Mard (1985)

I’ve realized that the first few posts have been nothing but praise for Amitabh Bachchan’s movies. I do believe he is an amazing actor, a performer and singer. He is talented, and the movies that I have logged so far as masterpieces of his that I have managed to write about. This may cause you to think that I am biased, so prove that I am not biased, today, we’ll discuss the first Bachchan movie I watched that made me exclaim “what the beep is going on!” and not in a good way, like when you’re praising a plot twist. No, the exclamations that accompanied my watching 1985’s Mard (Man) were mostly of utter terror at the horrible movie, directed by the great Manmohan Desai, starring Amitabh Bachchan as Raju Singh aka Mard, Amrita Singh, Neerupa Roy and the late, great Dara Singh as Mard’s father, Azad Singh.

This movie had a good plot that, I believe, that got destroyed in the late 80’s stereotypes.

But before I rip the movie into pieces, I do have to make a few points about the movie. From what I have read and heard, Mard is the first movie that Mr. Bachchan shot after his horrendous and life-threatening accident on the set of Coolie. And it was during the filming of this movie that he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that effects muscle movement and control. When writing about the aftermath of the accident, Mr. Bachchan related on his blog about the scars that marred his forehead as a result of the medications while he had been hospitalized, and throughout the movie there’s an attempt to cover the scars on his forehead with his overly shaggy hair. He also said that, as a result of the accident, many thought his career to be over, but Manmohan Desi had stated that he would make a movie with Mr. B., even if he was confined to a wheel chair.

And that’s what they did!

The movie…is not all bad. I think the movie in hindsight, being watched and analyzed by an 22-year-old American in 2012, with a television capable of showing 3D movies downstairs, is not fun to watch.

The plot is good, the story is a class Desi lost-and-found tale, with a horse and dog that add mythical and comical elements to Mard’s character. Mard himself is, in fact, one of Amitabh’s more creative characters. And Dara Singh is in his element as the righteous Raja Azad Singh.

But other then that….

Amrita Singh makes me want to strangle something with her every appearance on the screen. The villains in this movie only lack a mustache to twirl and flashing neon signs that state “EVIL DUDE” hanging over their heads. The use of tanks and whips in this movie reach a level of epic annoyance, as if the producers thought “we’re renting the tanks for the next few days, might as well put them to good use! Use them in every shot boys!”

I can pinpoint to you exactly the moment when I decided Mard was an awful movie…not that long after Amrita Singh’s character is introduced in the movie does she have Mard chained, and begins to whip him for the insults he had hurled at her earlier in the day after she’d run over an old woman with her car. But when she’s that Mard isn’t reacting, she rubs salt into his wounds.

And this whip and salt routine happens twice.

There’s a villain who draws blood from his slaves and sells it. There are masks that are used to confuse Azad Singh and Mard. There are bejeweled capes worn by villains. An evil white guy and an evil British government.

The social and political commentary in the movie is significant, and accurate. There’s a lot of voice given to the “dogs and Indians not allowed” sign that adorned a posh club that Mard crashes in his horse carriage.

I can even deal with a whistling and winking dog and a loyal horse, lending the movie a Disney kind of feel to it. Think Snow White, but violent…

And usually I can stand Neerupa Roy as one of Mr. Bachchan’s mothers but this time, she really annoys me. And I can usually make up excuses why the mother can’t recognize her son, with all the signs that are around her. But this time it got ridiculous.

The music…no.

The only scene that I love is the song in which Mard makes an appeal to the goddess to help him reach his mother. The tragedy in Mr. Bachchan’s eyes, the lost and lonely look that conveys almost make the rest of the movie worth enduring. 

And even Father Anthony (from Amar Akbar Anthony)  making a special appearance in one of the songs can't salvage this movie or me.

See? I’m unbiased. If I don’t like something…you’ll know! And I don’t go with the flow. I like movies that have hated, and hate movies that most have loved. Go figure. And watch Mard only as a lesson on how not to cast for a movie, and how to avoid stereotypical, Dr. Evil villains. It can also be a lesson about how crucial casting can be.