CHINA GATE – GUILTY PLEASURE
iView Author: Satyendra Jha (Pune, India)
Email: satyendrajha30@gmail.com
CHINA GATE – GUILTY PLEASURE
Can’t say what was the absolute trigger point for me to decide to write about this movie. Maybe it was one of the discussion forums on PFC where discussions ventured into the ‘cult’ film territory. Many definitions were flowing around, mostly citing Wikipedia, and the major point of contention was that a ‘cult’ film is ‘not’ commercially successful, but has a dedicated following all the same. Someone also suggested that the moment the movie becomes successful; it loses the status of being called ‘cult’. I remember our very own Ratnakar citing the example of Tarantino’s movies being the perfect examples of being ‘cult’ movies, having an extremely dedicated fan-following, who swear by those movies, although many of them are commercially successful as well. Couldn’t agree more on that. And that brings me to throw my hat into the ring, and stick my neck out, and declare that ‘China Gate’ for me is the cult film I strongly associate with.
There was another forum, another day, on a recent write-up by Rk about ‘No Smoking’, and someone in the comments section suggested that no one will remember No Smoking ten from now, despite people fighting very hard for the cause of the movie, in the same way that Raj Kumar Santoshi had declared upon China Gate’s release that ten years later, his movie would be remembered as a cult movie. According to the person making that comment, ten years had passed, and today no one remembers China Gate, let alone classify it as a ‘cult’ movie. That was probably the second trigger point for me to think of writing about it.
Ok, to begin with, today when someone says China Gate, what exactly comes to my mind? Granted, it was a poor rehashed version of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, and had a heavy influence of Sholay and other Hollywood westerns. But then does China Gate have only that to claim on its CV, and nothing else? Well, the song Chamma Chamma to begin with. The steller cast of parallel-cinema heavy-weights. The larger than life character of Jageera. The rustic rural set-up, and the grandiosely mounted action sequences. And most of all, the awesome dialogues and their power-packed delivery.
“arre kuch toh saram karo karam ke jalo, bandook chali nahin ki karane lage kaayn kaayn…”
“je baat,… mere man ko bhaaya, main kutta kaat ke khaaya…lomdi ka doodh pee ke pala hai yeh Jageera, humse naa bhiriyo…”
“aaj to pesal (special) gosht milega, sipahiya ka…”
“arre, hume kachu (kuch) kiya kya, hum to bas hool de rahe they, hool”
“watan ki raah par watan ke naujawan shaheed hon…”
Apart from these, there are many such sequences where the powerful dialogues play an integral part, like when Om Puri gives his monologue about why they were branded as ‘bhagoda’ in the China Gate mission, and were court-martialled by the Indian Army, or where the motley group of protagonists is held captive by Jageera, and instead of being afraid, the group asks Jageera to surrender, or even those hilarious sequences with Paresh Rawal, first when he comes to capture the protagonists, or later on in the police lock-up, when he is cornered and changes colours like a chameleon, but is ultimately silenced.
The film may not have worked in its entirety for many, but looking back at it without any prejudice, chances are, on a repeat viewing, we might just relish the abandon with which the actors have given it a go. As said earlier, Hindi cinema had not seen this assortment of powerful actors in a long time. Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Danny, Amrish Puri, Paresh Rawal, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Anupam Kher, Girish Karnad, and other fringe actors like Mukesh Tiwari (in an astounding albeit loud & over-the-top debut), Samir Soni, Mamta Kulkarni, Tinnu Anand, Ila Arun, Anjan Srivastav, Jagdeep, Viju Khote, Shivaji Satham and K D Chandran (for those who don’t know who he is, he was the father of Juhi Chawla in Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke).
Most of the actors were top-notch, barring a few, but the scene-stealers were Amrish Puri and Naseer, especially during their communally-charged exchanges. Perhaps the only weak link was Mamta Kulkarni, and to some extent, Samir Soni, but then they were not expected to do anything much, to begin with, and were there just as fillers.
