Parinda (1989)

Thanks for the memories!

Excellent adaptation.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Blistering performances.

Parinda was a rare film when released in 1989, Shot on real locations, hardly any songs, showed the underbelly of Mumbai and depicted story of Gangsters. The film does resemble On The Waterfront a bit but thats about it. The film catches your attention from the word GO, though the pace is slow at times, Anupam Kher's death scene is fantastic, while Anil's transformation is superb, The best part is Anna's character which is well handled and very unpredictable. The murder scenes are superbly shot, The pre-climax twist in the story is simply awesome and the climax is the best part of the enterprise.Direction by VVC is superb Music in limited doses by RD Burman is fantastic, Tumse Milke is awesome Camera-work is fantastic, Dialogues are superb, Nana gets the best linesThis film was a turning point in Jackie's career, till then he was hardly known as an actor, perhaps KAASh was one film, In this film he proved he could act, VVC always brought out the best in him Anil Kapoor is fantastic in his role,surprisingly both starred in the blockbuster RAM LAKHAN in the same year, In that film Anil stole the show, here Jackie does. Their pairing was repeated often and became very famous Madhuri doesn't get much to do but leaves a mark The best performance comes from Nana Patekar who proves that he is one of the best actors we have, he balances Anna's intensity and also his eccentric part superbly, his expressions are simply outstanding Amongst rest Suresh Oberoi, Anupam Kher, Tom Alter and rest are all adequate.

Parinda has always been my favorite because it was one of the first movies to break the stereotypical formula-based film making trend in India that relied heavily on larger-than-life heroes (and villains) and impossible fight sequences that defied both gravity and logic. Parinda was a breath of fresh air amid all this chaos. It showed the Mumbai(Bombay) underworld as it had never been shown before. The movie begins with a superb background score reminiscent of The Terminator theme. As one listens to the sombre yet striking music with visuals/shots of Mumbai high rises under a grey evening sky, one realizes it's going to be a dark and no-nonsense film. And who can forget Kishen's (Jackie Shroff's) entry as he walks up that huge tank to meet rival gang-leader Moosa? I always wished the scene was a little longer. If Tom Alter did full justice to the role of Moosa, the role of Anna seemed to have been written for (and only for)the immensely talented Nana Patekar. The cinematography of the film leaves all other films of its time way behind (with the exception of 'Raakh', another dark and gritty film released around the same time). Jackie Shroff's acting is simply fabulous, whereas Anil Kapoor is, well, loud as usual! I wish he had shaved off his mustache to fit the role of the younger brother better. Suresh Oberoi as the goon gives a superlative performance - one of the best in his career. In short, Parinda marks the beginning of realistic mainstream cinema in India. Indian art-house cinema had always been realistic, but mainstream commercial cinema used to be just escapist fares until Parinda happened.

"The Most Powerful Film Ever Made" indeed! As if! I was so disappointed with this offering, having seen both Chopra penned delights "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." and "Khamosh," the later of which he directed as well, like this movie. This movie felt like a badly made combination of both, in style. Whereas the songs and the placement of such in "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." set a certain tone to the film and assisted in carrying the story along. In this film, they felt inappropriate to story's the flow, added absolutely nothing to the telling, and stretched it to an almost unbearable length.There was a similarly tense style of dramatization in both this film and "Kamosh," but whereas "Kamosh" moved along at an appropriate speed, developed the characters and their motivations well, and was a novel tale with a constant barrage of twists, after a half hour of watching "Parinda," I started to get the feeling I was watching a badly made Bollywood version of "On the Waterfront," with no actor having the skill of a Malden, much less Brando. Oh, granted there were a few differences between the stories, but not enough to make a difference. The ending had been forecast so early that by the time the finale arrived, it was relief to see we had reached to end of this disappointing film The actors were flat, the characters were flat, all save Iqbal, who was the real hero of the movie ... Paro looked cute in her sari, but her character flipped and flopped without visible signs of whatever kind of conflict she had to have going on inside her. I wanted to like this movie, I really did. I searched it out having become convinced that Chopra was a cinematic genius and found his "Istar."

This movie was the turning point in the fanciful world of Bollywood which had so far kept the remotest possible distance from reality in order to provide a fantasy escape to people amidst poverty and underdevelopment. Bollywood, in this respect had always feared compromising with colors, glycerin, scenic places, superman feats, dances and pomp and pageantry lest the movies would become insipid and turn off the masses.Parinda dared to break the trend and brought the reel closer to real when Vidhu Vinod Chopra used the cinematography of the hitherto called 'art cinema' in the commercial mass cinema. But Parinda was not all about cinematography, it was a realistic take on the Bombay underworld and life of people in general. So far we had only seen mostly Ajit and Amjad Khan brand of opulent villains incredibly placed in their hi-tech, luxury castles. Parinda showed exactly how a real life gangster lives.The movie is damn powerful and made such a wonderful blend of romance and violence that it is hard to categorize it into either genre. The characterization is so immaculate that the audience could connect and empathize even with the peripheral characters playing cameos. In a nutshell, the movie has a soul and is powerful enough to linger in the memory for long time.It was a collective effort where the sensitive direction of V V Chpora was complimented by brilliant and soulful acting performances by master actors (all!) Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dikshit and Nana Patekar. What a dream cast that was! As mentioned before, the movie changed the age old and decadent trends in Bollywood and inspired the new generation filmmakers to stop insulting public intelligence. It set a benchmark for making realistic movies and blending them with drama. Ram Gopal Verma, for one,took the leaf from Parinda when he made Shiva in 1991 and later churned out a plethora of similar movies.