The Invictus

One more addition to my infrequent indulgences....

Yesterday I bought the movie "Guide" - yes, the old 1966 Hindi movie starring the very suave Dev Anand Saab& the beautiful Waheeda Rehman...Just saw it on the shelf and on an impulse bought it...Came back home and put it in to watch it...Am convinced - yet again - that this is one movie that must surely rank as one of the BEST-est movies ever made in India..A true classic..Saw this movie for the 2nd or 3rd time, but after a long hiatus of more than 10 years (atleast.cud be more)..In a way, the first time i was seeing this movie as an adult! and man, was i impressed or what?! Thought i'll post this blog on my movie review - albeit about 40 years late!:-)

It is said - and truely so - that movies based on novels almost always do not do justice to the novel. Here's one movie which not only did justice to the original novel by R K Narayan, but exceeded it.

Some of the scenes that really stood out: A despondent and rejected-by-husband Rosy (Waheeda) breaking into a soulful song and dance ("Kaanto se Keench ke ye aanchal...Aaj phir jeene ki tammanna hain") with a new found freedom..so fresh...so beautiful...and so much of life...The same Rosy who 5 minutes earlier was trying to kill herself in despair was now dancing and teasing Raju (Dev-Saab) on the edge of the precipice...It was almost as if she was mocking death and challenging it..with the confidence of..LIFE! Terrific!

SD Burman saab never sounded this good!!!!! And the lyrics - oh so beautiful and meaningful..For all of us bred on the lyrics of "Main to bhel puri khaa raha tha" or "Tu tu tu tu tu tara" etc, this is a lesson on how lyrics used to be written once upon a time...The picturisation of the songs, the music, and the ;lyrics that expressed the emotions and put in context the situation the protagonist was facing - BRILLIANT! For the first time (I think) and surely for the last time (Definitely), there were two songs back-to-back: "Saiyyan Be-imaan"&"Kya se kya ho gaya"...it's really dialogue in poetry between Rosy & Raju....The two songs aptly bringing out how the two saw things as...

I cud go on and on, but I think the best way to really appreciate the movie is to watch it. And see for yourself. This was how movies were made once-upon-a-time. Which also reminds us - the 80s, 90s + generation - about the man called "Vijay Anand"..the genius of a director...Yes, the same legend whose death recently did not even merit more than a mention on any of the TV channels. The man who made Guide.