The movie was positioned at a grand scale by director Rajkumar Santoshi, and the crisp dialogues were written by Santoshi and KK Raina. The movie was supposed to be homage to the Hollywood western classics as well as to Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, which was credited in the beginning credits of the movie. It was also the launch vehicle of Mukesh Tiwari, who was being positioned as the next ‘Gabbar Singh’, and his looks were kept under wraps prior to the release. To get into the skin of the character, Mukesh Tiwari spent a lot of time in the rural areas of Hampi (where the set for the fictitious village Devdurg was built) and stopped shaving or washing to get that real ‘look & feel’ of the dreaded dacoit that he was playing. He was so good in his role that subsequently when Mukesh Tiwari was seen sans his make-up in the initial movies post China gate, no one could recognise him.
The film took a long time in the making, and the cost kept on mounting due to the unnecessary delays. Upon its release, the movie was immediately branded as a poor cousin of Sholay, and far too pretentious and violent for the common junta’s liking. In those days of pre-multiplex era, the movie soon fizzled out for lack of house-full boards in the theatres. I so badly wanted the movie to do well, I remember having watched the movie thrice in its first week of release, in Paradise theatre of Kolkata, requesting my brother as well as friends to come along. So enamoured was I with Jageera’s character that I was soon trying to learn the dialogues and enact them with the typical voice modulation. Chhamma Chhamma was of course the big draw, and Urmila used to be quite likeable during those days.
I have no idea why I still like the movie so much, despite it not being anywhere close to the masterpiece that the director touted it to be. But it still remains one of my guilty-pleasures. Maybe because it was the first time I was experiencing this kind of a movie in a theatre in my life. Maybe it was my way of getting a vicarious pleasure in watching a ‘westerner’ for the first time on screen during its initial euphoria, since I could not have watched Sholay or Seven samurai or any other such movie in theatre upon their first release, as I was not even born. Maybe it was the complete anti-thesis of Andaaz Apna Apna, my all time favourite Santoshi movie. Or maybe I was just a sucker for some hardcore action movie during those times.
Did I say earlier that I associate China Gate as one of the cult films according to me? That’s because I have met some other hardcore fans of this film, like me, and whenever we meet, we end up rattling off one dialogue of the movie after the other. Ten years have passed since its release, and it has had several TV runs, especially on Zee Cinema, and every time I am surfing and I come across this movie, I still end up watching it over all other programs even today. The movie may have many deficiencies, but it’s my guilty pleasure all the same.
Tags: china gate, ram gopal varma, urmila matonkar
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Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
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Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
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Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
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humse ladne ki himmat to juta logey, par kameenapan kahan se laaoge?
@ Magik: bang on.. how cud i forget that dialogue. in fact this dialogue is within that sequence when jageera kills that mukhiya (Shivaji satham) and then rants abt lomdi ka doodh and all that.
when both jageera and mikhiya face off with daggers, suddenly jageera (looking over the shoulders of mukhiya) says,” yeh kya mikhiya, akele ladne ki baat karte ho, aur bitwa ko bhi saath laate ho”. a surprised and concerned mukhiya says,”shiva..?” and turns back, andin that split second, jageera slashes at his throat, andthen goes on to spread his menace thru the set of dialogues, including what u have mentioned… humse ladne ka jigra to juta loge, par kameenapan kahan se laaoge..?
typo error; it should be mukhiya, not mikhiya.
Jha- very well written piece on Chinagate.I wouldnt really call it a cult film as such, but definitely a guilty pleasure all right.I happened to see it in Central Theatre – Coimbatore & what’s ironic is that many years earlier , I had watched Sholay also in the same theatre during one of its re-runs.The theatre certainly is one of the best among the single screens in the country with excellent accoustics which heightened the experience of watching the movie.I felt Rajkumar Santoshi was certainly brave to make this with a stellar cast of supporting actors rather than a regular set of heroes.
Btw Mamta Kulkarni & Rajkumar Santoshi had a fallout & thats why Urmila was drafted in for the Chamma Chamma song.K.D Chandran is also the father of dancer- actress, Sudha Chandran.
@ Sethu: thx for the trivia on KD being sudha’s dad. didnt know tht. well, to carry the concept of ‘cult’ forward, we have seen different takes by different set of ppl here on PFC as to what qualifies as a ‘cult’ movie.
it reminds me of another discussion we had had on this forum abt the concept of ’soul-selling’ films. IMO, the biggest cult i have come across is Andaz Apna Apna. it was a major flop upon its release, and today it has carved a niche of its own among the DVD / TV circuit. some people swear by it, while others, including some in my family think its a mindless comedy. to each his/her own.
another cult i wud say is the ‘final destination’ series. those who like the slasher / horror genre swear by it, while for others it doesnt make much impact coz there is no definite ‘evil / villain’ in the movie, and its the work of ‘Death’ itself, which is as abstract as it can get.
