Ajooba

A complete zero out of four. One worst sums up Ajooba: awful. Actually, more words come to mind: ridiculous, third-rate, and terrible. This is one of Amitabh's worst movies ever, he prances around in a cheap leather jacket and equally cheap tinsel foil Zorro-style mask with what appears to be wings on the sides.

The movie is set in ancient Persia or Arabia and is characteristically un-historical for an Indian movie. As stated above, a leather jacket from K-Mart with velcro straps did not exist 400 years ago, unless all my history teachers were wrong.

Rishi also does his patented cross-dressing in this movie. Far from being funny, it is very embarassing to watch. What could possess the son of the legendary Raj Kapoor to flay the memory of his house like this on screen?

On the plus side, if you want a real laugh, go ahead and watch this film. The glaring inconsistencies in the plot and costumes are no match for the awful dialogues and shoddy acting.

Ajooba is a unique blend of fantasy, adventure, and superhero elements, directed by Shashi Kapoor and co-directed by Soviet filmmaker Gennadi Vasilyev. Inspired by Arabian folklore, the film attempts to create a grand, larger-than-life world filled with magic, swords, and flying capes.

The Story Set in a mythical kingdom, Ajooba follows the tale of an orphaned prince (Amitabh Bachchan) who grows up to become a masked vigilante known as "Ajooba." His mission is to fight against the evil Vazir (Amrish Puri), who has usurped the throne by imprisoning the benevolent Sultan. Along the way, he is aided by his friend Hassan (Rishi Kapoor) and a mystical blacksmith (Shammi Kapoor).

Ajooba is actually one of the only good Indian movies ever. My brother and I had watched this movie when we were very little and still enjoy its classic and very adventurous themes. The acting in Ajooba is like that of most 1990's Indian movie (maybe better). An up-side to this classic is that it stars many well known and good Indian actors such as Amitab Bachan. The one thing that attracted me to the movie was an outstanding setting in a desert; making it relate to the old "Arabian" tales such as Aladdin which are recognized world-wide for their adventure, love, and humor. The theme of a betrayed pure good fighting ruthless bad catches my eyes as one of the many beauties of Ajooba. Although it maybe lagging in FX (c'mon, 1991), it is a story, that if understood, catches the hearts and ears of its viewers.

If there's one word I can associate to this movie, its 'embarrassment'. It must be embarrassing to everyone associated with the movie, to actually watch it in a theatre. Everything - the script, screenplay, dialogues, song lyrics, direction - shoddy, lousy.

Saw this movie when I was a kid. Liked it then, mainly because it was a fantasy, a superhero-movie. Its a not-so-explored genre in Hindi cinema. The attempt deserves credit, but that's all there is to it. Sashi Kapoor seems to have been in a great hurry in making the movie. Can't understand the reason behind casting foreigners as Hindi-speaking characters, who can't even get the sync right (nothing to say about the dubbing). The screenplay is terrible. The editing even more. If one follows the dialogues closely, one can detect grammatically-wrong sentences (which completely alter the intended meaning). Nothing special about the music.

The biggest embarrassment must be for the Censor board. There are a couple of nip-slip scenes in the movie, one of which is absolutely clear (so much so that I can't even think of a metaphor). The director missed them. The editing team missed it. And the censor board missed it too. So much for the no-indecent-exposure-on screen motto. The officials probably fell asleep while watching the movie.

Can't think of why Amitabh went with the role. It might be because he was a good friend of the Kapoors. But the role hardly has anything for him. With wonderful roles in Hum and Agneepath behind him, he couldn't have followed it up with a worse one. There are a couple of heroic scenes, really worthy ones. But otherwise, they're embarrassingly unbelievable (arrow-catching for instance.. it probably could've been better with CGI, but it was '91..).

Dimple and Sonam do not exactly set the screen on fire. Shammi Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor give an inspired performance, but their scope is limited. Amrish Puri is his usual self in the role of a fairy-tale villain (letting out the villainous laugh every now and then).

On the whole, an interesting concept. Could have been a lot more better.

This probably one of the best 90's movies of all time . I don't know why it is so underrated there..