Janam(’85) : One chapter of Mahesh Bhatt’s Autobiography
Mahesh Bhatt can be credited to create an impression that so many films, he made or came out from his production house, are based on his own life. Arth, Saranash, Janam, Daddy, Jakham and Wo Lamhe are either said to contain events happened in his life or he has inserted real life incidences, he has witnessed. Arth and Saransh both earned him much acclaim and then he made a small budget film Janam.
Rahul is son of Nalini, who is not wedded to his father, Virendra a film maker/producer. Rahul, has spent a childhood always longing for love and recognition of his father, who is a wealthy man but who could not accept his relationship with Nalini before the society. Rahul sees his mother suffering since childhood. He yearns for his farther but he also hates him because of his lack of guts.
Rahul is a young man and he lives without any proper direction. He wants to do something but what? His energies are wasted in fighting with irrelevant questions of his illegitimate status also. He has this complex deep down in his personality. He is a caring son for Nalini but he is a rebel son for his father Virendra. Rahul does not show any respect towards his father and wishes to do everything independently.
In such loitering days he meets with Rohini and both fall in love. There are many romantic moments between them and one such scene is on the roof of their home when Rohini is standing and staring the sky and Sun and Rahul comes and holds her from behind.
With love in his life Rahul is determined to do something and he wishes to make a film and with lot of difficulties he gets success in making the film. Though in the process of making his first film he suffers a lot of humiliation and insults but he completes his film and when his film is released, life opens new vistas before him as his film is nominated for award in best film category. Rahul wins the award for best film and best director award and his work brings him biggest recognition when his father gives him award and recognises before all as his son.
Kumar Guarav plays, here the character Rahul, and Janam can be said as best work, Kumar Guarav did till this date. Kumar Gaurav gives a good performance and normally under play the character unlike his other films.
Shernaz Patel plays Rohini’s character and she looked amazingly fresh in the role. It was her first film and she did not work in films for almost 20 years till she appeared in Black. She looks good and performs well.
Anita Kanwar/Kanwal plays the role of Nalini, mother of Rahul and she brings out every emotions of her character, in a defined manner. Complex situations, swinging moods and small happiness and big sorrows are beautifully expressed by her. Her stuck voice makes her dialogues, when she is in depression, very authentic.
Anupam Kher plays the Virendra, the father of Rahul and he also does full justice with his role. This was the time when he was like fully charged battery and his performances of those years are remarkable.
Young and slim Kittu Gidvani is also there in the film. It was a small budget film but quite sensitive film and it easily can touch hearts of viewers. Its one of the quality work of Mahesh Bhatt and a must watch to have glimpses of a nice and sensitive director residing inside much vocal and marketing based producer. Suraj Sanim’s dialogues and lyrics and Ajit Verman’s music are added advantages in the film. Over all a touching film which brings a wet feeling inside our heart and viewer feels very light at the end like one may feel after a satisfied crying. Please do watch it.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
//RK bhai :d, haven’t seen this one! :-? Kahin se bhi DVD ka bandobast karna parega. Bechara.. I have a soft corner for Kumar Gaurav. Have you seen his Jurrat? Amrish “The GOD” Puri was awesome as the villian.
wb:
I am trying to get his last film “Guiana” where he plays Indian immigrants in carribian during British regime there. Perhaps story belongs to 1840 period. Kumar Gaurav was looking very authentic on the poster I saw. But could not get that film.
I mean who can think to make him a slave labourer.
This contradiction is another attraction.
Thanks for that, RK. Haven’t heard about that movie as well. who can think to make him a slave labourer. soorat se itna bhola, itna sadhu dikhta hai ki uss coolie kya kuch bhi bana sakte hai. Poor chap! :d
wb: pls see these
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/01sld4.htm
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/06/14/stories/2004061402110100.htm
RK, “guiana 1838″ is only available off their website as of now it seems.. guiana1838.com
Striker. thanks,
jise dhundha gali gali wo usee ke ghar jakar mili.:)
I was thinking abt this movie a few days back, saw this on DD long back..college days I guess.. was very sensitive & touching.. Well made and good performances. It had a nice song sung by Amit Kumar.. dont remember the lyrics though..
It was one of Mahesh Bhatt’s best.