Not sure if i can classify this as a guilty pleasure, its not a great movie, but certainly not a cringeworthy one either, like Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Torture.
Well most of the horror, sci fi movies come under category of cult, because generally for a long time, those 2 genres were considered as B Grade.
Satyen when u say cult, let me take the example of Godfather and Scarface, two of my fav gangster movies. Both the movies had Al Pacino, both of them were gangster flicks, and both of them were commercially succesful.
But Godfather is not considered as cult, because though a gangster one, and pretty violent and dark, it was universally acclaimed by audiences and critics.
Scarface on the other hand, was not universally accepted by the critics. It was a movie that polarized the critics like nothing else, and you had 2 groups- Those who hated the movie, those who loved the movie. Though commercially succesful, Scarface is regarded as a cult classic, because it was not universally accepted. I know people who hate the movie and yet its fans( including yours truly) love the movie to death, and would spend hours discussing it.
Now if you take movies by David Lynch or Terry Gilliam, most of their movies are not commercially succesful, but they have a dedicated fan following, which loves their movies.
So when you speak of cult, its like having a fanatical support base, who are not much bothered about the movies critical or commercial success.
@ Ratnakar: hey thx man for your two cents on the issue. and why did i know in my heart of hearts that u will talk abt JD: Ek Anokhi “TORTURE”.
Sir, i beg of you, PLZ DO A WRITE-UP ON THAT MOVIE UNDER “TORTURE-SERIES” WITH DUE PERMISSION FROM OZ.
u have, till now, talked abt only hollywood movies under ‘cult’. what, acc to u, cud qualify as ‘cult’ in Indian cinema? honestly, this post was my take on MY guilty-pleasure, along with many other mithun-da and sunny-paaji movies… i agree with u that it was definitely NOT a cringe-worthy movie at all. i wonder if it wud hv been released in today’s date, in a multiplex, wud it be coming off the theatres in the same hurry that it showed 10 years back?
@Ratnakar: [Well most of the horror, sci fi movies come under category of cult, because generally for a long time, those 2 genres were considered as B Grade] …
genres weren’t considered b-grade, the film-making was bcoz of the sleazy portrayal. if they had gone abt it honestly and made a sensible movie, it wud have been called a-grade. the treatment of movies in this genre was b-grade
also, ‘midnite cowboy’ won an oscar although it was an x-rated movie…treatment matters
satyendra: kya yaar, ratnakar ko yaad kiya aur mujhe bhool gaye :( ; i was a part of tat silly argument abt cult movie
…. i yawned the whole time…
anyways, i m sure u will find better movies to write abt. china-gate mei na china tha aur na hi gate
Ratnakar, i got the analogy of godfather/scarface and the difference of a cult/non-cult movie. even i swear by scarface, but many felt it was just too repetitive and uni-dimensional.
Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys & the brothers grimm qualify as cults, IMO. have not watched any of david Lynch except Mulholland Drive, so, cant comment on him, but yes, Mulholland Drive definitely qualifies as the cult for the trend of non-linear treatment to the narrative.
Satyen i had already written about JD:Ek Anokhi Torture, on another portal. And as per PFC rules u cant publish it here.
Well i was planning my own series of Kalti Classics on such movies. Let me see.
For me movies of RGV, Anurag Kashyap, Sudhir Mishra, Vishal Bharadwaj to name a few would qualify under the cult category. Their movies are not the kind which every one likes, but they have their own die hard fan following.
RGV was the original cult director, he has people who hate him and also people who admire him. Daud is a perfect example of a cult movie, it was hated by both audiences and critics, when released. But now it enjoys a cult status, and is rated on par with other RGV classics.
Similiarly VB’s Maqbool( one of the best gangster flicks i have seen), Sudhir Mishra’s HKA, Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro are some of the movies which wud qualify for cult status IMO.
But again its a very subjective thing, some time back i did an online Quiz on famous cult movies, and i got feedback from some of the people, that how you could consider this as a cult movie.
