Jeevan Mrityu (1970)

Star Power: Dharmendra, Raakhee Gulzar, Ajit

Overall Rating: 5 out of 7 chilies

Music: 4.5 out of 7 chilies

Choreography: 4 out of 7 chilies

Synopsis:
Ashok Tandon (Dharmendra) is released from prison after serving his term and tries his best to pick up the pieces of the life he left behind seven years before. But he finds that much of the world he remembers has changed: his mother has died, his friend has moved away and the woman he loved has disappeared. While on the way to try to find the house of a friend, he is robbed by a thief who is then hit by a train, convincing the rest of the world that he is dead. Ashok begs a place to sleep for the night in the back yard of a wealthy man's home and while there, manages to avert a robbery planned by the wealthy man's nephews. Out of gratitude, the wealthy man invites Ashok in and coerces him into relating the sad story of how his life had gone so wrong, a tale of betrayal, wrongful accusations and lost love. The story is not over, however, and with the rich man behind him Ashok sets out to seek justice and revenge...

Comments:
This is a good, solid film out of vintage Bollywood. The plot is based off of the famous novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and the movie really does a good job of adapting it to the world of 1970s India. Dharmendra gives another great performance, both as Ashok and the many disguised aliases which he adopts over the course of the film - he's so believeable it can be hard to realize it's really him! There isn't much music here - only two songs: "Jhilmil Sitaron Ka" and "Zamane Mein Aji", but they're both thoroughly enjoyable numbers.

Kisna: The Warrior Poet (2005)

Star Power: Vivek Oberoi, Sushmita Sen (Cameo in Item Song)

Overall Rating: 3 out of 7 chilies

Music: 5.5 out of 7 chilies

Choreography: 5.5 out of 7 chilies

Synopsis:
When a famous wealthy British woman comes to tour India, she surprises everyone by deciding to make her first stop a little-known mountain province. Though usually reluctant to discuss her past, that evening she begins to explain the story of her life.
More than 50 years earlier, Katherine (Antonia Bernath) is the daughter of a strict provincial governor growing up on the eve of Indian independance. When nationalists attack her family and burn her home, Katherine seeks the help of a childhood friend, a young man named Kisna (Vivek Oberoi). Leaving behind his fiancee, Lakshmi (Isha Sharvani), he agrees to help guide her to safety, evading both the radical nationalists and the brutal Prince Raghuraj (Rajat Kapoor), who wants Katherine for himself. As the two cross India looking for refuge, Katherine realizes her love for her protector, and Kisna finds himself torn between the promises he has made...

Comments:
Another historical film in the vein of Lagaan and Mughal-e-Azam, Kisna: The Warrior Poet unfortunately lacks many of the qualities which made those other films great. Perhaps the greatest testament to this film's blandness is the fact that it took me several weeks just to get through it. The characters are all pretty flat, with Katherine one of the worst offenders. She is first gratingly cheerful and then mournfully lovestruck, and spends most of the film waiting for Kisna to save her from some predicament. After the first twenty minutes, the film bcomes one long chase which does nothing if not prove the fact that the world is a very small place, as one group of bad guys or another seems to catch up to Kisna and Katherine just about every few minutes. The music is really very good, but even songs like "Woh Kisna Hai" or "Chilman Uthegi Nahin" with great choreography and beautiful melodies can't really save this film. I have to admit, the part of the film I enjoyed the most was probably the short sequence surrounding the latter of those two songs, featuring Sushmita Sen as the dancer Naima Begum, but that was only perhaps twenty minutes out of the total 171 minute running time.

Dhoom (2004)

Star Power: Abhishek Bachchan, Esha Deol, John Abraham

Overall Rating: 4 out of 7 chilies

Music: 4 out of 7 chilies

Choreography: 3 out of 7 chilies

Synopsis:
Mumbai is in the grip of a wave of robberies commited by a gang of thieves riding high-speed motorcycles and ace investigator ACP Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) is called in to find them and bring them to justice. Tearing himself away from his beautiful wife, Sweety (Rimi Sen), Jai begins to investigate the bike-racing world and soon meets up with Ali (Uday Chopra), a happy-go-lucky racer who's not above bending a few laws to make a buck. After Jai puts the pressure on, Ali agrees to help him catch the thieves, but catching up to them may take more than just speed...

Comments:
This first installment of the Dhoom series is a good introduction to both of the main male characters, but there's not a lot of substance to this film. There's just a few too many scenes spent in closeups on the female leads' hips and not enough time spent really getting to know the characters. The dynamic between Jai and Ali is quite well developed and we get to understand Ali quite well, but no one else has much of a personality. Little attempt is made to humanize the thieves or the hero - Jai wants to catch them because it's justice, and the thieves steal because they want money - no backstory, no motivation, they just do. The songs are good, but not really outstanding - "Dilbara" is cute and sweet, and "Dhoom Machale" has a good beat. Basically, if you're looking for a fun action flick, I would recommend you give this one a pass and go for Dhoom 2 instead.