Three drive-by reviewlets of some of the films I watched about a month ago, all supposedly big films of their day: Bombay (1995), Pyaasa (1957), Bobby (1973).
Bombay (1995)
I was excited to find this one at the library and find out
all of the great stuff said about it. Not only did it win tons of awards, it's
also a Tamil film, and I was looking forward to expanding my repertoire of
non-Hindi Indian films (I've seen a couple of Tamil films and parts of Telugu;
nothing else, sadly). However, very unfortunately the library's copy was dubbed
in Hindi. Now, I won't go on too long a rant, but I would much rather see
something in its original language, as written and as intended by the director
than to see something dubbed. The music was done, evidently, in different
languages too. I got the Hindi versions, of course.
I really thought this film lived up to what was said of it.
It was a look at Hindu-Muslim antagonisms and tensions from several angles. A
Hindu man (Shekhar) falls in love with a (veiled) Muslim girl (Shaila), and
though they really seem to have few if any qualms about their religious
difference, their families do. Their fathers fight constantly. Even when the
young couple leaves, they later have to find a balance of which religion their
children will follow (ultimately both). Then they become entangled in horrible
religious riots where each is in danger for his/her religion.
Now, despite all of that, the film is a lot more focused on
the couple's relationship than I expected. For all of the horrible religious
rioting and hatred going on, the film is surprisingly light-hearted for much of
the time. And very suggestive, too!
But, sum total, I liked both its poignancy and its
light-hearted romance.
