Satte Pe Satta

Review By Kamal K

Performances, Songs, music and comedy were great. Suprise element was Amitabh as Babu and performance of Ranjeeta.

Yet another Superhit movie of Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini Jodi.

Apart from this movie they gave Superhit movies like Sholay, Gehri Chaal, Desh Premee, Naseeb, Baghban, Nastik and Trishul.

Satte Pe Satta is must watch.

Bollywood has always ripped off, sorry paid homage to Hollywood films and here its the turn of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers to get the Bollywood treatment.

Amitabh Bachchan still in his pomp plays Ravi the more educated and cultured eldest brother. The other brothers are what might be termed as 'junglee' living in the jungle.

When Ravi gets married his wife Indu sets about straightening the brothers and getting them spruced up and tidied up.Soon the brothers are also looking to get hitched.

Of course Bollywood films have long running time and in amongst the singing and the dancing, there has to be a dastardly villain.

The second half of the film introduces a conspiracy plot line. Indu's wheelchair bound friend is an orphan under the care of her uncle played by Bollywood's favourite bad guy Amjad Khan who wants her money.

Khan hire an ex-con Babu (Amitabh Bachchan in a dual role) who kidnaps Ravi and enters the house impersonating Ravi and hopefully do away with Khan's niece.

The thriller element sits uneasily with the first part of the film but this is how the Bollywood formula works.

The 'seven brothers' part is a lot of fun, this is a good showcase of Bollywood circa early 1980s and of course a chance to see a younger Amitabh, then the equivalent of Robert Redford/Paul Newman in India.

This film was released just before he had a serious health issue and I believe he never reached the height of his popularity after he recovered.

That's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, for you in Hindi ! If Amitabh, and Hema Malini were not there in the lead role, this movie, perhaps would have fallen flat on it's nose ! But it's the dual role of Amitabh, one as a simpleton, hard-working, duty-conscious, loving brother, and the other, a contract killer at that ! Unable to manage his unruly, filthy, and lazy seven brothers, now what was Family Planning workers were doing all this time , one may wonder ? Amitabh also manages to win the love of a nurse, played by Hema, and gets her into marrying him, finally, though she is negative in the beginning, and brings her to his farm house ! She is hardly aware, of what's in store for her ! Those grown-up in age, but little kids in behavior , one more than half-a - dozen brothers, she is practically in tears ! But perhaps it's her profession, which comes to her rescue, while making these useless young men, into clean, neat, tidy, and smart fellows ! Amitabh is also surprised at this make-over, and loves his wife even more ! And then there is a twist ! our real hero is replaced by a duplicate, who has only the color of his eyes different than the original one ! and that can be managed,by the contact lenses, isn't it ? Then follow all the essential ingredients of a block buster ! The confusion, the torture by the villain, and the climax !

Ranjeeta, that talented actress, who played her first role as Laila, with Rishi kapur, enacts a handicapped , rich girl ! Amzad Khan is good as her uncle, who wants to kill her in an organized accident, and swallow her wealth ! The choreography is good, all have done their parts quite well, and the plot line includes some moments, when the replaced hero does not take the advantage of his position ! But some how, the movie did not make that well on the box ! Perhaps, the Indian audience could not digest the very concept of a young , married woman , playing elder sister to such grown up boys, and being so close to them, physically as well, to even make them bathe ! Though this is some thing different than the usual sing and dance situations, perhaps the number seven should not have been copied to such an extent ! If you sit and enjoy this one, without remembering the original, go ahead, you will not repent , after all, there is Amitabh in it !

Movies is for the love of 80s. One of the most entertaining movie to be enjoyed with family

Satte Pe Satta (1982) : Brief Review -

Extends the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers family by one more pair. Stanley Donen's enchanting musical romantic comedy is one of the most vibrant and evergreen stories from the new color era in Hollywood. A funny trivia is that Sachin Pilgaonkar wasn't even born when the Hollywood film was released, yet he played the youngest brother in the Hindi adaptation. Two decades later, he remade the film in Marathi and played the eldest brother (also directed the film). Satte Pe Satta is a fun watch and, unlike many other copy-paste Hollywood remakes in Bollywood, it does provide something new. It adds one more pair to the family of seven brothers and seven brides, and it's a deadly addition. The antagonism is also more driven towards our regular action dramas. An uncle trying to kill his niece so that he can inherit her father's wealth was a dated cliché even for the 80s. That's too corny, but definitely a new touch to the Hollywood musical. I loved the original story and adored its writing. A girl marries a man and then learns that he has six brothers. She teaches them manners, and the six brothers fall in love with six girls. They kidnap the girls and bring them home when their sister-in-law is expecting a baby. The chaos is slightly different here in Satte Pe Satta as we have two more characters joining the family. It's a fun-filled comedy with some double-meaning jokes going over the head. A marriage maker giving a "Nirodh" to the groom, a brother eating an egg and laying a hen, and such other jokes were far more complicated for contemporary audiences. Hema Malini was such a power performer right from the first scene. Amitabh Bachchan goes all out and intense in the second half. The six brothers have done well, and the six girls add glamour and spice to the masala comedy. The songs are also very good, and so is Sippy's direction. As a whole, a harmless and pretty engaging action rom-com.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.