And yes, it was Kumar Gaurav’s best..given to believe on the fact that he may not get a movie like that again.
Prashanth:
I hope you are talking about the song by Amit Kumar
” Zindagi zindagi zindagi
kab tumko dekha hai, kab tumko jana hai”
song plays in background since begining of the film and comes again and again throiugh out the film.
I think one more was there
” tum mere saath ho, mein tumhare sath hun,
yen jameen saath hai asaman saath hai”
I guess Amit Khanna shd be the lyricist.
RK, intrstng post. Had no clue about this film. Sounds nice. I think it has lot of similarities with Zakhm….will try to catch it for sure.
Phoenixnu:
Janam is very different than Jakham. There is hardly any communal angle here.
In short I can say “Janam” is more close to “Masoom” of Shekhar Kapur. Here Jugal Hansraj is grown up and now a young man (Kumar Gaurav).
Sensitivity is same in both the films. No wonder Mahesh Bhatt and Shekhar Kapur both were close friends at that time and they discussed these stories with each other. Same essense and yet different treatment.
RK, i got it. But the basic premise…if u c without the communal bit… the kid’s feelings for his mom/dad …relationship between his mom n dad…they are same. Isnt it ? OH…masoom is one of my all time favourite. in this film’s case dont care even if it is copied.
Phoenixnu:
ya relationship and emotional basics are almost same. Only Jugal gets his due in childhood only but Kumar Guarav bears it like Amitabh of Trishul or Lawaris, only difference is here father and son both know their relationship.
I am not aware of any such thing that Masoom is copy. Its such a beautiful film, it does not matter its copied or remake or re remake.
RK…masoom is from man,woman and child. here’s the link…http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085895/
I have not seen teh film but whoever has seen it todl me that this tiem remake is better than the original.
As far as I know, ‘Masoom’ was derived from Erich Segal’s novel ‘Man, Woman and Child’, and not from the movie by the same name. And yes, its one of those few movies that is as good or even better than the book.
Phoenixnu and Ranjit: Thanks friends for giving more infos. abt the film.
Both of you said:
Masoom is better than the english film made earlier and english book written earlier!!!!
Does any1 know where I can get a copy of Janam?
it is probably impossible getting a DVD of Janam, since it is actually a TV film Mahesh Bhatt made for Doordarshan way back in 1987, when there was no satellite TV. In fact, I myself am looking for a song from that movie — it is a rare number by Amit Kumar, and goes: Zindagi Zindagi, kab tumko dekha hai… Since no proper soundtrack album of the film was ever released, it is next to impossible getting the song anywhere. can anyone help me?
cheers
@raja,
I found this link where someone was asking about that song and another poster downloaded it to this site. You have to join the site to download, but I hope this helps you:
http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=39172
@NoVaDJ
BTW This is the recording I have provided in the forum.. I was one of the initial member of the forum but a few years back when they started charging for membership/downloads, I moved away..
@RK,
one important point.. Mahesh Bhatt based the character of Anupam Kher on Nana Bhai Bhatt his own father.. who made a lot of Stunt Films in 40s/50s and Janam had quite a lot of bits too.. To the best I remember, Janam made a statement on the fading era of Stunt Films thru the frustrations of Virendra..
@Pavan Jha ,
maybe you can post it on www.yousendit.com which is a free service for people to share music and small files. If the file is small it doesn’t cost anything to post it and then you can give the link to others….
thnx NoVaDJ
>-
Anyone knows where I can download that song “Zindagi Zindagi” by Amit Kumar from this movie? Its a fantastic song, still etched in my mind, even though I haven’t heard the song in over 20 yrs now.
iam a proffessional singer and specially sing for amit kumar i have all the vcds of kumar gaurav am his great fan in this world
i have kumar gaurav’s all movie collections incd. janam and even the song Zindagi Zindagi
Zindagi zindagi zindagi
kab tumko dekha hai, kab tumko jana hai
Taron ke sang, phoolon ke rang me, tumko pana hai..
ye maine thana hai… apne ghar lana hai….
tu mere saath ho, mein tere sath hun,
to jameen saath hai… asaman saath hai
ye bhiga bhiga jism… ye bhigi aarzoo….
zindagi mil gayi….
PLEASE SEND URL TO DOWNLOAD…