Mrityudaata (1997)

Boring

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This was Amitabh Bachchan's comeback after INSANIYAT (1994)Sadly this film bombed at the box officeThe film has a storyline that may have worked in the 70s but this is the 90s which was full of college campus, justice and a revenge-seeking hero This film just had to release in the 90sAmitabh and Pran had some memorable work like AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY, NASEEB, NASTIK, SHARAABI and the last to be JAADUGAR which was horrible and also crashedAmitabh Bachchan can't get his emotions right Dimple Kapadia is alright Karisma Kapoor's voice sounds different Arbaaz Ali Khan cannot act Deepak Tijori is a loser Mukesh Rishi is typecast Ashish Vidyarthi is funny

After Bachan's delayed release Insaniyat(1994) flopped, Bachan took a break from movies and made a comeback with Mrityudaata(1997). Director Mehul Kumar also directed Mrityudaata after his two super hit films Tiranga and Krantiveer. I had great expectations from this movie and Amitabh Bachan is not a flopper like Akshay Kumar in 1997 who gave 7 flops in a single year. However, his only 2 hits being Bade Miya Chote Miya and Major Saab in 1998, he was crticized for picking some wrong films. The movie started off well, the introduction of the villains and their needs is shown well. The attempt to murder is also well shown and the introduction and current position of our hero Amitabh is well shown. The flashbacks of how Amitabh's family is killed is also well shown. Basically, everything before the interval is good and I really liked this movie before the interval. But, right after the interval, all the crying from the family about Arbaz's death and then when Karishma is getting married and Big B's brothers death things meet, Dimple Kapadia dies after doing some retarted shouting. But, I expected the movie to get better with some revenge and action. The following happened. However, the story was out of control and Pran's limited screen time is nothing good, he is just wasted. Big B running from the police and then Diler Mehendi's squeezed in song which was good. However, the plot is weak how they run into to Diler's show. Then they chase Amitabh to a brothel and Amitabh suddenly stops running and starts doing a Sunny Deol act beating everyone up. From here, they stop lengthing the movie and quickly finish it with Amitabh killing every villain. The ending is good, how they expose the villains. But, the prolonged ending of Amitabh and all the crowd chasing Paresh Rawal to the end is really prolonged and dragged. Amitabh kills the villains but is injured to such an extent, he dies. Its stupid how Amitabh kills all the villains but burning them and even in his last movie, he dies at the end. But, that was stupider. Mehul Kumar is a pathetic filmmaker who relied on actors to save his films but Amitabh doesn't save the movie for him. According to box office results, Mrityudaata was a flop, not as bad as Insaniyat but still a flop. Amitabh does his role in ease, he doesn't ham or mess his role up, Dimple Kapadia does good but her death scene is bad, she overacts, Karishma Kappoor is good but even she overacts, and Arbaaz Ali Khan doesn't known how to act, he's terrible. The villain inlcude Deepak Tijori who is wasted in his little screen time, Mukesh Rishi who can only get angry and overact, Ashish Vidhyarthi who is okay and Paresh Rawal who is good. Supporting Actors like Pran had only 20 minutes of screen time and is wasted. Overall, a movie which is just average. Could have been better if the second half was improved and then Big B would have saved the day.

Amitabh after INSANIYAT(1994) returned with this filmLot of expectations were from this film because it was Bachchan's comeback after 3 yearsSadly it became one of his worst filmsFirst and Foremost: Bachchan looks so aged and out of shape that he doesn't look like the hero of the film and the angry young man doesn't suit Arbaaz Ali Khan is terrible and can't act for anything The film has a story which could've worked in 70's not in 1990'sIn Short the film is another Bachchan masala which went outdated by late 80'sThe story is done to deathComing to the execution Director Mehul kumar was never a great director, his films like KRANTIVEER and TIRANGAA relied on the actors to save it and their powerful scenes, in 1997 he had 2 disasters, LAHU KE DO RANG which had Naseeruddin and Akshay and this film both were similarly crap, because in this too the director thought Amitabh will save his day This film is the last film of Amitabh and Pran together after their memorable work in the past like AAA, ZANJEER, MAJBOOR, NASEEB, SHARAABI and their last before this JAADUGAR which also was horribleThis is also one film starring Bachchan and Dimple who were seen last in a crap AJOOBA(1991) and recently in HUM KAUN HAI(2004)This is one film starring Bachchan and Karisma, another film of theirs ZAMAANAT started perhaps at the same time and never released till dateWondering why im giving so much trivia instead of a review? Well the film is not worth a mention at allThe film as I said has the same formula done to death it has the same villains Mukesh Rishi, Paresh RawalThe mandatory romance, songs, fights.etc Suddenly in the middle of the chase of Bachchan being chased by some goons we break to a last minute planned song NA NA NA NA RE which comes all of a sudden perhaps to save the filmThe climax has Bachchan dieing another time after killing all the villains Surprisingly he died in his last film before retirement in INSANIYAT and also his comeback and both the films crashed tooDirection is bad Music is bad Amongst actors Bachchan looks too aged and out of shape and just goes through his motions Dimple is alright karisma irritates, Arbaaz Ali Khan is a non actor Amongst rest Mukesh Rishi, Paresh Rawal, Ashish Vidhyarthi are as usual

