I watched this refined film on DD years ago and it was so touchy experience to watch it on Doordarshan when invasion of Satellite Channels has not ruined the meaningful entertainment world of Television and we get an opportunity to see some pure Indian artistic films and have some meaningful serials on Doordarshan whom my generation would love to cherish like- ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’, ‘Malgudi Days’, ‘Tamas’ to name a few.If you think it’s another art house boring film than let me tell you that it’s one of the most interesting film that Benegal has made. For every middle class lovers of Indian small town the economic condition and caste system plays pivotal role in success. The film is a series of flashbacks narrated by a young man who witnessed the love story in his neighborhood several years ago. It’s a story of bubbly and cheerful girl of a small town who tried hard to fight against the conventional social and economic set up and ended up adjusting her life and accepting the situational conditioning. The most interesting part of the film is the way each part of the story is narrated with flashbacks and sharing of various interpretations in between the flashbacks by the narrator and his few friends.
The film was based on Dharamvir Bharati’s story by the same name with the assistance of NFDC and Doordarshan. Benegal has chosen so many shining National School of Drama actors and DD’s talented serial actors for this film without roping any senior art house actor except Amrish Puri. Some of them almost remained inseparable part of his films like- Ravi Jhankal, K.K.Raina, Raghuvir Chaudhary, Lalit Tiwari, Pallavi Joshi, Anang Desai, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Neena Gupta, Ila Arun and introduced a fresh and yet thinking actor like Rajit Kapoor whom we remembered as ‘Byomkesh Bakshi’. Even though its his debut film, he gave impeccably mature performance with all the intricacies.
I’m not sure whether one can get the film through torrents. Surprisingly I found the film in local video rental library where nobody except lunatic like me has hired it till day, said the owner.
Highly Recommended…
Ratings-8/10
3 comments:
Hiren,
Sometimes I envy you for your tastes and a creative life that you have constructed in otherwise sleepy town of Patan. Being from the same place, I feel that the song from the film "Mausam" - "Dil dhoondhta hai phir wohi phoorsad ke raat din" is quite apt at narrating the situation of people like me who are not able to follow their hearts or live where their hearts are.
Anyways, this film has left vivid impression on my mind as an adolescent. I remember to have watched only two art movies in my childhood - this one and Shatranj Ke Khiladi. I dont think that this movie was underrated by critics. I have heard a lot of appreciation about this film.
And thanks so much for keeping us abreast with the reviews of wonderful films.
Cheers!
Pratik
Hi
Suraj ka Satvan Ghoda remind me of another contemporary film named "wo chokri"(1994). Pallavi Joshi, Neena Gupta and Paresh Rawal were the lead actors in the film. If you can manage to get a copy of the film than it is worth trying.
I watched 'Suraj ka ...'long back and was really terrified by the character played by Amrish Puri. He had a small role in terms of appearance in screen but it was powerful. He received best actor award in Sydney Film Festival and Singapore International Film Festival for his role of Mahesar Dalal.
hey, the bad thing is how come are u getting all these classics..... yes, it is one of my fav hindi movies. saw it when it came on DD, at that time, it has won some award, and so, the govt allowed to show this movie on DD, just after its release. one more movie was shown at that time,....Rudali.
what i liked about this movie is its non chronological way of story telling, which has become a hot cake in present hollywood. quite ahead of its time.
u know, one of my fav parts in byomesh bakshi was when he use to reveal the mystery. the way rajit kapoor use to unravel teh suspence, was just awesome. that exact way of story telling u can see in this movie too by rajit. this is one of the thing, which makes u glued to it.
amrish puri has portreyed a perfect as*****, and he has done it wonderfully. apart from taht, ila arun, pallavi, and taht "tanna", they are jus out nd out brilliant.
finally, i should give an applause to Mr. Benegal. u know, i dont really think that he is a professional movie maker. jus look at his port folio,
# Abode of Kings: Rajasthan (1990)
# A Quilt of Many Cultures: South India (1990)
# Nature Symphony
#Festival of India (1985)
# Animal Reproduction and #Artificial Insemination in Bovines (1983)
## Tata Steel: Seventy Five Years of the Indian Steel Industry (1983) ......
who makes these kind of movies, even documentaries!!! he is basically a social reformer, whose one of the hobby is film making. these kind of person deserve to be an ideal idol.
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