Khuda Gawah (1993)

Since I’ve been listening to the music none stop, today, we’re going to talk about Khuda Gawah (God is Witness) from 1992, directed by Mukul Anand, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi in a dual role, and Danny Denzongpa as Khuda Baksh. 

There are so many striking things about this movie that has somehow gotten buried throughout the history of Hindi cinema. As mentioned in the post about Hum, I have a strange hesitation when it comes to Big B’s movies in the 1990’s. I was, as always, hesitant about watching this movie but once I got going…I couldn’t stop watching. And I couldn’t believe how much I loved the music, the plot and the way Mr. Bachchan portrays the Afghan lord Baadshah Khan.
In one of the first great monologues of the movie, he states: “Oh land of India, I greet you. My name is Padsha Khan. Love is my religion, loving is my faith. Love for which Farhad dug out mountains and tore the oceans. Love for which Majnu searched the lands. For that same love, the king of Kabul has come to the land of India for the same love. The task is difficult, the test is hard. But my passion is strong. But it is love that always wins. It has always happened, and will again happen today. God is witness.” The epic quality this movie has, the timeless love story that does compare with the old love stories like Laylee and Majnu, is striking and addictive. 

It’s a story about endurance and about loyalty. And above all, it’s about the different types of love we encounter throughout our existence. The love between friends, it’s about the love between a woman and her man, and the relationship between a father and daughter, and the love of a man for honor, for keeping his promises. One of my favorite dialogues in the movie is before Baadshah Khan leaves for India again, and his new wife is begging him to break this one single oath he made to the Hindustani police. And he answers that she might as well kill him, because what is loyalty and honor even if one oath is broken. 
The story is cut between two times, young Baadshah Khan and old Baadshah Khan, with Sridevi in a dual role as Benazir and Mehndi, their daughter. It’s a remarkable flow of events, a story that again shows the way God and destiny move through our lives. It’s also a tale that teaches what it means to be patient with God. If you are good, if you are righteous, then no matter how horrible your circumstances seem to be, God will show you the right way.
Because this story centers around Afghani characters, the speech and songs in the movie reflect this root. There’s more Urdu mixed in with the Hindi, and the music is Middle Eastern, it’s music that’s familiar to my ears being from Iran. And one of the first things that really sucked me into this movie and had me basically, and uncharacteristically, fan girling all over myself, was the way Amitabh Bachchan’s character says “Benazir”. The rhythm of his speech throughout this movie is to die for, there’s an familiar arrogance in the way he speaks, in the way he carries himself as Baadshah Khan is amazing.

It’s a “typical” Hindi movie, it is a predictable plot to a certain degree, although you can’t guess the ending. But there’s something so beautiful in this movie, a combination of the visuals of the movie, the epic dialogues and the music coming together in a medley of perfection that ended up being Khudah Guwah.
One of the interesting facts about this movie, according to IMDB, is that a large portion of the soundtrack was recorded at the Bachchan residence in Juhu. And this movie has one of the most amazing soundtracks I have ever heard. I can’t get enough of the songs, nor the dances, especially the handkerchief dance that is in the song “main aisi cheez nahin”.
Amazing movie! I highly recommend this!