(Amitabh Bachchan) is a superstar, an icon, and a big part of the Indian pop culture. But after more than 75 movies in 2 decades between the mid-70s and the mid-90s I bet that he has had it. He became so tired of too many movies, massive fame, and bad career in politics. True that (Francois Truffaut) called him once "a one-man industry", but he is a "man" before being an industry. So the man had to rest a while. And that's why he took the decision of "the break" in 1994.However, after 3 years, he returned to movies and through a production company of his own (ABCL) or (Amitabh Bachchan Cooperation Limited). Big move. So, Where did exist the big fault that made this movie a big flop ?!!It's mainly in the repetitive formula, which is simple : The revenge story + a political satire + a great speech at the end about the lost justice with Bachchan's distinct baritone voice. Cool stuff… Yet at the 1980s ! As we got this whole merchandise before, from the same star, and more than once, yet better and smarter ("Aakhree Raasta" 11 years earlier was a perfect example).It suffered from what made it look naive and be naive : the poor action (the explosion of the car was a farce !), the pretty easy story-lines (the character of alcoholic surgeon as a lead was pure gold, it could've been great, but except this nothing was gold !), or an older Bachchan doing the same again and again (he was 55 year old at the time).The worst, most dull, moment ever is when he had to hide from the bad guys as a singer on a stage ! I was screaming LAME.. VERY LAME ! Genius magicians like director (Manmohan Desai) would've made it convincing or acceptable, but never boring after endless similar tricks such as this ! Not to mention that (Desai) already died in (1994), even singer (Kishore Kumar) - who gave his lovely voice to Bachchan in so memorable songs in previous movies - wasn't here to rescue either (he died in 1987). So the player was missing his team especially in a rematch like this !Let alone what I see as the biggest sin at all : a matter of DEAD Bachchan !! I swear that disappointed lots and lots of the audiences back then (and back then precisely) whom went to watch their star after 3 years of separation to witness him simply die at the end ?!! Despite the message of it, I think that wasn't designed well commercially, as it sure stunned the craving viewers and depressed them while what turned out to be a sudden gloomy comeback. I can't say that the performance of the bad guys was overdone, because to tell you the truth in other movies and with lower efforts it hit the mark though, but this time the people just hated it. (Bachchan) delivered such a strong performance, trying his best to be serious, satirical, and adding something else the empty entertainment to his behalf. Though, the dose was very intensive, the formula was trite, and the fans weren't utterly in the mood for their icon to get revived just to be killed !So, was it a matter of vanity that pushed the star to present the same old stuff, confiding blindly that the people will love it as they loved it before ? Or was it the fear of doing something new, presenting the unusual, not expecting the reaction ? In fact, what I do know is that 3 years later, and after many lousy attempts to live the echoes of the past again, the big B would return to be big again after (Mohabbatein - 2000). I think it got something to do with his beginning boldly to accept roles for aged men, giving up finally being a "young" angry man anymore. Ahh.. wise move eventually. And although choosing the wrong scripts, and the enthusiasm over bad projects, are still continuous habits in (Bachchan) unfortunately, but at least every now and then he gets himself into rare experiences like (Aks - 2001), (Black - 2005), and (Nishabd - 2007).I believe (Mrityudaata) in Indian means (The Angel of Death). The commercial Arabic title of it in Egypt stood for (Revenge of The Aggrieved). But I named it (The Angel of Revenge). Anyhow this angel maybe got a lot of demons inside of him to rely on old, seemingly assured, formulas, but he forgot the greatest fact : time is changing, so must him. Otherwise, he would aggrieve himself and us. The lesson here is : don't try to photocopy your old success, every time has its own circumstances, and yes.. The career doesn't demand a flop like Mrityudaata, but sure reforming it needs it.