Razia Sultan

This film should have everything going for it - directed by Kamal Amrohi, lavish palace sets, costume design and loosely based on an true story from the era of the Turkish sultanates in India. Razia trained in combat by her Ethiopian slave Yakoot (who suspiciously looks like a blacked up Dharmendra!) proves herself a more worthy heir than her brothers. After the death of her father Razia assumes control of the sultanate to become the first female Muslim leader in South Asia. But Turkish nobility enraged at her relationship with a black man start a power struggle for the throne.

The Turkish sultanate era is nicely brought to life but despite having topics such as gender, politics, history and race on offer the film has a major problem - its coma inducing lack of pace. I can watch a slow film but this takes some effort. Although made in the eighties it tries very hard to recreate the feel of the old epics so there's a lot of silence, overacting and shouting which grates after a while.

However... the whole film is saved by the truly beautiful song 'Ay Dil-e-Nadaan' (My Innocent Heart). With a video to match we see Hema Malini, looking every inch the Turkish princess, wandering through the desert at sunset lonely and frustrated at her inability to express her love for Yakoot.

Worth a watch if you're into slow romantic epics, the history or the girl power angle but you could just read up on real story of Razia Sultan and save yourself three hours. Perhaps ripe for a serious remake?

Well, as the title says, it is infact the most underrated movie ever produced by Indian cinema. Its all about the un-riped, non matured persona of Indian movie viewers of that time, which rejected a sheer classic just because it was not in common man`s language, but indeed had the magical sense of poetric Urdu and Hindi combination. The story is all about the first ever female Indian ruler of Delhi sultanate time, Razia sultan. Though the movie played a little bit with the history, which though in itself is doubtful and confused, it dealt with the concept very intelligently. Sultan Iltutmish wants to hand over is throne to his daughter Razia, who is most eligiable for the post among all his heirs. However it wasnt that easy in the medieval period of indian history and many chiefs stood against her, whom she successfully suppressed and gained her empire. The story along with all these historical element, also deals with the persnale side of Razia, that is, her love affair with a slave, who later was rewarded with freedom by the Sultan Iltutmish, owing to his bravery and loyality. Now as this love affair which wasn`t approved by any of her chiefs, they revolted against her and she eventually died fighting. Now history says something else, which by the way isnt to be discuss here. The movie by Kamal amrohi (Pakeezha and many more), was a total treat for the eyes with its huge sets of medieval times. The art was the most outstanding part of the movie and a phenomenal amount of money was spent on them ( 15 crores in 1982). These sets almost took us in those times with glittering diamond jewellery, the wepaonry and costumes. Dharmendra and Hema looked perfect in their roles and carried them with a delicacy indeed required according to the time period, movie dealt with. The music (Khayyam) and lyrics were superb and totally matched with the story requirements. Who can ever forget the melodious and shivering voice of Gabban mirja in "ayyi zanjeer ki jhnakar" and "tera hijra mera naseeb" and the sweetness of "Ae dile nadan" by Lata. The writing credits goes to Kamal amrohi who also directed the film. The language was so poetric and complex that it became the main reason of its failure at the box office. And we say that the classics are not rememeberd by their collections but their chrams which still haunts the viewers, Razia sultan will be remembered as a historical classic, which depicted the art of movie making, while dealing with the subjects, centuries old, but which haven`t yet lost their beauty.

This is an example of a stupid unimaginable piece of work by a great director having an amazing score. I can't believe how some people giving it rave reviews when it has clearly distorted history. Razia Sultan's romance with Yakut was a myth, it was cooked up the royalties of Razia's kingdom who were jealous of her reign and wanted her to bring her down. Also their main objective was to give birth to seeds of jealousy in Altunia's mind who was Razia's childhood lover and companion.

Mr Amrohi instead went onto make a film based on the affair of Razia and Yakut mainly because to cash on the popularity of Hema Malini and Dharmendra's onscreen pairing at that time. But you can't play with history to satisfy your disbeliefs. The result? the film bombed at the box office and rightfully so, I watched this film online and kept skipping for the sheer audacity it displayed onscreen.

