Reviews

For the charm of Mumbai in the 80's and of mild, honest office romances which you do actually see in Mumbai. Those lunch and tea invitations, sharing a bus ride and hoping to meet someone in the elevator are all real possibilities of a normal Mumbai life. The rapport between the 4 lead actor (Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha, Ashok Kumar and Asrani) is outstanding. Arun's (played by Amol P) transformation after the intermission tickles me every time. Some life lessons are rightly brought to attention and give this movie a depth which only adds to it's 're-watchability' (one or 2 scenes may seem over the top) Finally I love how the ending of the movie is constructed and how Arun and Prabha get their realization of love.

This movie is an impressive caricature of Dubai's contrasting lives and relationships between the classes. This is very effectively brought out via Pinky's journey as she transforms herself into independence, both emotional and financial. I like that the movie keeps the characters realistic and also their responses to the situations. It also captures Dubai really well via it's cinematography which binds the movie for the viewer. However the story has some flaws which keep it from being excellent. Struggle between Mehr and her husband is hard to understand. Sub-plots of the movie seem like loose ends, for example: Mehr's fathers's adopted daughter, his reason to remarry and problems between Mehr and her husband and their reasons to come back together. These were either not effectively brought out or were logically weaker. However, it's still a decent movie which manages to keep a hopeful perspective about life, in spite of its struggles.

A picturesque journey through Mumbai 'chawl' living. Contrary to general 80's Bollywood cinema this film brings a story of realistic characters, situations of the time - with a decent dose of entertainment via characters, dialogues and events as they unfold.

The story may have a love triangle at it's heart but it is anything ordinary. Rajaram (Nasiruddin Shah) one day hopes to achieve Sandhaya (Deepti Naval), his love interest but he is probably too dull or mundane in her eyes. She's the eligible Bachelorette of the 'chawl' and sub-consciously hopes to 'climb the ladder' through her marriage and ultimately favors two-faced Vasu (Faarooq Sheikh) over truthful Rajaram, interestingly with encouragement from her parents.

The drama balances the contrasting lifestyle of upper and lower-middle class Mumbai and opposing reactions of overly ambitious Vasu and confidence lacking Rajaram in corporate and social settings, making the movie quite appetizing at times. Subtly, the movie highlights the 'social pressures' of the 80's, and interestingly shows how characters from both segments fall prey to Vasu's lies and deceit, until it's late.

You may find watching this movie over and over again and find it strangely uplifting, although Vasu succeeds in his intent and takes 'zing' from Rajaram's victory. The ultimate draw of the movie may be its character portrayal and situations the movie unfolds into, doubled with spot on acting and flawless editing, making it an 8/10.