Saudagar

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

Riding on their past reputations the two Kumar giants nullified what could have been an excellent film.The story is well contrived like most rip-offs of Romeo and Juilet.The script and photography is above average.The casting is the weak link.The director would have been better advised to cast younger actors for the roles of the young Veeru and Raju instead of two old men who do more justice as grandfathers later in the film.Manisha and Vivek resemble each other too much to be plausible as lovers!Raaj Kumar's appalling physical state berefts him of his usual commanding performance though his speech is great as ever.Dilip Kumar excels but the the thunder is stolen by one Amrish Puri!A very average film most suitable for hard core Kumar fans but overall nothing new.I always felt that after Gunga Jumna Dilip Kumar didn't do justice to his talents due to his youth fixation Saudagar is another case in point.

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.

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.