The climax's simply laughable. Dharmendra as Yakut going on a killing spree to save Hema Malini from clutches of Altunia played by Vijendra Ghatge. Razia plays a damsel in distress and Yakut takes her on her horse and they rode off, it's left for the audience imagination whether she was killed or if they made their way to safety. Simply Stupid ! While in reality, Razia and her forces were captured by Altunia and Yakut was killed, later Altunia realized his mistake and they get married.

The next day they set off to get the throne of Delhi back where they encounter a huge force by Balram Shah. After a fierce battle, Altunia loses his life, Razia continues fighting but gets outnumbered and hence lay her life in the battle. Her story deserves a great film. Mr Amrohi has only insulted her Image and nothing else.

The only good thing about this film are the songs by Khayaam Sahab. They are unforgettable. Simply outstanding. Watch the film for just the songs if you really want to, otherwise go read Amar Chitra Katha comic of Razia Sultan that's far more interesting than this trash.

Good songs, art direction, Direction by Mr.Kamal Amrohi. He had a flair for rich, powerful storyline movies. Have watched the movie which is totally different from the genre of Hindi movies. Especially, as told by one of the users "Ay Dil e Nadaan" song is a very melodious tune and song and beautifully pictured. Also other songs are rich with music and a treat to hear. Hema Malini has got a good character role along with Dharmendra and they do justice to their role. The sets of the movie are terrific and reminds us of the Sultantate age. It is a good movie for lovers of history and also of the times. Wonder when such powerful directors will appear in Hindi film world.

Kamal Amrohi's Razia Sultan is one of the most interesting historical films made in India. The story of the love between a 10th century queen and her slave general, what makes it especially interesting is the unconventional behavior and values of the primary characters, which makes the film seem campy at times, but which reflects the presumed historical context and values of the times.

The highlight of the film is the amazing music by Khayyam and beautiful song visualizations by VK Murthy. The language and lyrics are beautiful Urdu and Persian so requires repeated viewings by the modern viewer to fully understand and absorb the richness of the narrative. The sets and acting are also very high grade, especially by veteran Pradeep Kumar, who steals the first half in what was probably his best performance. Hema Malini and Dharmendra do a great job, as do some veterans like Sohrab Modi and Shahu Modak, in what may be their last roles. Special mention to the late Shandaar Amrohi whose portrayal of the dissolute prince Rukn-ud-din Firoz Shah is spot on for the character.

Khayyam's music, featuring a dazzling array of classical Indian instruments and voices, continues to be considered an all-time classic. The two songs by rarely recorded Kabban Mirza reach deep into the listener's soul. The classical Indian dances by dance maestro Gopi Krishna's troupe are also simply superb. The sets are magnificent and successfully evoke the historical period. Songs are filmed lovingly by the legendary cinematographer VK Murthy and are on par with the work he did for Guru Dutt on his classics - every song is a classic.

Now for the sad and shameful part, as the film took 10+ years to make and release, audience tastes had coarsened during its making and the released film was a huge commercial disappointment. Maybe as result of this failure, the Eros DVD print of the film is a dreadful "camera print" - poor transfer, terrible black transfers in the evening/night scenes, clipped images, unsynchronized sound, missing songs, and shamefully, the ~180 min film has been hacked down to ~140 min, causing huge continuity issues, muddled narrative, unresolved story lines and incomplete character arcs.

In spite of this shameful mutilation by Eros, the narrative is fascinating and demands repeat viewing by any interested viewers. I hope Eros, Hema Malini and/or the Amrohi family reads this review and publishes a complete and accurate remastered DVD print of this classic, so this labor of love is not lost to future viewers. The effort should not cost more than $10,000 if an original 35 mm print can be found.

Shahkaal weeps tears of blood for this lost classic - as a lyric in the movie says "khoon dil ka na chalak jaaye meri aankhon se" :(