“also, ‘midnite cowboy’ won an oscar although it was an x-rated movie…treatment matters
Sirjee, that was in the 70’s, when Hollywood broke conventions. Had Midnight Cowboy been a 50’s or 60’s movies, it would not even have got a nomination. BTW the X Rating for Midnight Cowboy was because it dealt with homosexuality, a taboo topic those days.
It was only during the 70’s that sci fi and horror shed their B tag thanks to Alien, Exorcist, Omen, Blade Runner. Of course Star Wars made sci fi a family friendly popcorn event.
@ crazyrals: bhai, sorry for not including your name, but honestly, i didnt want to sound like dropping names, in order to portray my presence on PFC, so kept it simple.
as i hv said earlier as well, china gate came to my mind as a guilty-pleasure, rather than as a cult.
Also prior to Star Wars, there were excellent sci fi movies like the Andromeda Strain, the Fantastic Voyage, the Omega Man,Logan’s Run, and even in horror genre you had fabulous movies like Eyes of Laura Mars, The Haunting but because they were of the sci fi, horror genre, those movies never receive their due. Even now to date, the Academy routinely ignores sci fi, it beats me that classics like 2001, Blade Runner, Alien never even got nominated.
Sorry i meant Midnight Cowboy got an X Rating, because some of the scenes were considered pretty bold during those times.
China Gate i think was appreciated, but it failed to recover the cost due it’s huge budget.It was one of the most expensive movie of that Time.
On other note Scarface is a cult has fan on Indain Sub continent because it over the top unlike Godfather.
I would certainly regard Andaz Apna Apna & Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron as cult movies.They were not trailblazers @ the box office when released, not universally acclaimed, but over time have gone on to become so popular that there are now dedicated fan groups for these movies.Applying the same logic I think even movies like Lamhe,Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa,Pushpak etc have also acquired cult status.
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On other note Scarface is a cult has fan on Indain Sub continent because it over the top unlike Godfather.
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Scarface is quite Bollywoodish, but more darker. Thats why it was not received well when it first released in US, but right now some of the critics have revised their opinion on it.
The movie struck a chord among the Latinos, as well as the hip hop junta.
China Gate came during a time, when Indian audiences were still not prepared to accept non star movies. I mean consider this no stars, no duets, no Swiss Alps, no Wedding Video scenes, who would want to watch it.
Ratnakar: i feel the reason why these slasher/horror/sci-fi genre movies became a cult is because they told a different story in a different way, which the industry in general was not ready to acknowledge. perhaps thts the reason a cult like blade-runner wasnt even considered for oscars, although it changed the way we look at sci-fi now.
@Ratnakar : arre yaar…sirJi bolte ho aur gaali bhi dete ho
u have urself justified tat movies like blade runner, alien etc got rid of the b-grade tag. tats exactly wat i meant tat treatment matters. the ycut the crap, the slezaze and actually explored the genre. they did not try to put-in masala scenes else it wud have continued to stay in b-grade genre.
regarding cult, can we once and for all say tat if a movie is commercially successful it cannot be called cult movie??
so, ppl dont say tat sholay and godfather are cult movies
@ Sethu: i remember Phool Aur Kaante and Lamhe releasing on the same friday, and im not ashamed in saying that i went first for PhoolAur Kaante, simply coz it had action, as was the norm of the day. i enjoyed it thoroughly, the action, the stretching intro scene of AD, the songs, the works… Lamhe, i did watch, but at a later date, and was not too impressed with it. but today, with a slightly refined taste of movies, i wud cringe to watch PAK, (no pun intended), and i savour the DVD of Lamhe that i own, and watch it whenver in a mood for yashraj type romance.
and thts simply coz over the period, Lamhe has carved a cult status for Sridevi at her impish best, its bold theme, timeless songs and Anil Kapoor sans moustache.
“regarding cult, can we once and for all say tat if a movie is commercially successful it cannot be called cult movie??”
No way, because cult movie definition itself is subjective.
Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs have all been commercially succesful. But the reason they have attained the cult status is that they r not universally accepted as simple as that.
Just ask your friends how many of them would have seen Taxi Driver, and then ask how many would have seen Godfather. The people in latter category would be more.
