Sangeet

Sangeet is a sweet story about human love, imperfection, selflessness, and forgiveness. Setho (Jackie) is a peasant folk singer who comes to Mumbai to perform. When "Madam" (Madhuri as the middle-aged patron of the arts) finds him camped out in a deserted building she owns, she hears him singing and invites him to come sing at her anniversary party. Setho delights her there, but his folk music is not for everyone. Madam's husband is a cad, shunning her for associating with such "low-lifes," and there is little happiness in their marriage. Meanwhile, Madam encourages Setho in his music. - Setho stumbles into a 'dance hall' one day where he sees a beautiful young woman (Madhuri) performing suggestive dances for a crowd of lustful men, and becomes indignant enough to storm onto the stage and shame the young woman and her mother (as well as the men in the audience). He befriends the young woman and her mother, as he discovers that the young woman is blind and her mother knew of no other way to provide for them. Eventually, a web of secrets unfolds among them, which includes a charming 'flashback' to Madam's young love for her musical neighbor, the handsome Nitish Bharadwaj (in a special appearance). The love that develops between Madam, the young dancer, and Setho is sweet and uplifting, and the movie comes to a happy climax. A real gem of a film! Madhuri's dual role is flawless and very convincing. Don't miss it!

I think this is the first Vishwanath Hindi original movie. His earlier movies Eashwar, Sargam etc. were remakes of his own movies in Telugu. Now... Vishwanath and Madhuri... That's what they call the right director/actor blend. I personally feel that this movie would easily ranked in 5 best performances of madhuri. Both the characters (she has a dual role) are well developed. Jackie's performance is okay. The story would not be suitable for Hindi audiences and so it bombed.

Sangeet is one of the best films of the year 1992 directed by K. Viswanath. Madhuri is superb in the double role of mother and her blind daughter in the film and shows her versatility as an actor. Jackie is also very good in his role. The music by composers Anand-Milind is melodious. It is a heart touching and sensitive film well made under the excellent direction of K. Viswanath. Sangeet is not like a typical Hindi masala film of the 90s decade. The film might not have been commercially successful upon release but is memorable due to the captivating performances by Madhuri Dixit and Jackie Shroff.

Brilliant film with awesome dual layered acting performance from Madhuri Dixit. Jackie Shroff shines in his part. Direction is commendable. Recommended

Sangeet review :

This 1992 K Vishwanath directorial film was largely ignored at the ticket counters as well as unheralded by critics of those days. But Sangeet has some super fine performances by its lead cast - Jackie Shroff and Madhuri Dixit - complimented further by an awesome music score by Anand Milind that it still makes for a nice sunday afternoon watch.

Yup, the pace is bit slow and the songs have a classical flavour to it but the biggest positive factor in Sangeet is the inherent simplicity and sweetness with which Vishwanath has handled it. It can almost pass off as a quasi sequel to his own Sargam (1979) which by the way, was a big hit in the late '70s.

Madhuri shines in a double role of maa beti - one is a silent suffering wife of no-gooder Shafi Inamdar who doesnt mind using her for his business deals while her illegitimate blind daughter is dancing to raunchy songs in a seedy nautanki. Main Tumhari Hoon!!!

Jackie plays the Rajasthani folk singer called Sethuram Sargamwale who spots beti Madhuri in that sexy nautanki and seeks help from maa Madhuri to train her in professional dancing. All the while, Maa is obviously unaware of the beti thanks to the cunning dai maa Aruna Irani..

The songs with a strong classical base are wonderfully choreographed with Madhuri expectedly, setting the screen on fire with her latkas and jhatkas. This is one of her finest performances which sadly went unnoticed. I would certainly recommend this film to her fans, in case they have missed it. Must watch!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.