Mashaal

One of those movies that you must see before you die. Each frame is such there can be nothing better. The star cast consisted of Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Anil Kapoor, Rati Agnihotri, Amrish Puri & others. It is a delight to watch Dilip Kumar in this movie. I have seen him in ‘Moghal-E -Azam’, Naya Daur, Shakti etc. but this is special. He has a newspaper,Mashaal, in which he exposes the ills in the society.

His wife introduces Anil Kapoor, a vagabond & tries to instill values. It is based on the welknown Marathi play by Vasant Kanetkar, ‘Ashroonchi Zhali Phule’. It was made in Malayalam with Mamoothy in the lead. Anil kapoor’s role was offered to Amitabh Bachchan & Kamal Hasan. But Anil Kapoor’s made the best of the oppurtunity. His chemistry with Rati Agnihotri is simple & sweet.

Anil Kapoor realises the importance of education & goes away to get his degree. This is a sea change from all the films I had seen earlier. The street smartness was over rated always. What have we been doing, if not educating our youth? Does formal education have no value in changing times? This part I liked that a wayward goon knows the value & tries to have a better life.

He is in love with a budding Journalist ,Rati. So he has to be worthy of her love. ‘Magar mein laut ke aaunga ye maat bhul jana tum’ is very reasuring. ‘Mujhe tum yaad rakhna aur mujko yaad aana tum’ most eloquent I found. Anil Kapoor had a tiny role in “Shakti” as Dilip Kumar’s grandson & Amitabh’s son. Here he has many scenes with Dilip Saheb & as they say he never looked back.

The sequence where Dilip Kumar is alone,helpless & his wife dies on the streets is very sad. The hand cart then has been used or say over used later. Amitabh has a romantic song ‘Aaj phisal jaye ‘ with Smita Patil in ‘Namak Haram’. The hand cart is the main feature.

After his wife’s death, the disillusioned, honest journalist works for money & gets rich. Anil Kapoor returns to find so many changes. His mentor not what he was initially is a shock. The editing is perfect & so is the story.

Worth watching for many reasons. Happy watching!