This is an incredible journey, with maybe enough plot for three movies. Trouble was there was nothing new, it was just amazing how well it was all packed in. It has something for everyone – love, passion, male-bonding, jealousy, self-sacrifice, trust, hate, sorrow, regret and big time redemption. And flashbacks and some nice music.
Man on the run from police for the murder of the murderer of his sister holes up in police officer's house, who is married to his ex with a little son. He doesn't want to leave as it means the cops might catch him, the cop wants him to leave but is playing ball with a gun to his head for his family's sake, while his wife and son – and so on and on. To say there's a lot of ideas and plot twists is to put it mildly – for a while it even resembles a stage play with the intensity of Le Jour Se Leve or Petrified Forest, with a nod to Key Largo. And in a sometimes garishly fascinating colour. The young Amitabh Bachchan never looked more dashing; only the young can portray such desperation - the old would mix it with more fatalism and just tend to look pathetic. There's so much story that any technical shortcomings are ignorable – for instance I never got used to the Bollywood convention of someone being socked on the chin to the sound of a horse apparently being loudly carpet-beaten. But I suppose it helps dispel any sense of realism from sneaking in, which is no bad thing.
If you like a good complicated yarn you shouldn't fall asleep watching this film! At the end they ask What Is Life – just a procession of memories? This will leave you with a fine procession of memories because all of Life is in here.
