Sunny

Post the wonderful Betaab, the fantastic couple of Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh reunite in another film, only that this time too much focus is given not to the young couple but those who play his parents in the film: Dharmendra as the unfaithful husband, Waheeda Rehman as the infertile wife, and Sharmila Tagore as the mitress who conceives his child - three of the seasoned actors are given a weird love triangle which is as typical as you know, and it's really quite boring. In many ways it's just a rehash of one of the director's previous ventures Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki, and quite a poor one at that. The result is Sunny, our title character played by Sunny Deol himself, who is as young and dashing as you can imagine, and that he's so effortless in front of the camera only helps. The sultry Amrita Singh, whose screen presence is also undeniable, contributes to the pairing.

Sadly, these two have very little to work with. I'm not sure I dislike this film as much as I think it's a very bad follow-up to Betaab which makes me automatically reject it. The fact that the fresh pairing of Deol and Singh was given less importance for the benefit of a most clichéd story with Rehman and Tagore is disappointing. Tagore, in particular, rehashes her Aradhana/Amar Prem roles. It's sad that a Satyajit Ray regular was reduced to such melodramatic parts of priggish and self-righteous women in Hindi cinema. Rehman, a brilliantly authentic actress at her best, is equally given a thankless role which requires one straight expression throughout. The dynamic between them is not as impressive as one would expect - the writing is just too corny. R. D. Burman does well with the music. "Meri Yaad Aayegi" and "Aur Kya Aheda Wafa" in its two versions are melodious, but the film is stale.