Amir Khan is considered as the rare thinking man’s actor, unlike most of his contemporaries in the Bombay film industry. And Ghulam, along with the likes of 1947 Earth and Akele Hum Akele Tum, in my opinion, has the actor at his finest. An adaptation of the Elia Kazan classic On the Waterfront, Khan here renders the role of the drifter-turned-rebel earlier memorably played by Marlon Brando. He is an amateur boxer whose elder brother works as a henchman for the local mobster. However, when he inadvertently becomes an accomplice to the murder of his fiancé’s brother, a chain of events is kick-started by his deep sense of guilt, ultimately culminating in the terrific showdown between him and the goon. The movie boasts of a trio of startling performance, not least of all being the stupendous turn by Khan. Rajit Kapoor, as his weak elder brother, and Sharat Saxena, as the movie’s antagonist, too, are very good. The gut-wrenching climax scene aside (for which Khan apparently went a whole week without a bath), the film comprises of another famous sequence, the one where the protagonist runs towards a train in a game of machismo. The most affecting portions of the film, however, are the flashback sequences which have, in more ways than one, shaped the destiny of both our hero and his elder brother.
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Genre: Drama/Crime Drama/Gangster Movie
Language: Hindi
Country: India
4 comments:
nice one ....short and succint...Aamir khan displayed his versatile best....
Absolutely!!! Thanks Mr. Anonymous :)
Hey Shubhajit, long time no comment, so here goes - I have been keeping up with your various posts - I especially liked the ones on 'Byomkesh Bakshi' and 'Shukno Lanka'; both look excellent and I wish I could watch them but I doubt if they are avaliable here in the UK. Admittedly, 'Ghulam' is one of the few Aamir Khan films I haven't seen and it occurs before his post 1999 Lagaan phase. Also, I am a little suspicious of the director of Ghulam or is this another case of critical snobbery on my part?
Thanks a lot Omar for stopping by. Yeah, long time no see :)
I feel you should give Ghulam a try, I'm sure you'll like it. As for the director, he, like many of his contemporaries, doesn't command much respect with most self-respecting cinephiles - so I wouldn't really call your stance as critical snobbery. But somehow he ended up making this movie. Now whether it was really directed by him or ghost directed by someone else, that I'm now really sure of ;)
As for Shukno Lanka, do grab a copy if you can. You'll be bowled over by Mithun Chakraborty's performance, as I myself was.
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