Saudagar

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.

. . .two giants of the Hindi film industry Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar together on a screen. This movie also introduces Manisha who went on to become one of the most talented actresses of 90's. The story is not original but the music, dialogues and photography compensates for it.

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

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.

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.