Suhaag (1979)

            As I watch the movie Suhaag, from Manmohan Desi in 1979, I will write about how much I found this movie enjoyable, and why you should watch another of Desi’s great masala movies. This one has a star studded cast led by Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, Shashi Kapoor and Parveen Babi.

            The story follows the classic masala outline of someone getting lost, and destiny bringing the lost back to the “found” bin. This lost and found story is different, however, in the songs and the style that it’s told in. Amitabh’s character is a common street thug, the lost twin of a brother, Shashi Kapoor, who’s become a police inspector that inspires salute from Mr. Bachchan’s character, Amit.

            This movie has two elements in it, that for me, make a Bachchan movie a great: he’s drunk most of the movie having taken up the habit when he was a young kid in the streets of the city, the other is he is romancing Rekha. I’m not going to go into the personal aspect of their relationship that has always been suspected. Looking at Mr. Bachchan and Rekha on the screen, especially during a particularly intense scenes like the few they have in this one, make their movies together that much more wonderful to watch. They’ve got a crackling chemistry on screen together, they just seem to click wonderfully.

            The movie is predictable, as always. But it’s simply a delight to watch. There’s so much entertainment, like Amit’s tendency of beating up his foes with his sandal, or the scene where Shashi Kapoor’s Kishan and Neerupa Roy’s character are both threatening him to take the opposite side of what the other is saying. The movie’s songs are wonderful to listen to as well. There's also a wonderful drunk scene with Amit sitting on top of the unfinished temple and crying of his inefficiencies in finishing the project for mother Durga. The more I think about it, the more I realize this movie has a lot of incredibly comedic moments in it. 

             Down side is Kader Khan is one of the bad guys (of course!) but Amjad Khan as the villain, makes the bad guys bearable. 

            The most gut wrenching scene just happens to be the song is where Amit is trying to stop drinking and he begs Rekha’s character, a courtesan, to help him get through his first night of sobriety. One of the funnier sings also happens to be a song with the four leading characters dancing around to convince Kishan to love Babi’s character.

            All in all a good movie to watch for entertainment. It’s a ride where you know it’ll end at a certain point, but the ride is still worth it. Mr. Bachchan is endearing in his role as Amit, trying to do right by everyone while trying to build the Goddess Durga a temple and over coming his own demons.