Rishtey

I like Anil Kapoor, he's really a great actor and just such a wholesome personality. He always gives me positive vibes of someone who'd be perfectly cordial and nice to his surroundings. But man, casting him in the role of a street fighter is really an insult to him, even more than it is to the audience who's expected to buy this weird casting choice. But I wish this was the problem with the film. Rishtey is like a volcanic soap opera, it is highly melodramatic, forced, unrealistic, and just really whiny all through. Heavy violins keep playing through the crucial emotional scenes, while the actors are required to utter some really absurd dialogues and that too, in such theatrical intonations. The film has some nice music, but most of it is actually unoriginal, with songs copied from different, mostly popular Arabic songs. "Har Taraf", which is beautiful and beautifully sung by Shaan and Mahalkshmi Iyer, is one such example. Asha Bhosle gives a perfect rendition (better than the original Arabic song, obviously - no offense but it's Asha Bhosle after all) of a number called "Dilbar" which didn't even make it to the film. Sunidhi Chauhan soulfully performs "Yeh Dil" (also performed by the great Udit Narayan), perhaps my favourite number in this copied soundtrack. I have no doubt the good soundtrack makes many viewers experience the film differently. As mentioned above, the actors are forced to act out some embarrassing situations. Anil Kapoor tried his best in a role he is clearly miscast for. Karisma Kapoor's charismatic presence is undeniable, but sometimes I can't believe she really thinks some of the things she does are any good. Some badly written scenes are made even worse by her high-strung overacting. She is better than that (see Fiza, Zubeidaa, Shakti for evidence). Amrish Puri is the typical villain, and he is always good even in roles which strain credulity. Now the boy is cute and smart but acting-wise not very good, partly because of bad writing and direction, and partly because he's probably not good enough. The saving grace in this film is obviously Shilpa Shetty who is almost unaffected by the bad writing in a wonderful comic performance as the illiterate, sultry but innocent fisherwoman. First, obviously her sensual physical appearance makes her awfully attractive and just a delight to look at in this regard; then her accent and crude delivery seem spot on for the part she plays. But above all, she brings soul and a sort of layering to her portrayal of selfless love and by the end it is her character you end up feeling for. In many ways she reminded me of a young Sridevi. Shetty is by far the main redeeming quality of an otherwise poor, poor film.

This movie is masala at its worst. A mishmash of several old Bollywood films and Hollywood movies remixed with over the top acting , melodrama, bad music, more melodrama - and there you have it. This is Karishma at her worst, and beautiful Shilpa doing her best to put a brave face on a poorly written part. I was so very disappointed with one of my favorite actors of yesteryear- Anil Kapoor. IMO, this was his worst role. The movie is sheer nonsense and a sad disappointment.

A nice family Drama which can possibly happen. A billionaire father Yashpal Chaudhrey's only daughter Komal falls in love with a street-fighter. The movie starts with Suraj( Anil Kapoor ) running from the hospital carrying his new born son. He lives in an unknown village where all the people love him. He works there. His son turns up 2 and Suraj realizes that his legs tingled when he stand. He takes him to a doctor and he says that the boy couldn't walk for the rest of the life. But somehow Suraj is determined to walk Karan. (Jibran Khan ).He does everything and at last he enters Karan into a race at the school sports meet. Karan broke his leg pads and ran and won the 1st place.. In the prize giving he thanked his papa for his earning. At the time Komal(Karishma Kapoor) is thinking about her son and is mentally weak.Yashpalji (Amrish Puri) is determined to get his grandson back. The movie turns on to Vaijanthi (Shilpa Shetty) who falls in love with Suraj not knowing he has a son of 7 years old. But knowing his wife is dead as all say she tries him.. But at last she discovered that Komal is alive.She helps a lot in helping Suraj. Komal lies in the court that her husband asks him money. Court decides to give Karan to his mother Komal. Later Suraj is asked to keep 15 lacks in court before 3 months. Abdul helps him in practicing fighting again. At last the truth is discovered and that is Komal's father hired a lady and gave her the key to prove that Suraj has another woman in his life. And also that he plotted to kill the baby at birth to destroy all the relationships between Suraj and Komal. Komal runs to the fighting place and plead sorry. At last the whole family including Yashpalji settle down. It is really a good movie. Action, Romance, love is based and we can get good advices in life from this movie. I can recommend it to anyone and can offer 9 stars.

Originally 'Rishtey' was to be made sometime in the late 90s. Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri's production company ABCL was ready to launch the movie while Indra Kumar was to direct. The original cast included Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla. However, after ABCL fell apart, the film got shelved. Years later Indra Kumar tries to revive the film with a new cast that included Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Preity Zinta but after the two actresses walked out they were respectively replaced by Karishma Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty. So, that's the history. Now what's the end product like? 'Rishtey' is a pathetic excuse of a movie. The writing is so dreadful. The plot is one of those old fashioned crap about a stupid couple separating due to a misunderstanding created by the girl's father. There's a baby involved and after 10 years or whatever the mom finds out that the baby is alive and wants him back. In the end they live happily ever after, yes, even with the evil father who becomes a good guy after his daughter slaps him across the face and whatever. Indra Kumar is a terrible director. I think his earlier films were more watchable because of the actors and the music. Here all the songs (with the exception of 'Deewana Dil') are garbage. The best song in the soundtrack ('Dilbar' sung by the sensational Asha Bhosle) wasn't even in the movie. The acting is clichéd and ridiculous to the core (with one exception). Anil Kapoor is miscast and, he whines, he barks, cries like a schoolgirl, is too old for the part, looks pathetic with the 'hey look I'm young' getup, and whatever. Karishma Kapoor is the queen of hamming. Though I must add that her character was awfully written. Deepshika and Sharat Saxena play clichéd characters that give them no scope and Amrish Puri's caricature evil dad is nothing memorable. Jibraan Khan is irritating. The only good acting, and the only good thing that comes out of this heap of rubbish is Shilpa Shetty. Yes, she looks very sensual but if one can see past that, we do see a character with depth. The character does mildly suffer due to writing and the clichéd dialogues but Shetty moves ahead of that. She displays some impeccable comic timing and is wonderful in the dramatic sequences. One can only feel sympathy for her Vyjanti who is an uneducated fisherwoman hopelessly falling in love (as the definition of love is vague to her) with someone who does not give a damn. She selflessly does all she can to reunite Suraj with Komal knowing that there's nothing to gain and I was moved by the last scene where Karan looks at her and we see her eyes filled with tears of both joy and sadness as she signals him to not say anything. So that's about it. This is a horrendous film with only one thing going for it and that is Shilpa Shetty.