Satyen, sometime back during my writeup on Tim Burton’s movies i had written this piece on B Cinema, check it out, then you can understand where i am comming from.
http://passionforcinema.com/the-dark-world-of-tim-burton-iv/
@ crazyrals: i wud put my two cents and say that ‘cult’ movies r initially not a big draw at the BO, but over the years, they generate enough moolah and curiosity (and in turn the dedicated fan-base) to garner more revenues from alternate sources than what they wud hav had they been successful upon their release.
citing my example of PAK & Lamhe, commercially PAK was much more successful upon release, and Lamhe lost out big time. but today, chances r that lamhe DVD is available in many a household, while PAK is being ignored like a poor cousin. and thts simply coz Lamhe today might be considered as a ‘cult’, unlike the other one.
@Satyen: Again BO performance is not the criteria for cult.
See if you take something like Titanic or Forrest Gump or ET, they r the kinda movies which appeal to every one, even to those who are not die hard movie lovers.
But take something like Reservoir Dogs or Snatch, unless you really like heist movies and are comfortable with the violence shown, you would not like those movies.
Again something like 12 Monkeys, it was a commercial success, but unless you are totally clued in to the sci fi genre, willing to get into the multiple layers, u wud not like it.
See both Satya and KKHH were succesful, but Satya appeals only to those who really love the Gangster genre movies. Whereas KKHH appeals to more people. So thats where Satya becomes the cult.
@ Ratnakar: hmmm, seems the discussion on ‘cult’ is showing as many layers as any typical ‘cult’ movie is expected to… btw, i took a long time in replying since i was reading ur post-link abt tim burton. what an insightful write-up.
in fact, u hv already touched the impact of B grade movies of Ed Wood, Tim Burton etc. on the genre itself, how it gained a bit of respectability, and how most of their movies r revered today by their die-hard fans, whereas abhorred by others. so that makes it a ‘cult’.
can we then say that any movie, irresepctive of its BO success, which has an impact on the viewership, or changes the way in which the movies of that specific genre are looked at can be called ‘cult’?
will seven samurai b cult-enough for the hollywood to start aping the formula and come out with westerners?
Satyen well i am a big time fan of cult movies, in fact during college, i would often end up watching such movies alone in near empty theaters, coz no one was willing to see them.
Seven Samurai was already remaded into Hollywood as Magnificient 7. And we had our Desi version called Khote Sikkey. Now that is one cult genre, our curry Westerns, the 70’s Daku movies, can be taken as a cult, because they had certain common elements.
Basically the cult movie thing gained ascendancy with The Shawshank Redemption, on release the movie was commercially unsuccesful, but it became a success in the DVD circuit, and right now, its a movie that has a huge fan base( including yours truly), who quote its dialogues verbatim.
Nobody mentioned Fight Club eh?
@ skd: hope u meant the brad pitt – ed norton starrer, and not the all time hindi fav of Ratnakar, alongwith Jaani Dushman….
@ Ratnakar: yes, i remember those typical 70’s daku movies, mainly had sunil dutt / feroz khan / kabir bedi / vinod khanna, which followed a set pattern, and kept churning one movie after the other.
Magnificent Seven was an open adaptation of Seven Samurai, but Khote Sikkay was more rehashed to suit the Indian sensibilities, with typical over the top performances from all concerned. the music was a complete rip-off of For a Few Dollars More.
in fact, Feroz Khan made a living out of such movies in the early 70’s. but cant call them a cult by any stretch, coz they hardly have any following today…
@Satyendra Jha: Yes, I meant the David Fincher flick. That imho qualifies as a cult classic.
@ skd: yaar, i was just joking. i knew u were talking abt tht David Fincher classic. the other one, btw, is a favourite “so bad its aweful’ of our Ratnakar, alongwith the other all time fav of his, Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani.
on a more serious note, ya, fight club was probably a cult from the dual-personality POV. it was done in the typical David Fincher style, and gave rise to a new film-lover in me.
You brought back some sad memories…
I was in school when this film came out..couldn’t watch it in theater at that time…
After some time it was aired on DD…at that time DD was at its moral policing best & almost all the action scenes were censored & shortened…
I ahve yet to see the complete uncut version…I believe it would be much better…
As far as cult movies are concerned…Mithun-da films definitely fall under this category…especially after the revival of Gunda…
@Satyendra Jha,
China Gate too was publicised on a bigger scale, calling Jageera as a villain who would replace Gabbar Singh from the minds of audiences. It was, if not a let down, then unconvincing act. People could remember his dialogues which you have mentioned but not his expressions and way of style of saying them, that went against him.
