Baghban

Lately, Bollywood has churned out movies with tremendous show of skin and exhibitionism, but this movie is such a stark contrast and is one of the reasons that it works. In this movie they have dealt with the age-old issue of children not willing to take the responsibility of their parents when the parents are considered "useless" by their children. Although we have seen such movies in the past like Avtar and Amrit, but what is different about this movie is the way they have shown the romance of an old couple. I can't remember seeing such romance in any other Hindi movie, so it is refreshing to see that even an old couple can have youthful romance.

This is one of those movies that makes you think and analyze your relationship with your parents. As one's parents get older their habits get formed and many times members of the younger generation (myself included) get angry at them and I felt how important it is to overlook the immediate state of your parents, and instead to reflect on how they have toiled in bringing you up. Another question that arose in my mind after watching the movie was whether parents have children so that they have someone to take care of them or do they have children without any ulterior motive. After having discussions with my Mom (in relation to this movie) I realized that, yes, everyone does have expectations, but that's not the reason that they work so hard to build a child's future. In fact, as a child, we have expectations from our parents through our dependence on them, so why should we accuse them of wrongdoing when we have similar expectations. It is human to want to be loved, and that's the least we can do for our parents. Well, after reading this lengthy philosophical discussion you can see how thought-provoking this movie is. Let me get back to the movie. After a long time I have enjoyed watching Amitabh Bachchan, and Hema Malini's performance was so subtle and yet she gave a powerful performance. There is one scene in particular, where she tells Amitabh to have his medicine (right before they get separated) and one moment she has her eyes shut and the next moment her eyes are filled with tears. In this movie I didn't find much melodrama and the dialogues are hard-hitting and are to the point. Finally, the performance of Paresh Rawal, is, as usual, very good. I hope everyone watches this movie with their families.

Baghban is generally good, thought-provoking and moving, but it's never outstanding. This is the story of Raj and Pooja (Bachchan and Malini) who are married for over 40 years and have four sons living in India and one adopted son living abroad. The first half portrays the love of the entire family and particularly the longstanding love of the elderly parents. But then, when Raj retires and asks their children to take care of him and his wife, they get a shocking reply. The sons offer them to live separately, each spouse with another son, and change residence every half a year to another son. This is quite unbelievable and unrealistic. Would any child have had enough courage to act so cheap with their parents and separate them despite knowing how much they love each other? I don't think so. I was surprised that after all, the parents decided to accept their children's senseless conditions. I wonder, how is it possible? Why wouldn't they have stayed together in their house and forgot about their children? Well if they had done this, this film probably wouldn't have been made, so that's pretty sums it up.

And that's the particular period on which the story focuses: the first six months they live separately, Raj in the house of the second son, and Pooja in the house of the elder son. The film portrays their loneliness and suffering without each other, but most importantly shows how they discover the true colours of their children. Their children don't care for them, treat them badly and don't show any respect. Their daughters in-law are even worse. This part of the film is only reasonably well-done. The main problem with this entire concept is that you wonder how come they never get to meet during these six long months. Before they moved, they always had parties and dinners with the entire family and now they suddenly don't? Are they in prison or what? The saviour comes in the form of Salman Khan, their adopted son who literally worships them. I did not really understand the need to show such an enormous love from Salman to his parents. It was, though ironic, extremely cheesy and hard to believe.

In spite of the many of its flaws, the film does have its moments and it manages to touch your heart on more than one occasion. For instance, the Diwali phone conversation between the couple; there is nothing to eat in the fridge and Raj pretends to be eating, yet his wife understands that he is lying. The scene is moving (although it is, again, hard to believe that a common family's fridge would be completely empty). I loved the scene in which Hema asks her son how he can be moved by his wife's tears but doesn't give a damn for his mother's tears. Hema Malini was spectacular in both of these scenes. What I particularly liked, however, is the nice interaction between Raj and the new people he meets in a nearby restaurant in which he spends most of his time, including its young clients and particularly its owners, a childless couple played by Paresh Rawal and Lillete Dubey.

Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini, who have worked together many times, totally rise above the script and bring so much experience, sensitivity and depth to their respective roles that the otherwise poorly-handled portrayal of their love becomes convincing. Paresh Rawal and Lillete Dubey play their roles to perfection and make for an extremely sympathetic couple. Salman and Mahima are wasted, and all the four sons, their wives and children, are strictly average. The film belongs to the main lead and it's nice to see an out-and-out commercial Hindi movie in which the lead pair are 60 years old.

