Customer Reviews

Mohabbatein [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was honestly very impressed with the story. The film is 3.5 hours long which might have put off some of the viewers.

At the heart of this story is the battle of fear versus love and centers around 4 young men (3 students and one former student) whose lives intertwined and were affected at India's most prestigious mens college, Gurukul. For 25 years, headmaster Narayan Shankar, ran his college with strict protocol based in Gurukul's unshakeable pillars of tradition, honor, and discipline. Should any student tarnish Gurukul's impeccable reputation by breaking any of its rules, he would be immediately expelled from the school, in turn affording him no opportunity to enter any other university or receive employment.

Along comes Mr. Raj Aryan, the one known student in Gurukul to have been expelled because of his love for the headmaster's daughter. The manner of his dismissal was so abrupt that the headmaster expelled Raj without even having met him, an action which prompted the distraught daughter to take her own life. Raj is back to teach the headmaster a lesson and is determined to change the ways of Gurukul forever. Thus the battle of fear versus love begins. Taking cues from their teacher, our three young students are inspired to take risks in love and life.

The songs and dance were colorful and beautiful, and the movie is well editted when brining Aishwarya Rai's spirit character into the storyline. Love it. Must be seen.

I'm relatively new to Bollywood flicks. This one was, maybe, the fifth one I saw. I wanted to see it because it had Aishwarya Rai (yes, I'm a big fan of hers) and because I find Mr. Sharukh Khan watchable: He's got something, some "it" factor, even if he's not the best actor you'll come across. The surprise for me was the older gentleman. I found he had great charisma, Mr. Amitab Bachan--tall, distinguished looking, that terrifically deep voice. It was interesting to see the younger, more physical Mr. Khan in his confrontations with the elegant Mr. Bachan.

Basically, this is a story of four loves--three current, one past. The teacher of a renowned school has very strict rules. He's an unyielding man, strict and humorless. To his school come three young men who become pals and one man to join the faculty as a music teacher. Through the interaction of the Older School Head and the music teacher, we learn of the old love story and see how confrontation and mercy can bring about a salutatory change in even the hardest of hearts. Through the interaction of the music teacher and the three students, we see how a teacher can influence his pupils. Through the love stories, we see how difficulties cannot stamp out true love. Eventually, even a past tragedy is redeemed in the present, and wounded hearts heal.

The film is worth buying just for the Holi festival musical/dance number. It's just fabulous--the white clothing, the tinted powders that are strewn and begin to color every participant. The joyfulness and emotion. A terrific Bollywood number.

My favorite of the "young" love stories was the one with the widow, very moving. My least favorite was the one with the "hip athletic" couple. Kinda annoying. The "middling" one had a very immature heroine who, although "quite cute" according to my husband, was not the brightest bulb in the box. Then again, these ARE young folks, so my expectations may be too high.

As usual, Bollywood flicks offer good-looking actors, nifty costumes, and good music. I think anyone who can let themselves go from Western/Hollywood expectations of what is good editing/acting can enjoy the delights of this film. I"m not Indian,and I did.

Mir

Mohabbatein, or 'Love stories' as translated, is a movie which interweaves 5 (or 6 depending on how you look at it) stories of life and love.

At one point you have Sharukh Khan and his love for his deceased lover Aishwarya Rai. At the other point there is the love of the father Amitabh Bachchan for his deceased daughter Aishwarya Rai. Sharukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, however, are opposites in the world of life and love. One being more carefree, the other more strict.

Next to this there are the three totally different love stories of the three young students under Sharukh Khan's tutelage (which is kind of reminding of The Dead Poets Society) who are challenged, by Sharukh Khan, to persue their loves. In order to reach them they have to overcome certain typical problems in life: being a best friend, being interested in a widow held by her vows, and being interested in the snidey/overconfident type.

There is also the love story of two persons in the movie who serve as comic relief.

This movie will appeal to anyone who loves a good story concerning life and love, highly touching and inspiring. Especially the scenes with Holika Dahan (or the Holi festival however you wish to name it) are very wonderful. The entire movie is supported by one of the best musical scores in the entire Bollywood genre.

I like many Yash Raj films. The others are "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", "Khabhi Khushie Kabhie Gham," "Veer-Zaara," and maybe "Kal Ho Naa Ho." Outside of Yash Raj Bollywood films, my favorite is still "Lagaan." And I could go on and on about great Bollywood films. But anyway....

Once in a while, even great Bollywood films have dumb lines, or they try to be funny and really, it just comes off as childish. Like in this movie, Vicram is teasing Sameer by saying: "Sameer's got a girlfriend! Na-na-na-na-Na!"

But what really annoys me about many Bollywood films (especially love stories), is when two people first meet each other, there's this wash of vocal orchestration that just sounds so stupid, and comes off so loud, like we wouldn't know that these two people are going to have a connection with each other unless this loud wash of vocal orchestration gives us this obvious hint. We see the girl, and then the background music comes on loudly: "Do-do-do-Dooooo", Ahh, ah, ah, ah, Ahhhh." God, I hate it when movies do that. I can kinda understand why some Indians hate to watch their own Bollywood films, and would rather watch more American movies that don't make you feel like you have to be led to understand what's happening. Honestly, I'm hearing more Indian people tell me that they hate Bollywood films for this reason. Plus, some Bollywood films have so much music, it makes you wanna throw up! Even I can get to that point. All that d*mn music is what makes a Bollywood movie run for nearly three hours or more.

