Urmila is part of Indian cinema history in another way here - this movie is the first 3D film made in India!
I had no idea this movie existed even though I was a kid when this movie made for kids was released. I think I first found it in the mid 2000s either on satellite TV or when I went to India in the late 2000s and spent all my travel money on as many DVDs as could interest me. I was like, "what the hell is Urmila doing there on the cover!?".
Urmila shows up 55 minutes in to this 1h40m movie. But what a role! She's really the main hero! She plays a BADASS "good witch" with amazingly powerful magic, and she plays it very convincingly. I was afraid she was only going to have a cameo or song and that's all, but she starts with the a song and soon after reveals that her family own the home where the main kids of the film find an imprisoned genie, and it's her mission to save him and her family's home. Surprisingly, even though it's a kids movie, it was impossible to hide Urmila's sexiness, this was when she was at the height of her career after all (so strange that she did this film at all, but I feel like she did it for the kids, so nice). Despite her only showing up for a few minutes all-together in the 2nd half of the movie she manages to have many crazy outfits, such as what looks like an Indonesian Yakshi, an East Asian style outfit, and my favourite, a form-fitting leather catsuit... literally! She even has claws and she even gets turned into an actual cat by the bad guy... very unfortunately, because she's already only in half the movie and for half of that she's a cat! Haha. For some reason she even has a cape and a motorcycle! She looks more like a super hero. Too bad the kids only meet her very shortly at the very end (and at first think she's evil, lol). By the way, I'm probably the only one who's seen this movie and thought that when Urmila joins the two dummies from the start of the movie, it really makes her seem like the Doronjo trio from the Japanese series "Time Bokan", lol!
As for the movie its self, I liked it. I always wanted to see more good Indian films for kids and I wish I had seen this as a kid. It made me laugh even as an adult. The only other good Indian kids entertainment films I can think of are Makdee and Koi Mil Gaya, both which were good too. Despite being a "3D film", most of the special effects here are classic, simple "movie magic", the best kind of special effects if you ask me... the kind that has worked well since the silent film era. They used strings a lot to make things look like they're flying or floating, but you rarely see the strings clearly unless you try (only once did I see a string without trying at all). It's weird but it looks like the 3D effect was applied to real objects and not CG or animated. But even though I couldn't watch it with the 3D effect (I guess that feature was only possible in the theatres and was lost for the DVD releases), it was always obvious which objects got the 3D treatment.
I like the story. The kids find a genie to grant all their wishes and help them on their lives, but in the end it's the genie who needs their help and shows them that they can have power too... with the help of the Magical Urmila of course!
After reading other reviews, I now know that it was originally not a Hindi film, it was made in the 80s as a Malayalam film and that Urmila's scenes were added in, among others. Now I realize why that one cabaret guy was obviously dubbed as his mouth wasn't synching, but other than that I had no idea! I don't think it was a bad idea to rerelease the movie in the 90s with the added star power for the majority Hindi audience, it gave the movie a new life and chance for more people to see it. I would have never seen it if it wasn't for this release. The Satish Kaushik added scene actually made me laugh, too. I thought the movie was already short for an Indian film with songs at just 1h40m, but the original must have been even shorter!? Anyways, I think they did a good job, but those who saw the original first may have a difference perspective. Ultimately it is still the kids who get most of the scenes, it's not like the star power stole the show (except on the DVD cover). To be honest, it is strange to see Urmila getting only a few scenes in any movie when she was at the height of her career. Maybe she loved the original and wanted to help get it shown to more people.
I had no idea this movie existed even though I was a kid when this movie made for kids was released. I think I first found it in the mid 2000s either on satellite TV or when I went to India in the late 2000s and spent all my travel money on as many DVDs as could interest me. I was like, "what the hell is Urmila doing there on the cover!?".
Urmila shows up 55 minutes in to this 1h40m movie. But what a role! She's really the main hero! She plays a BADASS "good witch" with amazingly powerful magic, and she plays it very convincingly. I was afraid she was only going to have a cameo or song and that's all, but she starts with the a song and soon after reveals that her family own the home where the main kids of the film find an imprisoned genie, and it's her mission to save him and her family's home. Surprisingly, even though it's a kids movie, it was impossible to hide Urmila's sexiness, this was when she was at the height of her career after all (so strange that she did this film at all, but I feel like she did it for the kids, so nice). Despite her only showing up for a few minutes all-together in the 2nd half of the movie she manages to have many crazy outfits, such as what looks like an Indonesian Yakshi, an East Asian style outfit, and my favourite, a form-fitting leather catsuit... literally! She even has claws and she even gets turned into an actual cat by the bad guy... very unfortunately, because she's already only in half the movie and for half of that she's a cat! Haha. For some reason she even has a cape and a motorcycle! She looks more like a super hero. Too bad the kids only meet her very shortly at the very end (and at first think she's evil, lol). By the way, I'm probably the only one who's seen this movie and thought that when Urmila joins the two dummies from the start of the movie, it really makes her seem like the Doronjo trio from the Japanese series "Time Bokan", lol!
As for the movie its self, I liked it. I always wanted to see more good Indian films for kids and I wish I had seen this as a kid. It made me laugh even as an adult. The only other good Indian kids entertainment films I can think of are Makdee and Koi Mil Gaya, both which were good too. Despite being a "3D film", most of the special effects here are classic, simple "movie magic", the best kind of special effects if you ask me... the kind that has worked well since the silent film era. They used strings a lot to make things look like they're flying or floating, but you rarely see the strings clearly unless you try (only once did I see a string without trying at all). It's weird but it looks like the 3D effect was applied to real objects and not CG or animated. But even though I couldn't watch it with the 3D effect (I guess that feature was only possible in the theatres and was lost for the DVD releases), it was always obvious which objects got the 3D treatment.
I like the story. The kids find a genie to grant all their wishes and help them on their lives, but in the end it's the genie who needs their help and shows them that they can have power too... with the help of the Magical Urmila of course!
After reading other reviews, I now know that it was originally not a Hindi film, it was made in the 80s as a Malayalam film and that Urmila's scenes were added in, among others. Now I realize why that one cabaret guy was obviously dubbed as his mouth wasn't synching, but other than that I had no idea! I don't think it was a bad idea to rerelease the movie in the 90s with the added star power for the majority Hindi audience, it gave the movie a new life and chance for more people to see it. I would have never seen it if it wasn't for this release. The Satish Kaushik added scene actually made me laugh, too. I thought the movie was already short for an Indian film with songs at just 1h40m, but the original must have been even shorter!? Anyways, I think they did a good job, but those who saw the original first may have a difference perspective. Ultimately it is still the kids who get most of the scenes, it's not like the star power stole the show (except on the DVD cover). To be honest, it is strange to see Urmila getting only a few scenes in any movie when she was at the height of her career. Maybe she loved the original and wanted to help get it shown to more people.
