With a poll on IMDb's Classic Film board coming up for the best titles of 1989,I decided to search around for a Bollywood movie which I could view for the poll.Thanks to having enjoyed seeing the 1989 Curry Western Joshilaay,I decided to take a look at co-star Anil Kapoor's additional 1989 credits,and was delighted to stumble upon a fun sounding 1989 film,which led to me getting ready to meet Ram and Lakhan for the first time.
The plot:
Furious over being told by their uncle that he's going to place the ownership of his house to his son Thakur Pratab Singh,Bhanu and Bhishambar Nath decide to take advantage of their uncle's poor eye sight,by getting him to unknowingly change the house ownership to them in his will.Being desperate to use the house as a location for their criminal activates,Bhanu and Bhishambar kill their uncle,and then chuck Singh,his wife and his young sons Ram and Lakhan.
Horrifed by what he has seen,Thakur fights to save his family from being thrown out of their house,but is pushed onto some tracks,and killed by a speeding train.Ignoring all of their tears,Bhanu and Bhishambar force Thakur's wife, (who keeps her husband's ashes secretly by her side) and children to live in a broken down cottage.
Years later:
Sicken by the memories of his dads murder,Ram becomes a police officer involved in the force's half-hearted attempts to take on the cities criminal underworld.Whilst Ram has followed a path of law & order,Lakhan has become a quick talker who attempts to make some fast cash on the streets on the city.Seeing a wanted ad with a huge reward,Lakhan decides to use his street smarts and quickly grabs the gangster.Believeing that he can be a far better cop than his brother is,Lakhan decides to become a police officer,but soon discovers that the smell of dirty money might be one that he cant resist.
View on the film:
For the films stylish appearance,co-writer/ (along with Ram Kelkar and Anwar Khan) director Subhash Ghai and cinematography Ashok Mehta give the title a rich,Gothic melodrama atmosphere,thanks to Ghai and Mehta using thunder and sharp shots of colour to show the ghost of Thakur being a presence that is strongly felt in the family.Along with the Gothic atmosphere,Ghai displays the movies strong action scenes in long tracking shots,which show the distances that the cities leading gangsters dirty money has covered.
Despite the toe-tapping songs featured sadly not being subtitled,the screenplay by Ghai,Ram Kelkar and Anwar Khan is able to strike a superb balance between melodrama and a revenge-fuelled gritty cop battle,with the writers smartly using the cop threads of the film to keep the title moving from the lightly Gothic to the sickly sweet,over exaggerated melodrama.
Being given an eye-catching intro,Anil Kapoor delivers an excellent performance as Lakhan,with Kapoor showing Lakhan's good intentions to get drowned by the tantalising corruption that he finds himself surrounded by.Walking the thin blue line,Jackie Shroff, (who was the directors second choice,after Shatrughan Sinha had turned down the role) crafts a terrific performance,with Shroff working brilliantly as a double team with Kapoor,thanks to Shroff showing a real fury which perfectly contrasts Kapoor's more laid-back attitude,as both brothers discover that instead of working on their own,they can take on the underworld as the ultimate team:Ram Lakhan.
The plot:
Furious over being told by their uncle that he's going to place the ownership of his house to his son Thakur Pratab Singh,Bhanu and Bhishambar Nath decide to take advantage of their uncle's poor eye sight,by getting him to unknowingly change the house ownership to them in his will.Being desperate to use the house as a location for their criminal activates,Bhanu and Bhishambar kill their uncle,and then chuck Singh,his wife and his young sons Ram and Lakhan.
Horrifed by what he has seen,Thakur fights to save his family from being thrown out of their house,but is pushed onto some tracks,and killed by a speeding train.Ignoring all of their tears,Bhanu and Bhishambar force Thakur's wife, (who keeps her husband's ashes secretly by her side) and children to live in a broken down cottage.
Years later:
Sicken by the memories of his dads murder,Ram becomes a police officer involved in the force's half-hearted attempts to take on the cities criminal underworld.Whilst Ram has followed a path of law & order,Lakhan has become a quick talker who attempts to make some fast cash on the streets on the city.Seeing a wanted ad with a huge reward,Lakhan decides to use his street smarts and quickly grabs the gangster.Believeing that he can be a far better cop than his brother is,Lakhan decides to become a police officer,but soon discovers that the smell of dirty money might be one that he cant resist.
View on the film:
For the films stylish appearance,co-writer/ (along with Ram Kelkar and Anwar Khan) director Subhash Ghai and cinematography Ashok Mehta give the title a rich,Gothic melodrama atmosphere,thanks to Ghai and Mehta using thunder and sharp shots of colour to show the ghost of Thakur being a presence that is strongly felt in the family.Along with the Gothic atmosphere,Ghai displays the movies strong action scenes in long tracking shots,which show the distances that the cities leading gangsters dirty money has covered.
Despite the toe-tapping songs featured sadly not being subtitled,the screenplay by Ghai,Ram Kelkar and Anwar Khan is able to strike a superb balance between melodrama and a revenge-fuelled gritty cop battle,with the writers smartly using the cop threads of the film to keep the title moving from the lightly Gothic to the sickly sweet,over exaggerated melodrama.
Being given an eye-catching intro,Anil Kapoor delivers an excellent performance as Lakhan,with Kapoor showing Lakhan's good intentions to get drowned by the tantalising corruption that he finds himself surrounded by.Walking the thin blue line,Jackie Shroff, (who was the directors second choice,after Shatrughan Sinha had turned down the role) crafts a terrific performance,with Shroff working brilliantly as a double team with Kapoor,thanks to Shroff showing a real fury which perfectly contrasts Kapoor's more laid-back attitude,as both brothers discover that instead of working on their own,they can take on the underworld as the ultimate team:Ram Lakhan.