elshikh4
If you're accustomed to the age then you'll get the idea pretty easy. (Amitabh Bachchan) is an angry young man, lost from his mom, has a revenge to fulfill, loves a girl and sings for her, beats – at least – 5 men bigger than him, winning at the end on all the levels. I love that. The thing is how much entertainment it has every time. Accordingly, the amount of fun in (Nastik) is not that great. However it has some.The cinematography is good. Everyone along with everything looks special and elegant. The set of the village's villa is so strangely dazzling (looking borrowed from another movie). The mom's simple cottage is a sight that vanished utterly from today's commercial movies of Bollywood. It's only the James Bond-esquire lair, with henchmen wearing uniform, that bothered me ! The action is well done. Pramod Chakravorty's directing proved some energy and capability. The dialog got many talented and memorable lines : "And that's how we steal the imported goods/ What an imported idea !", "I don't drink, I just get drunk by watching my friend drinks !", and "Money can buy the bed, but not the sleep".All the cast were their known characters back then; Amitabh Bachchan; the tough suffering hero, Hema Malini; the street hustler naughty girl (beautifully thinner than what she looked in Naseeb 1981 !), Pran; the chivalrous friend (as in Zanjeer, 10 years earlier, with the same introducing fight), and Amjad Khan; the forever-evil guy. At one hand; there is certain strength in every one of them to add absolute credibility to their roles, despite how bad the movie lacks it. And at the other; what a nostalgic feel we have out of watching them together. Speaking about nostalgia; the songs have such a glamorous touch I seriously miss. With (Kishore Kumar)'s unique voice I recall older time in my life, charming time. Look at the sweetness of "Main Hoon Tere Saamne Tu Hai Mere" or "why you are sad", from one angle it may by the best of this movie ! While it's outwardly mild, inwardly it is damn usual and near to flimsy. The story got all the icons of the masala, which had been done close to perfect in (Amar Akbar Anthony – 1977), but with less twists, efforts and persuasion.The whole story is a small replica of that world; lost and found theme, revenge (with carrying out the justice lawlessly), powerful evilness, the importance of being a believer,…etc. But many points were so hastily made. And the rest overflowed ruinously with coincidences; at one sequence the lead is beaten while seeing his long-lost mother and sister by accident, then gets help by his enemy's sister; who appears suddenly – in the same time and place – by accident, then his own sister goes to the doctor at night to be seen, by accident, by the same enemy who gets turned on to chase her while meeting, by accident, her brother's friend who his sister was raped by the same enemy ??!! At that point I came to believe that the world doesn't have humans unless the movie's characters ! So we move in our seats, say "Naaa", criticize with half a smile "Com'on. So Far", to nearly forgive it later. Somewhere among the shown colors, stars, music, we hide these objections, trying to enjoy ourselves as long as the movie pays off. Unfortunately (Nastik) doesn't pay off much.The script expressed the meaning of faith through someone lost it. Yet the conciliation at the end was the most naive; he prayed hence the god cured his sister, so what if she wasn't cured ?! But you won't find sophisticated vision about god and belief, or sophisticated anything, in Bollywood's lala land because it's the land of escapism and simplicity, and thank god that it has a meaning anyway, one about the importance of having faith as well ! It lacked the comedy. Neither the friendship between Bachchan and Pran, nor the competition with Malini was used to produce laughs. They relied on Deven Verma as idiot man, and his Hitler-like father-in-law to fill up that area but the results are unfunny. Nalini Jaywant didn't convince me as the mother, and not for reasons related to being wont to Nirupa Roy (the age's familiar mom of Amitabh Bachchan). Despite the cute presence, she delivered pale performance. Particularly I loved the scene of Bachchan and Khan at the yard while practicing shooting. It's the famous *threat* scene in every melodrama. We had it in numerous Egyptian movies during the 1940s and the 1950s. It's where the Protagonist meets the Antagonist face-to-face, each one menaces the other yet in a covered way, they pelt one another with very condensed, intimidating and sometimes very wise lines, while having tons of confidence. This is classically cool.(Nastik) is between average and maybe weak. Even for someone who watches it to evoke the lovely past, resorting to safer place in time, nothing denies lacking excellence. But it's the mood of life to have the big B acting in usual movies. Naturally it's a market where the star always needs to be in the sky for all the time, even if stood in not too shiny corners. It has nice shadows from nicer originals. Plus watch how Bachchan, in black hair, pushes Khan from 2 floors high to land – both – unharmed in the name of having a good time. I'm not an atheist when it comes to believe in this. The problem though is that this movie doesn't have a lot to make us believe in it highly.
TC-Batsy
Nastik is good film to watch but it's a repetition of most of Amitabh's performances where he is always the angry man whose family gets murdered in his early childhood, and later seek revenge once he finds the killer and sometimes reunites with his loved ones when we assume they're still dead! Nevertheless, I enjoy Amitabh's wonderful acting because his appeal is simply unique whether it's drama, action or comedy. As for Nastik, it talks about Shankar's journey as an atheist when he renounces his faith in the gods after the horrible deaths of his family by the evil slumlord Tiger. Blirin and Gori were the perfect companions for Shankar as they earn their living through stealing from the rich until they encounter Tiger and discover his heinous crimes against innocents so they fight him.
hammer_pants
Great movie, great acting, great songs. Amitabh is amazing as usual in his role as Shankar. Amjad Khan gives a fantastic performance as well as the villain Tiger. Pran is also great in his role as Amitabh's friend and a father in pain. The storyline is that of revenge (in an indian movie, nooo!). Amitabh plays the "Nastik", a man who shuns his religion because his faith could not save a loved one. Hema Malini also stars as the heroine. I give this movie an 8 out of 10.
