There are three types of movies. Some movies are good and they are considered good. Some movies are bad, and they are considered bad. And some movies are bad, but they are considered good.
This review has one movie from the second category and four movies from the third category.
So, now I have selected five bad movies. Of course, there are many other worse movies. But, I haven’t watched those David Dhawan- Karishma Kapoor movies and other small/big budget flop/B grade movies.
I have listed the movies that were touted to be very classy-superhit, Filmfare award winners- the kind of movies we choose to watch in theatres.
All the five movies star leading actors of the 90s, all are directed by so called reputed directors, and 4 out of 5 are box office successes.
(I was tempted to include some disasters that were released after 1999, but there were too many. The movie quality was actually better in the 1990s)
1)Anjaam (1993)- Sick Sick Sick. This is one of the worst movies ever made in the universe- not just in Bollywood. Cheap, disgusting, horrible, sickening to the core.
This awful, disgusting movie stars Madhuri Dixit and Shahrukh Khan. They have done awful, sickening acting, making sure that there is no saving grace as such.
Luckily, I did not see this one in theatre, and I switched off the TV as I lost my patience, and was thus spared from watching the reportedly sickening climax.
Thankfully, the audiences rejected this movie, and it was a huge flop.
2)Raja Hindusthani (1996) - There isn’t a single ‘normal’ character in this movie. The ‘love-story’ was very boring and unromantic, the presentation was awful, and all the characters were extremely dumb and loud.
I watched it in theatre and my only respite was the humorous comments made by my equally bored friends. There was no chance of sleeping peacefully in the AC theatre, Karishma ‘phony’ Kapoor was screaming and yelling on the screen from time to time- a voice and style loud enough to wake up Kumbhakarna. Her on-screen name was a matter of extra grievance to me.
Cheap jokes, pathetic dialogues, and Karishma Kapoor’s scary overacting- the movie was terrible.
3)Pardes (1997)
Pop Patriotism at its worst.
The movie was full of boring scenes, stereotypical characters. The story was copied from DDLJ(1995). There is one girl, one good guy, and one bad guy. The girl is first engaged to the bad guy. Then she falls in love with the good guy and they live happily ever after.
I mean, talk about lack of creativity- they copy a movie that was released just two years ago.
The story idea was ok, but the presentation was bad. The result was a complete disaster. When I saw a bunch of over-smart kids singing songs along with an annoying Amrish Puri, I knew it was a bad movie.
Then there was a Kabaddi match. The prize? One member of the winning team will get to marry Miss Kusum Ganga, MA (English Literature).
How ridiculous from a woman’s point of view- forcing her to marry whoever wins a stupid match- I thought. Then I looked around- majority of women (mostly college students) in the theatre were happily cheering for SRK during the Kabaddi match.
Nobody takes anything seriously when it comes to Bollywood, isn’t it!
4)Kuch Kuch Hota Hain-(1998)
The essence of this movie can be described in the following advertisement – published by SRK’s screen-daughter-
“An 8-year-old daughter invites matrimonial proposals for her father from attractive women.
The groom is- stuttering, lecherous, jumps like money, rich businessman, wears designer clothes, and likes basketball.
The bride should be-quiet, wearing traditional Indian costumes (designer labels please), and she must know all the bhajansby heart.
The first criterion of selection is her performance in a basketball match. She must let the groom win.
Finally, the girl must be able to dance just like Urmila on the ‘Rangeela re’ song.
After that, if any girl actually qualifies, and if she can tolerate Mr. Stutter and his annoying daughter, the wedding will happen.
Note: - Engaged women are also encouraged to apply. If you are selected, Miss Anjali will personally talk to your fiance and convince him to walk out on you.”
I rest my case. This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The only good factors were Jatin-Lalit’s melodious music, and performance by Kajal. Can we imagine anybody else (except director Karan Johar) playing Anjali from the first half as perfectly as Kajal did?
5)Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999)
I think it was boring and irritating.
Ok, I agree there were some plus points- fabulous sets, great music, Ajay Devgan’s good acting. Fine.
But, what about the entire first half- loud characters, cheap cheap cheap attempts at humor, overacting by the leading pair.
Ajay Devgan’s entry did create some interest in the movie, but the second half turned out to be equally pathetic. Since the hero Salman Khan is supposed to be a half-Indian staying in Italy, the second half was shot in Europe. Do people really go to theatres just to watch phoren locales? That too, when the director is showing Spain and wants viewers to believe that it’s Italy!
The scenes when Ash and Salman are in the same area, but don’t see each other- Too often- too much. And the boring ‘dream sequences’- There are so many dreams in that movie that one loses track of the story- did she go home, or was it a dream? Did she really meet him, or was it a dream?
And finally- did I really watch that movie- or was it just a bad dream?
I wish I had been wise enough to ignore the hype created around these movies. I did learn my lessons and avoided wasting time and money on Johar and Bhansali’s next ventures.
