Baazigar can correctly be regarded as a classic of Hindi cinema for three major reasons. The primary reason that Baazigar works so well as a movie is that the expectation for Hindi films, especially romances as this one first appears to be, is for the good guy to beat up the bad guys, and yet Shah Rukh Khan here assays a malevolently likable character who steals the scene as well as our hearts, all while playing a psychotic killer. In all fairness, Shahrukh's Ajay Varma is given a fairly sympathetic back story to not completely dehumanize him, and yet the victims of his aggression often seem to be innocent and unaware of his background. Secondarily, the performance by Kajol as the younger sister of Shahrukh's first victim is so heartfelt and genuine that you could swear that she had been acting for decades. In addition, her chemistry with Shahrukh Khan's character leaves the viewer in the unenviable position of wishing the best for these star-crossed lovers even while fully knowing the evil that Ajay has done and plans yet to do to Kajol's Priya. Finally, the action and fight scenes depicted in the film, while definitely cheesy by todays much more bloated standards, are all fairly well choreographed to give true emotion. Unlike the Dabaangs and Rowdy Rathore's of today, where visual effects create super-humans out of corrupt cops and serve primarily to distort the laws of physics, Abbas-Mustan have managed to capture so much raw emotion through the fight scenes on a very personal level. This is not to say that Baazigar is without faults. Despite the wonderful acting by both Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, we are never quite sure (and this actually may be a strength instead of a weakness, but that is up to interpretation) what Ajay's intentions are for Priya, or whether, after learning about his true character (and so much more within the last 10 minutes of the film), Priya still loves Ajay in the end. Also, while much of the acting is good, some of Shahrukh's scenes, especially this early in his career, are fairly hammy and overdone. In addition, Shilpa Shetty's portrayal of the classic abla naari, while decently portrayed, does very little to garner support for her character. All in all, if you are looking for a pure emotional roller coaster of a film, Baazigar is definitely up your alley. Just be ready for what you are getting into, as some of those emotions will be very dark.
Review of Baazigar
