Saturday, May 15, 2010

aradhana. amar prem . kati patang. my name is khan

the suffering women of shakti samanta- sharmila tagore as unwed mother and long suffering mother in aradhana; or as the prostitute with a heart of gold in 'amar prem'; or asha parekh as the girl forced to impersonate a widow in 'kati patang'. the movies do not stop to take a breath as one tragedy follows another which follows one hit song after another. while the sharmila tagore films manage to make it work maybe because of her delicate vixen like presence , 'kati patang' just annoys. rajesh khanna goes from being charming and dashing in 'aradhana' to so cool and unaffected in 'amar prem' to looking stuffy and uncomfortable in 'kati patang'.

i cant really claim to have become a rajesh khanna fan after 'amar prem'. but i can definitely understand his appeal. nothing seems ot affect him- his distance from everything, so detached in the best film of the three. he had me hooked. and the music is brilliant.

and then 'my name is khan' with shah rukh khan doing a rain man and karan johar trying a 'forrest gump'. in spite of my own aversion to nri films, and their sentimental 'indianness' the first half actually worked. it was when the kid dies because of post 9/11 brown skin bashing that the film loses the plot. and goes on and on through one ridiculous plot twist after another.

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