3 Cheers to Hindi Social Melodrama!

I was seeing Saaheb, an old Indian movie starring Utpal Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Raakhi Gulzaar and others. I had seen it many years ago when I was in school. This is a typical family melodrama with a joint family on the verge of break up.

This revisit to this movie probably 16-18 years later just made me realize some things that made such movies great viewing. I saw a small piece where Anil Kapoor fails in his exam and he returns home depressed late in the evening. Utpal Dutt, his father is waiting – I expected a shouting scene where the father goes on saying things that he should not.

Instead, the scene was so sensitive and delicate that I almost choked. The scene was a mature dialogue portraying a worried father communicating his worry and apprehension to a responsible but intellectually weak son. Some movies should be rated as “Can be seen by U but understood by A”. A 12-year old can not understand this...no way.

It is astonishing to realize what these fantastic actors can do to a scene. Utpal Dutt talking 2 or 3 simple lines to Anil Kapoor was just amazing.

Three cheers to Hindi Social MeloDrama....!