Mahaan

Review By Kamal K

The movie direction is very stupid and done illogically. The movie has such a serious story but then the director managed to spoil it by putting cringy comedy.

The movie is has such a good story but lack of logic and bad screenplay made the movie unwatchable. It is a nightmare for talented actors and actresses in the movie.

Mahaan is a great family movie, with loads of action. The story is captivating and full of twists, with a happy ending, one of my all-time favourite movies - (out of Hollywood and Bollywood)! The renewed brotherly relationship between Guru and Shankar is brought to light with the "Ha-Ha Brother" song and fight scene in the gymnasium, against about a 100 thugs. Has a romantic soundtrack and a story that makes the viewer appreciate the unity of a family.

This film is an example of how to mint money from poor customers and lure them into watching a film as badly acted and directed as this. Well, there are three Amitabhs, two of them stick to his typical angry man )1 young, 1 old) routine while the third one is an over the top character that Amitabh fails miserably to play. He overacts in a lot of scenes and fights scenes are so cheesy that you can feel them slipping away. Amitabh had put on weight by this film. He is stuffed and you can see his belly hanging out in so many scenes. As bad as Amitabh is, producers roped in Zeenat Aman and Perveen Bobby to lead roles. Their input is insignificant and hardly help the story. Villains include Shakti Kapoor, Amjad Khan and Kader Khan among others. However again none of them is allowed to develop to accommodate maximum footage for Amitabh. Thankfully the film was rejected outrightly by the public back in 1983 and was a major flop in Amitabh's career. Its unbelievable how far connections to politicians can get you in Bollywood when your acting skills are are so worthless.

Three times Amitabh Bachachan what is there not to love !(Triple Role). The range of characters Amitabh can play is simply amazing. R.D.Burman is at his one of the best composition with the music/songs. Given the time period in the Indian Cinema at the time, don't expect a whole lot or try to compare it to anything as it won't be a fair comparison.

The plot of course is nonsensical and having so many tasty ingredients in it makes it almost too rich for someone not a true Bollywood or Amitabh Bachchan fan. The real reason to see this movie of course is to see the Big B playing three very different characters and doing a surprisingly good job at all of them. The 'aspiring actor' Amitabh character is the most fun to watch and has some great comedic scenes although they are absurd even by Bollywood standards. Most importantly however,in our opinion this movie marked the end of Amitabh's golden era. The notable exception being 'Sharaabi' the following year for which he received a nomination for a Filmfare Best Actor award. The injury on the set of 'Coolie', questionable movie choices and the great equalizer of age started his inevitable decline but his was a flame that refused to be extinguished. After realizing that he could no longer do the leading man roles that his audiences expected from him, he has made a graceful transition into more mature roles. 'Main Azaad Hoon' and 'Khuda Gawah' were the standout beginnings in that era with 'Mohabattein' putting the finishing touches on it. But for those fans of Amitabh of yesteryear and Bollywood masala at it's zaniest I would heartily recommend 'Mahaan' as one of that era's swansong films.

Mahaan(1983) is remembered most because for the first Amitabh who has perhaps done the most double roles did a triple role. The film is directed by south director S Ramanathan It starts off with promise but the problem is the film shifts to crude comedy and other sub plots, The scenes involving Amitabh and Jeenat sometimes cross levels of over the topness, The comedy at times is really too much like Amitabh's scene with the snake towards the end. There are several well handled scenes but many times the director resorts to corny situations and clichés to move the story ahead.

Direction by S Ramanathan is not too great Music by RD Burman is a winner, Pyaar mein Dil Pe sung by Kishore, Asha is famous till today, while Yeh Din to Aata hai by Asha and RD is also well remembered, Asli kya hai is superbly sung by Kishore and Amit Kumar and picturised well, while Kishore Kumar's solo Jiddhar Dekhun which is shown 3 times is superb too, The other songs are good too

Amitabh Bachchan has done dual roles many times but for once he played A triple role, he plays a lawyer who becomes Rana Saab a runaway criminal an elderly role something Bachchan had played before in Adaalat and Desh Premee while the second role is a cop and third role is of an over the top singer, Amitabh does well in the senior role and in the cop role but in the singer role he tends to overdo There is lot of distinction in all 3 which is amazing, In the senior role Amitabh always wears sunglasses(or are those specks) and suit, while in the cop role he has a thin moustache and Shirts with top color and in the third role he wears outlandish costumes. Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi are the heroines while Waheeda Rehman had played the role too often but she is good Amjad Khan, Macmohan, Shakti Kapoor are as usual