Ok, done. So Genevieve and I watched Sholay on Monday b/c I didn't have Taffetas and ignored my homework and have heard for ages that Sholay is a GREAT movie. You know what's good about watching movies from an entire genre you've hardly scratched the surface of? Discovering movies like Sholay. It's like watching a Steve McQueen movie for the first time, or discovering Gene Kelley. This movie is a Hindi classic and it's obvious to see why. It is FANTASTIC!!
Besties and petty thieves Veeru and Jai are recruited by a retired police officer Thakur, as private guns to take down bandit extraordinaire Gabbar. Veeru falls in love w/ the horse cart girl Basanti and Jai falls for Thukar's widowed daughter-in-law.
Can we just talk about the cast for a minute?..
a)Veeru, played by Dharmendra (who's apparently v. big in Bwood), wasn't my favorite, but that's probs because Big B plays Jai and come on, Big B. BUT he totally grew on me and oddly enough by the end of the film he was ridiculously attractive, in a strangely chunky but not chunky way.
b)Jai, oh Jai. Amitabh Bachchan was and is an extreme hottie. I love this man to distraction. I just wish such long hair wasn't popular back then b/c Abhishek looks so great w/ short hair and I'm sure Big B would have too.
c)Jaya Bhaduri plays the widow, beautifully. I love this woman to distraction (apparently Big B loved her while distracted...oh, cheap shot).
d)Hema Malini as Basanti was hilarious. She was great, her dancing was great, as was her horse carting.
e)Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur was super creepy and I just kept seeing Amrish Puri w/ his bug eyes.
f)Amjad Khan as Gabbar was perhaps one of the most intense, ridiculously evil in a straight up insane kind of way villain I've seen.
e)The stunts men, mad props. Seriously, some of the best work I've seen from this era of film making, or ever. Just classic horse tricks and falls.
Basically the cast is the movie. Oh so good. The story is of course a take off of every Western ever, including the Spanish (?) tiles on the roofs. It really reminded me of a Henry Fonda movie I saw once on a Saturday afternoon that I can't remember the name of. From a bandit raid on a train, shootouts at the water tower and dynamiting the village bridge, classic Western, but in a totally doesn't even need cowboys sort of way. Curry Westerns are delicious. Genevieve and I were screaming and stopped breathing and I wanted to cry, but for some reason I couldn't. Very cathartic all the same however.
Just. a. great. movie.
1 comment:
The music makes the movie, I think. Kishore Kumar and Lataji steal the show.
And, Hema Malini.
Oh Jaya Bhaduri. She was a HUGE star in her own right before Amit became popular.
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