Javed Akhtar Movies
Deepa Mehta directed this Indian-Canadian romantic drama, the second part of a trilogy. Based on Bapsi Sidhwa's autobiography, Cracking India, the story is set in 1947 in Lahore, where Hindu, Sikh, Parsee, and Muslim share a peaceful co-existence. Events are seen from the point of view of eight-year-old Lenny (Maia Sethna), a girl from an affluent Parsee family. Lenny's nanny, Shantya (Nandita Das), is involved with the Muslim Masseur (Rahul Khanna). When a train of Muslims arrives at the local depot and all the passengers are found murdered, the various sects turn against each other, and the city is soon aflame. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aamir Khan, Nandita Das, (more)
- 1989
Joshilaay is a bitter pill to take for anyone who thinks that Indian movies consist chiefly of Satyajit Ray epics and lighthearted musicals. Popular Indian film personality Anil Kapoor doesn't make his entrance until after half the cast has been murdered. The culprits are a pair of out-of-control criminals, played by Kulbhusan Kharbanda and Rajesh Vivek. Kapoor and Sunny Deol, the sons of two of the victims, wait many years to exact their revenge. The question: was it worth the wait? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Three men become unlikely heroes in the midst of a disaster in this grand-scale drama from India. Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) is a former Naval officer who, after a deadly episode at sea, was forced to leave the military in disgrace; humiliated and suicidal, Vijay has taken a job in a coal mine, relishing the dangerous work with an attitude that borders on the suicidal. Mangal (Shatrughan Sinha) is a convicted felon who escaped from custody and found work in the mine along side Vijay. And Ravi (Shashi Kapoor) is an engineer who is attempting to improve the deplorable conditions of the coal mines, but runs into severe interference from the mercenary owners of the facility. When disaster strikes at the mine, trapping hundreds of men below the surface, Ravi must devote all his strength, imagination, and courage to find a way to bring the men back to safety, while Vijay and Mangal struggle to help rescue their co-workers and find redemption under trying and perilous circumstances. Kaala Patthar was inspired by a real-life mining catastrophe, and director Yash Chopra brought in top-rank special-effects men from the United States to give the mine sequences the necessary realism. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, (more)
The Wall was the film that turned Amitabh Bachchan into the Hindi James Dean. In this complex story, told primarily in flashback, two brothers, Vijay (Bachchan) and Ravi grow up in a working-class urban area. As they enter adulthood, their lives take two entirely different directions. Vijay becomes a smuggler, posing as a businessman, and his money helps his family through hard times. He meets and falls in love with an exotic dancer, Aneeta. Meanwhile Riva joins the police force, where he gets assigned to a case tracking down a smuggler. It turns out to be his brother. What follows is a hard-to-watch, entirely inevitable conflict between brothers, complicated by their dying mother. The tragic, bloody finish takes its cue from 1960s Asian gangster films. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amitabh Bachchan
