Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswathi (1988)

Since the last movie I wrote about was of one that I didn’t particularly like, despite everyone’s positive reviews of it, I’m going to talk about Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswathi, where everyone else hated it but I loved it. The movie is from 1988, directed by the great Manmohan Desi, starring Amitabh Bachchan as Ganga, the incomparable Jayapradha as Saraswathi, and Meenakshi Sheshadri as Jamunaa.
The title of the movie does a wonderful job of basically giving away the plot, and the user review on IMDb explains it best, “Crocodiles, An Amnesiac Gypsy, A Virgin Prostitute, A Milk-Drinking Snake, A Truck Driver That 'Dances' Like Michael Jackson and much more of this...What's not to enjoy”. The three main characters are named after the three mystical rivers that merge together at a point known as Sangam, outside Amitabh Bachchan’s home city of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. And as it is pointed out in the movie, though the three rivers meet, one river must leave the others behind at one point. The movie centers around this love triangle that includes treachery, delivered by the deliciously evil Amrish Puri, alligator pits and, I believe, Amitabh Bachchan at one his best.A lot of people have criticized this movie, for different reasons. Sometimes it’s because the plot is so predictable, and the actors are put into the same kinds of roles. Mr. Puri in the same villain role, Nirupa Roy the same old abused mother, Amitabh the same angry young man. I do have to agree that the plot is mostly predictable, but the characters are colorful enough to keep you entertained and the absurdity of the plot, unlike Mard, is bearable because there are enough twists to keep your attention. The best, and most shocking scene to me, is when Ganga uses his own body heat to warm up Jamunaa after she falls into an ice lake. The scene is actually incredibly sensual and artfully accomplished.The movie might not be the greatest in Mr. Bachchan’s career, but I wouldn’t skip it if you begin to do what I’m doing….which is, watch every Bachchan movie.Give this movie a chance! It’s pretty mindless entertainment!