prem Chopra in a superbly executed scene. Shatru's "Teesre baadshah hum hai" is still memorable and oft repeated catchphrase. Prem Chopra was apt as Dhanraj Puri, the loathesome mine owner who treats his employees like slaves. Rakhee, Parveen Babi and Neetu Singh provided the romantic angle to the three heroes.

Kaala Patthar was a technically slick and well executed disaster drama but despite all its positives, didn't work that well with the audience. Maybe, it was the grim subject and lack of comedy which kept them away.

Nevertheless, this is one of Bachchan's finest performance. Whether it is the scene where he grabs a knife from Sharat Saxena or the rescue operation in the climax, Amitabh was simply extraordinary. He as well as Shatrughan Sinha were nominated for the Best actor and best supporting actor at the Filmfare awards that year. Unfortunately, they didnt win the honours. Just like the film!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.