Baghban works in parts. Sometimes it's exciting, but sometimes it's boring and unwatchable. It generally works as typical Bollywood entertainment. The story had been tackled in Bollywood too many times before in films like Avtaar. Yet there is something very refreshing and new about the way it's presented in a modern-day India, even if it's not completely convincing. The irony conveyed through this film is too evident: strangers treat them better than their own children. I guess this was made to shock the audience and convey a striking message. The music is average, but the fact that Bachchan performs his own songs is good for the film. The ending is dramatic, overdone, but still somehow works on you. Maybe it's the best thing about this film; the moral taught in it and the good acting are stronger than any of its weaknesses.

Baghban - the first curiosity came with what the name rely meant. And the second curiosity was that could Hema still look so stunning!! The second one was yes she can!!! And as for the first one it came after watching the movie. I understood why its meant to mean the caretaker or Guardian. The movie is trying make a metaphoric relationship between an individual and their family and comparing it to a garden. Your family are like a garden, you have to slave over it and look after it for it to flourish and thrive, and any neglect will result in a weeded unattractive piece of earth. But the relationship that one has with their garden is very interactive - the gardener will put all their effort in trying to get a thriving garden and in turn the garden will reward the gardener with a sense of achievement, and fruits of labour.

This is the topic that Baghban is tackling - family life, and more specifically the life of the elderly. All their lives, our parents thrive the give us the best, to ensure all our wishes and dreams are achieved, to ensure that our lives are given more priority over theirs. But in this modern world what is excepted in return? Maybe the saying is true - nothing is free is this world - not even the love from your parents. Can we say that there is an expectation from our parents that we should look after them in their old age? Is it a sense of duty? NO - it is essence of humanity and gratitude that we should foster and love those that have loved us - and should not be obliged to do so but cause we want to do so. If we look around us there are so many children that have been abandoned, abused or neglected - so we should be grateful that we are not one of them and its are parents that are responsible for it.

The essence of this story has been integrated into Baghban with Amitabh and Hema being the head of the household. Both churning out wonderful performances. It was great to see Hema after such a long time and looking still fab as memory recollects from the 70's. Amitabh delivered a wonderful performance as a hurt, angry and confined old man, and its good to see such roles being written for him. The pair together brought a sense of love and comfort not seen onscreen for quite some time. Their four sons and their families give out appropriate performances and help to pull the movie along. Also the guest appearances are good and adequate. The show stealer has to be Paresh Rawal. Indirectly or intentionally the guest appearances and Paresh characters iterate the fact that friends you can choose, but family you can't - and in times of need it is your friends that stand by you and not your family.

The story has been told many a times before but maybe because it is made now at a time when such a message has to be iterated again, or it was the combination of direction and acting that made this a memorable experience. The movie has its down points, but they are thin and varied and can be expected when tacking such a subject in a such a short time. In all it is not a good movie, it's a great movie, but remember take your box of Kleenex with you.

There are few thing that stand out, music by Aditya Shrivastava and the Choreography by Vibhavi Merchat. This is one of the movies where you treasure the CD and the DVD,since there is complete instrumental of the "Mere Mukuda Tere Soniye" number which is superbly melodious. This is a movie that will be a classic with the inimitable Amitab Bachchan who also has become a singer another feather in the cap of this talented actor. Hisventies. His bronzed voice, albeit with litte vocal lessons for modulation; is astounding and a cross between Hemant Kumar and Saigal. Paresh Rawal and Lilette Dubey (Monsoon Wedding,Om Jai Jagdish,Chalte Chalte)are not only make a great comedy team but versatile actors. I was just spellbound by this movie so much so it takes you back to the golden era of the Sixties when it was called "Bombay" not Bollywood.

Okay, the movie has a good theme--people should not forget their parents and discard them when they get old. However, I don't see some of the things happening in real life, especially things like Amitabh's glasses not being repaired. Sometimes the anger was also justified such as the late-night typewriter incident and the daughter coming back home at 3 AM (since they didn't know the true story). Somethings were just over-doing it, such as Salman and Mahima literally worshiping Salman's parents. The ever-growing love between Amitabh and Hema was really sweet. It was nice to see elderly, true love after watching cliched perfect 20s romance in every movie. What I especially didn't like about this movie is that it put women back in the 19th century where they are supposed to sit on the edge of their chair every evening, waiting for their husband to open the door; they should live in the kitchen. Hema's dialogue, "Times may change, but a woman's role never changes" ticked me off. However, this whole movie was made up by the climax, which was one extraordinary speech by Amitabh. His perfect eloquence is unmatchable by any other orator in Indian cinema. His words envelope you and take you on an emotional roller coaster.