Anyway, "Mohabbatein" has a serious all-star cast. The ever popular Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and world beauty Aishwarya Rai. Anapham Kher is here as well. He's never really been the main character in films, but he sure manages to get in many big box office features. Plus, the beautiful Preeti Jianjiani, Shamita Shetty, and Kim Sharma.

Anyway, this movie is a story of about five or six little sub-stories all weaved together, extending from the main purpose of the story. Gurukul (an all-male school) is headed by a stern headmaster named Narayan Shankar, played by Amitabh Bachchan, who is a hard and bitter man who doesn't believe in love. Only independent intelligence. He believes love is a means of weakness of a man. His bitterness comes from when his own daughter committed suicide after her father forbids her from seeing a student of the school, of whom he never even allowed himself to meet. And, without meeting him, he was expelled from the school immediately.

So, a musician comes to the college to offer his services as a teacher of fine music. With a little resistance from the headmaster, he eventually convinces the headmaster to employ him. Not, only does he teach the students to play music, he also shares his story of his lost love. For he was the student that was in love with the headmaster's now dead daughter.

The story focuses also on three other students and the three girls who enter their lives in the city off campus. Their stories start to unfold with resistance of their pursuit of love even though the headmaster forbids any interaction of his students with the outside girls. It is the music teachers goal to penetrate the headmaster's icy cold heart and to let him know and learn that love is what life is all about. What's the point of living, if you've lost everything worth living for?

I've only given a small introduction to this wonderful three and a half hour movie, but, as you watch it, you will get to know and understand every character and the struggles they endure in a world of forced mind sets, hard-headed traditions, and the willingness to accept defeat and learn to appreciate life.

And, believe it or not, this movie is available on Blu-ray (sold by an independent source through Amazon) such as I have recently ordered. This is great, because I almost have all five of my top favorite Bollywood films on Blu-Ray. I'm still waiting for "Lagaan."

UPDATE: What's really a great thing about this Blu-ray edition of "Mohabbatein": It doesn't force you to have to watch a bunch of other movie previews before the movie starts. Sometimes we're stuck having to watch previews that we can't skip or fast-forward through. You pop this Blu-Ray disc in, and you can start the movie right away. Yeah, I really do appreciate that. I'd rather watch other movie previews AFTER I've watched the movie.

I liked the twist of this story very much, and the way that one person

can not only change a situation, but get the respect that is well deserving.

I have watched many Indian movies, but this is one of my favorite! It is totally worth it!

My family's guru massager is from Guayana, from Indian descent and he lend me the movie to see.. Im ashamed to say its was my first Bollywood experience.. wow! its seeing whats happening at the other side of the world... and its a style that would find fertile ground in S. America.. the innocence and idealization of love.. the existance of censorship, makes us thinks when is it that the are going to kiss?.. the living standards of an elite of Indian society.. the presence of music and dances.. such beautiful women.. makes you want to go now!

Whateer the shortcoming the movie may have, I must attribute now to cultural shock, intersting to see that the karakoran war with pakistan has a place in the movie as well as to remember the past english oppresion.. makes me wonder, political propaganda??

As a parent, I wish this was the way our children could view teenage love, we would all benefit from this cultural assimilation... no, I am not suggesting acceptance to the puritanism spirit of the actual US gov

If Shakespeare had been born in India, Romeo would've been name Raj and Juliet would've been name Meegha. And only one of them would've died foolishly.

I'm a fan of Aishwarya, which is the reason I gave this film a try. Someone as lovely and vital as she is was never meant to play a ghost. Of course, being American, I'm of the opinion that not lying to Dad includes telling him something's wrong when he asks. Preferrably INSTEAD OF committing suicide.

Was I impressed with Raj, in the long run? Yes, but it was a very long run! One of the subplots, ideally Vicky's, could've been cut and the story wouldn't have lost a thing except the lead in its pants.

I won't bother watching this one again, but I won't discourage you from watching it once. Just be sure there's a handkerchief handy, especially at the end.

I was a little disappointed in this film. After seeing DDLJ and Rab ne Bana di Jodi, I was expecting quite a lot from this film and it just wasn't as good as the others. I think the main problem for me was that there were just too many stories being told that I couldn't really connect with any of them. I think if they had focused more on the Raj-Megha story and less on all the other stories it may have had more of an impact. That being said, it's still a watchable film and the confrontation between Shahrukh and Mr. Bachchan is definitely worth seeing (though I like the one in Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham better). I would give it at least three and a half stars because the song Humko Humise Churalo is so good, but the rest of the songs were not really that special to me. Oh, and the special effects leaves thing that they used for a lot of the scene transitions was really distracting and fake looking.

Overall, it's okay but out of Aditya Chopra's films, this is his weakest IMO.

The good:

This is excellent Bollywood fare. Five (or six - don't forget the father and daughter) intertwined love stories, all with completely different circumstances. An ages old academy/traditions and a young usurper. Lots of great music and dancing, even moreso than most. The Holi festival dance scene is less over the top than it usually is when there's a Holi festival dance scene (and there often is). An ending scene that's right out of Bollywood's best. Sharukh Khan at his best, from comic to crying.

The not so good:

There are also the few extremely silly situations or overplayed roles, but they're not bad enough to make you stop watching the movie. It is 3.5 hours long, although realistically I don't see how they could have made it much shorter while keeping all the subplots and songs intact. (There aren't too many songs, it's just right.)

A complaint:

A couple of the other reviews give away some of the key surprises in this movie. I'm very glad that I didn't read them before watching, I would have been upset. People writing these should give you plenty of warning about giving away the plot of the movie.