Barsaat Ki Ek Raat

This is a good movie but not par with the movies made by Shakti Samanta earlier. A second in line movie for Big B and Rakhi. Shakti da earlier had made some very good movies with Sharmila Taigore and Rajesh Khanna. He likes to portray the Bengali background and that comes nicely in this movie too. The storyline however is weak.

Rakhi is a blind girl Rajini, who gets married to the (forrest) officer Amitabh Bachchan. Amzad Khan (plays Kaliram) is son of a contractor Utpal Dutt and is after Rajini. One rainy night, when Abhijeet is away, Kaaliram rapes Rajini and the movie becomes a run-of-mill affair...

Beautiful acting by the lead cast. Songs are tolerable (example a drum contest between Abhijeet and Kaaliram, the drum of Kaali Ram bursts and the song "Kaaliram ka phat gaya dhol, beech bajariya khul gaya pol, ho gaya uska dabba gol, bol hari bol hari bol hari bol...". Certainly departure from literary great lyrics of Shakti da's earlier movies. But, if it would have been a movie from some one other then Shakti da, it would have been perhaps best of that person - for Shakti da its a mediocre movie.

I was watching this again after a long time (now in 2024), and this time it was in the regional language, not in Hindi. I've seen it and watched it in Hindi a few times before. The trivia mentions that this film was released in 1981 alongside films like Yaarana, Laawaris, Naseeb, Kaalia , which in my opinion today were completely bombastic and over the top , larger than life with excessive popcorn action. **Kaalia** would be labeled as a bombastic revenge story, **Yaraana**, while a bit over the top, still manageable...& what to talk about , Naseeb & Laawaris ...bollywood's special curry vindaloo films. However, this one, compared is gentle, mild, and serene compared to the other four that came out that year.

I'm enjoying the regional language version; it's soothing with good cinematography, and it has a mellow pace. I would still rate this one as the best among the five, but having said that - back in 1981, I would probably have still chosen the other four over this one, that was a time when i was 12 or 13- & 'curry vindaloo ' were great in my pov!. As time passes, though, one starts to appreciate the serenity of this one.

The reason I'm mentioning the five is that these two big stars were kind of pitted against each other in 1981, and at that time, Big B was really riding the wave of blockbuster hypes & his arch nemesis would have to be (cliched) A. K . But, of course, this film wouldn't stand a chance against the other four because audiences at the time(1981, incl. Yours sincerely ;) wanted bombastic, larger-than-life figures and 'masala Curry' flicks with A. B pitted against A. K. This film was more down-to-earth and mellow,.

I'd say this was a fair pass. The songs are still enjoyable & lilting....

If I were to rank these five films today, I'd now place this one at the top. I plan to watch the regional language version and then switch to the Hindi version, just to see how much effort went into the (no) lip-syncing. All scenes were shot in both Hindi and the regional language, rather than being dubbed(& over-dubbed) later in the studio. What a challenge it must've been for all involved. !

So, these were my 2 cents.

Thanks to **Mr. Shakti** for giving us this gem, which we can now appreciate like a fine old vintage wine in 2024 & even onwards.