Queen_of_pentacles Review of Sharaabi

Sharaabi (1984)

Highly melodramatic, Amitabh's good performance wasted !

[6/10 · 20 December 2006]

Here is Amitabh Bacchan for you, with all the imported whiskeys in the world, and a good looking dancer Jaya Prada to fill up the lacuna in his life ! Pran is his businessman father, who does not understand his son's psychology, and that's the reason, why the son has turned into an alcoholic, but an adorable one at that ! Because, every body around him, seem to have taken it for granted, that though an alcoholic, this is the one with the heart of gold, and not the father, though poor fellow has to work ,almost round the clock, to get richer and richer, keep the empire intact ! And what does the son do ? Make a fiasco of the board meetings, give a pep talk to his hapless dad, about the fruits of negligence, so on and so forth ! Not much exposed to the fairer sex, as per the plot, and the progress of the line so far, he falls head over heels, at the first encounter with a commercial dancer, with a blind father, and a cunning wolf Ranjeet, as her tout, practically, to keep the show going, and make money ! This much to try and gain the sympathies of the viewers ! Then there are so many of those cliché situations, like the expensive diamond necklace stolen by the villain, Meena, the heroine, turning late at Amitabh's Birthday bash, then all those mustache wielding employees going overboard with joy, and finally fleecing the hero for thousands, by giving some reason or the other, and the obliging hero promising even more than they ask ! Afterall, it's practically his father's money ! Plus on music and dance, this heavily painted movie lacks in logic, and subtle emotional scenes, relying more on playing to the gallery ! Om Prakash, in his role, is particularly annoying, in his famous pathetic expressions, and same old style of delivering dialogues ! Full field is open for Amitabh, to exploit ! though he has acted quite realistically, as a rich, spoiled youth, turned alcoholic, the clumsiness of the direction has marred his performance, reducing it to a some what monotonous one ! Jaya looks pretty, but the difference in height is glaring ! so the director has made her dance on the platform, while the hero practically bends on his knees, in that famous number, at the birthday bash ! What was needed, perhaps, a good, convincing, plot line, and other characters more natural, than caricatures ! Lacking in sensitivity, this movie is not one of the best of Amitabh ! Quite a torture, to sit through a lengthy one at that !