Senior actors Danny, Naseer S, Om Puri, Amarish Puri, all were trying to encourage Manoj Tiwari and calling him great newcomer but somehow things did not click. Jageera’s characterization was fine but not performance. Samething:- like Shakal of Shaan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda was a let down. He was not suitable in such a role. It was a contrast. he was modelled on the basis of bond movies and protagonists were not modelled on that basis. Highly praised qualities of Sholay almost killed Shaan because it could not live up to the expectations.
Amitabh, Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha and before that Sunil Dutt, with whom this ensemble cast is fighting? Kulbhushan Kharbanda!!!!. Salim Javed refined Shakaal in to Mogambo and it worked big time.
China Gate suffered from insistence on inserting elements which are thought as necessary to bring commercial success to a film.
It was also one film other than DDLJ whose making was telecasted on TV as a sponsored event before the release of the film. Raj Kumar Santoshi gave an interview with utter honesty which very few filmmakers may give and talked about passion for cinema.
Have seen it only once and that too on very first day of its release. Second show. Great crowd was there.
Then had felt following and still feel on similar terms.
(1) Girish Karnad’s scenes in the begining did not work, specially when he tries to manouver bandits.
(2) Technically competent film.
(3) Om Puri’s first scene where he is trying to do suicide with a pistol was great. he shines in silence also ala patthar. But overall after witnessing whole cast, I had felt that this central role deserved Amarish Puri. Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah’s fiery competition could have worked better if Om Puri had played Amarish Puri’s character. Both play same ranked officers and it’s in psyche of audience. Senior actors cast was amazing and reshuffling was immaterial for such a talented cast and could have helped the film.
(3) Naseer’s lecture on hindu muslim and maliyana riots etc did not synchronize well and the scene given to Amarish Puri, yelling Naseer’s name after his death, actually brought unwanted shalowness in the film. Film could have remained subtle in these areas when it had whole brigade of wonderful actors.
(4)Chamma Chamma, great hit but Amarish Puri’s actions did not gell well with the nature of the film.
(5) Raj Santoshi modelled it on the pattern of Sholay and tried to insert different materials to make it a complete film but perhaps if he had gone little more towards Mera Gaon Mera Desh then film could have become more intense. MGMD also suffered from weak comedy which looked forced. Similar scenes were refined to a great extent in Sholay and it worked.
(6) There may be some other things which were included to make it a safe bet on commercial front but which actually brought down the over all quality of the film.
But the spirit to make such a film was good and it never died. Rather it’s seen that Phholjhari type films which get instant success are never discussed. On internet it looks to some that if on a day when he is enjoying the surfing if a particular film is not discussed then it has been died.
Cult no cult, whatever qualities a film contains they never die and come up on surface whenever someone recalls it.
Cult, religion etc are borrowed terms and become controversial in india because they dont represent completely the terms Sampradaya and dharma.
Words having roots in sanskrit can hardly be represented correctly by English words because their birth histories are different. People have to make compromise with closest possible meanings.
this is ROYAL film! a true classic! Cult by farthest margin! Thanks for reminding me about this! AWESOME! :D
I had sort of liked CG. It was OK. Jageera’s dialogues were the best part, IMO.
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@ 20, Ratnakar, It had release along the same time as Satya. Even Satya did not boast of star-cast but it did well.
CG was too long and heavy, the whole premise of dacoits and all was so unrelated to majority of audiences, that may have added to its woes.
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On second thoughts, you may be right.
CG boasted of all character actors, none of them had a box-office draw while Satya had all new comers, so as to speak.
false…false
jitaditya @ 35: thanks forthe comment. a bit late in acknowledging, but nevertheless.
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yeah, the uncut version with the dialogues and acion inall its glory is actually to be seen to be believed. try to get the DVD if u can.
@ 32: thanks for the concurrence sirjee.
@ vishwaa: what is false…false sirjee…..???
@ Rk: nice detailed dissection sir. cudnt agree more.. but all said & done, its my guilty pleasure. and i know of many more, who simply love it despite all its shortcomings..