Remembering good Ol' Baazigar!. Review on Baazigar

Baazigar at the time it came was a sort of trendsetter mainly for the reason it had an anti-hero in the lead role; thus breaking the conventional image a hero seemed to have. Though the term anti-hero was nothing uncommon in Bollywood before; with Amitabh having done Deewar and Rajesh Khanna having done a Red Rose; the impact SRK created with this film was tremendous and gave way to many actors at a later stage experimenting with a negative image: Ajay in Deewangee, Akshay Kumar in Ajnabee and Akshaye in Humraaz.

Though Baazigar was still any other Hindi film by the end of it; with proper reasons which drove our hero to commit those crimes, it kick started the career of our very own KING KHAN and there was no looking back for him ever since. And he carried the definition of the term "evil" further by playing a psycho-obsessesive lover in Darr and an evil & lustful maniac in Anjaam. By that time, he had specialized in playing negative roles.

Coming back to the film in question, SRK proved to be a major draw for several people who came to see just him, and the film became a big hit. This man proved to have a great screen presence as well, and was good at almost everything which a Bollywood hero should possess. Right from dancing well to excelling in histrionics and those one or two light comedy scenes, King Khan was a treat to watch. Though he went overboard more than a couple of times in the climax, it showed his energy, boiling n popping inside him and coming out with a blast whenever it required. Btw, can anyone explain how he managed to have his lips moving back n forth and trembling at the same time while mouthing that dialogue in the climax, just before he started hitting those villains? Man, was that was scary or what! Plus, it was a shock to people who had never seen the actor portraying such devilish expressions in his earlier films, where he used to specialise in simpleton kind of roles.

Kajol was quite effective in whatever she was told to do. Though I wish she was made to look better.

The film boasted of some great music too. Yeh Kaali kaali aankhein remained a chartbuster for weeks and several factors contributed to it. SRK set the screen on fire with his hyper dance movements complementing the wonderful picturization beautifully. Kajol was all right, and music was again awesome. Baazigar O Baazigar was sheer magic in terms of its composition and Kitaabein bahut si has a peppy n fun feel attached to it. But my two favorite songs from the album were Aye mere Humsafar and Chupana bhi nahi aata. Anu Malik was at his very best there.

The comic portions were genuinely funny and its one of those few Johnny Lever performances I really enjoyed watching. In fact, I have always liked him in Abbas Mustan films. These are the people who have always managed to tap his real potential and bring out the best in him. He was just amazing and in ful form. The scene when he tries to recall about the phone call he received in the engagement scene was hilarious to say the least. Just watch out for Johny's expressions in this one.

The flashback portions were a drawback. Not because they were poorly executed, but they were as stale as ever, even at the time when the film was released. Perhaps borrowed from few Amitabh films in 70s plus those potboilers in mid 80s and early 90s. In fact, the portion when the father dies and he was being carried on a "thela" was unintentionally hilarious. Rakhi, despite being a young mother resembled a grandmother who had perhaps married a man young enough to be her son.

The initial portions were slow, but it hooked audiences after the famous fall of Shilpa Shetty. All in all, all those later portions were interesting to watch, despite the film coming to a standstill at times.

Another drawback of the film when I notice it now was the poor make-up and the very dull costumes. Kajol looked really ugly (in her case maybe it was not the designer/make-up man’s decision but her own to not wear any makeup, but what the hell). Even SRK looked drab & dull in parts.

All in all, it was a very good entertainer. The surprise element is still there, even after 14 years of its release, and a few scenes still make your blood crawl. I happened to watch it yesterday after a long, long time, It remains the best Abbas Mustan film I have ever seen, along with Humraaz.