Saudagar

When I think of Subhash Ghai's Saudagar two things come to mind. Firstly is the immensely popular song Ilu Ilu, secondly is the coming together of two titan of Bollywood, Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar. Dilip Kumar had previously acted by Ghai's Karma and Vidhaata. Saudagar came out in 91 where Subhash Ghai was still a trusted director that churned out hit after hit,Karz, Hero,Meri Jung and Ram Lakhan. The story of Saudagar goes like this. Two childhood friends fall out due to a misunderstanding created by Amrish Puri. Decades pass and they are now sworn enemies. Then their grandchildren(newcomers Vivek Mushran and Manisha Koraila)meet and fall in love without knowing their families legendary dispute and they conspire to make their grandparents friends again. Subhash Ghai always had a good ear for music and out of all his movies in my opinion Saudagar had the best music. All the songs are simply sublime, my favourites are Ilu Ilu and Teri Yaad. Subhash Ghai even managed to assemble a great cast together(most of whom are veterans of Subhash Ghai movies). The cast consisted of Jackie Shroff(in a special appearance)Deepti Naval,Amrish Puri,Dilip Tahil, Anupum Kher and many many more. Saudagar is very long but with a movie as entertaining as Saudagar I say the longer the better. Watching Saudagar is a sad reminder of how Mr Ghai's career has taken a turn for the worse over the past couple of years.

Typical early 90s movie. It might be a bit difficult to enjoy this one in 2024. Manisha does what is expected of her - she looks pretty, dances and cries. Vivek Mushran doesn't add much value; his highlight of the film are his impish expressions in the song ILU. Deepti Naval isn't given much to do. Jackie Shroff is good in his blink and miss role. The usual roster of baddies are also there - Amrish, Dalip and Gulshan Grover. There is a bit of everything - mellow-drama, enmity, love story, friendship, scenery and a couple of good songs. The highlight of this film are no doubt Raaj & Dilip Kumar. Raaj is majestic and Dilip is an enigma. Watching them together onscreen is like watching history in the making, you cant take your eyes off of them. Expectedly, they outperform everyone else. The story between their characters is what drives the film and if you are a fan of either of them (especially Raaj Kumar) than you will enjoy this but if you are looking for something new, I would give this one a skip.

Saudagar review :

They didn't call Subhash Ghai the 'SHOWMAN' for nothing!!

Only he could think of bringing the two titans - Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar - together as besties turned foes in a magnum opus loosely adapted from Romeo and Juliet. The focus was more on their feud than the love story of the young couple from the original classic tale.

Saudagar is a complete director's film and Ghai showed his true calibre by not only handling the two veterans who hadn't worked together after Paigham (1959) but also by introducing two fresh faces - Vivek Mushran and Manisha Koirala- out of which one went on to become a big star of the '90s.

Laxmikant Pyarelal always reserved their best for Ghai and the love duet 'ILU ILU' ruled the music charts for nearly one and half year after the film's release. After Tridev's Oye Oye, Ilu Ilu became eve teaser's favourite anthem and the police would actually pick anyone singing it loudly.

The confrontation scenes between Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar were epic stuff and the dialogue "Hum tumhe maarenge aur zaroor maarenge. Par woh bandook bhi hamari hogi, goli bhi hamari hogi aur waqt bhi hamara hogaa" joined the ranks of Raaj Kumar's best.

Clocking more than three hours, Saudagar opened to packed houses across India and it was simply impossible to procure tickets in its first week. I got to see the film only on its second tuesday at Matunga's Badal Cinema which was still going full. Most of the crowd were repeat and they were screaming the dialogues and cheering so loudly it was difficult to hear the screen. In 2017, Subhash Ghai re-premiered Saudagar at his own New Excelsior theatre in Mumbai and that was my second theatrical watch of this grand movie. This time, I had Ghai himself with Anupam Kher and Gulshan Grover seated in the row ahead of me. Wow!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

What an amazing movie, Subhash Ghai has done and outstanding job with this film. I really loved, especially the meeting of two huge Bollywood stars, Raaj Kumar and Dilp Kumar, when they both got on screen you could feel the intensity and raw talent coming from both actors. Such an evergreen movie shouldn't be overlooked by Bollywood fans and viewers alike, I recommend you go out and watch this movie now it is really great. I also liked the music, particularly the song "Ilu Ilu", great song and this film helped launch the career of one Bollywood's most talented actresses, Manisha Koirala. Vivek Mushran was good in the movie also but I believe one Amrish Puri did steal the show. All in all a great film, I give it a 10/10, I would've given it a 9 but the song "Ilu Ilu" made me give it a higher score. I really loved this movie. R.I.P to Raaj Kumar, a really talented legend, movies like this are why he should never be forgotten.

Close to my heart. Childhood memories, teenage memories, adulthood memories and will be my old age memories.