Tag Archives: Ittefaq

Ittefaq (2017) Movie Review: He Said, She Said!

It is funny how the making of the original Ittefaq back in 1969 came about due to an unfortunate coincidence, an injury to the leading lady of Aadmi Aur Insaan, Saira Banu, leading to her leaving for London to recuperate for 2 months. Owing to this unforeseen delay, Yash Chopra figured he had to make a movie within 2 months, and after coming across a Gujarati drama, Dhoomas, adapted from a famous English play, Signpost To Murder, decided to adapt it to the big screen with a then-upcoming Rajesh Khanna and the reigning matinee queen, Nanda. Almost 50 years later, BR Studios comes out with yet another songless crime-thriller, but the question remains, is the title the only similarity to the original?Continue reading “Ittefaq (2017) Movie Review: He Said, She Said!”

Ittefaq – Mystery lies behind the scenes

Before, a film director starts shooting a scene; he hollers lights, camera, and action! There is a reason behind it, and that is, that’s all cinema is about, literally. And, Yash Chopra seems to know that, rather well. And in Ittefaq he seems to play with it.

In 2012, though, if you see this film, it seems slightly aged, because the acting and dialogue are overtly theatrical, at places. But I don’t have a problem with it, at all. So let’s come to the point, this, whodunit, (yes, Yash Chopra’s whodunit), though is so unlike Yash Chopra’s other cinematic endeavours,  is still so much like them, when Rajesh Khanna’s  character is continuously ground from two sides, sympathy and anguish. Or, when Sushma’s continuous pretentiousness, samples folly and suspiciousness together, it had to be Yash Chopra’s characters, wrong, imperfect, sympathetic and troubled, all at the same time to have a film like this work, even now, when in the first scene you may predict the wrong, of one of the two mysteries. The first mystery that leads to the second story and the second story is the actual story of the film and it doesn’t play like a mystery film. It isn’t investigative, but about two people inside limited space, coming close together.

Continue reading “Ittefaq – Mystery lies behind the scenes”

Aadmi aur Insaan : Of Friendship & Betrayal


Zindagi ittefaq hai
Kal bhi ittefaq thi
Aaj bhi ittefaq hai

On first hearing, it sounds like a title track for the movie Ittefaq, which was being made around the same time as this movie. Following the super-success of Waqt, Yash Chopra soon began working on a movie which had its roots in socialism.

India was on the path of industrialization, and lot of factories were coming up. Many development projects were on the anvil, construction of dams and irrigation projects were a priority. Akhtar Ul Iman used this backdrop and scripted the movie which was a story of two friends, one rich and the other poor, Munish & JK.Continue reading “Aadmi aur Insaan : Of Friendship & Betrayal”

Neela Aasman So Gaya: A Humble Tribute to Yash Chopra

2012 has been a mixed year for me, I must admit. Among all the things that I expected to do this year, writing this post was certainly not something I had in mind. With less than a month to go for the release of Jab Tak Hai Jaan the only thing on mind was the film and the review that I would go on to write.Continue reading “Neela Aasman So Gaya: A Humble Tribute to Yash Chopra”