Break Ke Baad (2010)

Director: Danish Aslam
Cast: Imran Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sharmila Tagore, Lilette Dubey
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Lenght: 1h:52m.42s

Just let me get this out straight away – I didn’t hate Break Ke Baad. Quite the opposite, I found it entertaining, funny and charming. Not really lavish, but still Bollywood-y and over the top in some aspects. Highly enjoyable. Don’t expect any bashing from my side. I don’t review movies I don’t like. :)

So, this movie was a flop. Remember how a month ago I wrote about Jhootha Hi Sahi, one of my most favourite bolly movies ever? (another flop!) I mentioned I would stand up for the movies of 2010 which I loved, yet failed to impress the other viewers. I guess the audience got so used to actors over 30 playing ‘young boys in pursuit of their first love, which is of course the only one there really is’, that it can’t appreciate a normal couple going through a relationship crisis. And just imagine the boy being the quiet, mousy type and the girl the aggressive, selfish careerist. The horror!

Yahaan (2005)

Director: Shoojit Sircar
Cast: Jimmy Shergil, Minnisha Lamba, Yashpal Sharma
Genre: war, drama, romance
Lenght: 2h:23m.09s

A year back, I was losing interest in Bollywood movies. It just seemed that everything I watched looked and felt the same, same stories, same overacting, same sounding music. I discovered South Indian movies, namely Tollywood and Kollywood, and it seemed I wouldn’t get back to Hindi cinema for a while.

Then I watched Yahaan.

Amrapali (1966)

Director: Lekh Tandon
Cast: Sunil Dutt, Vijayanthimala
Genre: historical, drama, romantic
Lenght: 1h:59m.32s

Amrapali is my very own Mughal-E-Azam. It’s a historical romance, it’s epic, the music is beautiful and.. and words fail me – I can’t describe Vijayanthimala’s beauty, dancing and acting. Here the comparison ends, because even though these attributes (doomed love, beautiful and gifted actress...) could be used with MEA too, Amrapali is the one that nestled itself into my heart and left a lasting impression. It reminded me of a fairytale. Maybe it isn’t the best way to describe it, seeing as it was based on true personalities and events. Yet I’m not sure how much ‘authenticity’ remained in the finished product; I’m sure the director changed some events and shaped the story according to his wishes. Either way, does it matter? :)