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Post Mortem Report on Seven Samurai
Saw Seven Samurai Last Night, It was one hell of piece of art. After watching it I realized why people call Akira Kurasowa as one of the best in cinema history. Ok all praises apart after 30 minutes into the movie I couldn’t resist my self comparing with our own Sholay. When ever a new character was introduced I compared it with sholay’s character. Here is short synopsis:
The story is set in 16th century. There is a village and they don’t have any food to eat, it’s about harvest season and there is fear of group of bandits attacking the village again and take all rice as they did last year. So people of village consult granddad of village and decide they should hire Samurai’s and fight against bandits. Finally they hire 7 samurai and fight against bandits that is the basic plot. But in seven samurai the role of chief of bandits was brief and there was no basanti but there is Dhanno’s (Yohei’s horse). What makes seven samurai special is that there is chemistry between different characters and it develops gradually through out the movie and you will be into it with your knowledge.
Here are some characters that u will find similar in both movies
Thakur Baldev Singh:Hires jai and viru to take revenge on Gabbar Singh.
Shimada Kambei: Takes reposnsiblity of hiring other Samurai’s and lead them in the battel.
Viru: What makes viru apart from Kikuchiyo’s character is his love for Basanti. Viru doesn’t die in sholay where as Kikuchiyo dies in Seven Samurai.
Kikuchiyo:Crazy and funny Samurai of all. Actually he is not a smaurai but pretends as a Samurai so that he can take revenge on bandits who killed his family when he was kid. There is no denying that Viru’s character is heavily inspired with this one.
Radha: Thakur’s Daughter in law and she likes Jai.
Keiko Tsushima: She is one of the farmer’s daughter and she likes one of the samurai
Both movies have similar plot hiring group of people to fight against bandits and there is no doubt that sholay is heavily inspired by Seven Samurai. What makes me wonder is the film that supposed to be our greatest film (by most people) has to be an inspired one rather than an original creation. I mean why Pyaasa can’t be the best Indian film of 20th century or any other movie that’s original by all means.The “gaon waloon” scene with Veeru was also inspired by Seven Samurai Where Kikuchiyo is drunk and fights with other Samurai’s. One aspect that sets Sholay apart from Seven Samurai is Gabbar and I think its a great character to play. Other than gabbar u feel that Seven Samurai is far more better than Sholay(Cut+Copy+Paste).
After watching few of our classics I think why people have to call certain movies as “ART CINEMA” why can’t they call it as “Cinema”? Cinema it self is an art when they call certain movies as art cinema are they praising it or degrading it.
P.S
With all due respect to Japanese people, when u watch Seven Samurai you can’t stop laughing when you see the way these people walk, talk or do other stuff.
22 Responses to “Post Mortem Report on Seven Samurai”
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o.k, thanks dude, just a few comments, watch the magnificent seven and once upon the time in the west. you may realise other connections to sholay- yet to see pyaasa i’ll look it up- but i believe all art is influenced from loads of places- most from other art and rarely nowadays from personal experience and personal views/principles. regards alex.
Seven Samurai is my favorite film of all time. It’s a film that consumes you. Like you said, it’s been an inspiration to numerous films over the years. Even “Lagaan” in its own way draws inspiration from this film. The way Aamir Khan goes about pulling his team together is reminscient of how Takshi Shimura brings the Samurai together.
Every shot in Seven Samurai is pure beauty, every cut is so carefully placed, and the score haunting. But the greatest strength of this film is its character development. You can’t help but be sucked into every character, their history, and what fighting the bandits means for them. The last scene where Takshi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune look at the grave mounds is heartbreaking.
Some may be interested to know that Kurosawa made the Seven Samurai because he wanted to make something like a John Ford western, a director who he greatly admired. Little did he know that he would end up making a film that would go on to become the reference point for all westerns made henceforth. Seven Samurai for me is the most complete movie I have ever seen and perhaps will ever see.
P.S. - I don’t quite see what’s funny in the way “these people walk, talk or do other stuff”. Perhaps it’s akin to how many Westerners find the behaviour of people in our Indian movies funny.
I totally agree with Vijay. When I watch all these classics, I mostly get dissapointed or atleast not blown by them. the reason mostly is having watched it years later. Film is a product of its time like most art. It has lot of political & social themes in its subconsoius 7 hence years later it loses the impact it can have when it was made.
SEVEN Samurai is a movie i watched it again immediately. It was to be filmmaking taken to perfection & add the eastern outlook of life into it & it can overwhelm you.
And ofcourse one of my fav actors & faces on cinema Toshiro Mifune.
“These people talk & do other stuff”….. I can’t believe you said that.
@Vijay and Mainak I have never seen a japanese film b4 this one so i dont know any thing about japanese people or their culture. So when i saw seven samurai it was kinda funny feeling when i saw what those guys did.Just like people from other countries might have felt when they saw “Lagaan”. I by no means have degraded the film or Akira Kurasowa or people of Japan. I liked it very much and is my list of all time top films.
@Mainak IMHO there is nothing like film losing its impact, There are lot of movies which didnt do well when it was realsed but they lot of people started liking them after DVD relase for example “The Scarface”, “Shawshank Redemption” etc.,
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA is another movie that just blew me off my mind. I will never forget that never ending shot of Omar Sharif riding from far off.
The photography of that film will never be outdated.
I just saw the SEPTEMBER 11 shorts. Didnt like them much. The 1st one about the afgani kids in Iran was the best for me. Mira Nair was boring, so was Danis & many others.
^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^
Sholay paid homage to many movies of western genre, like say kill-bill to that of Kun-fu movies.
e.g.
(1) Gabbar killing the family members of Thakur–stylistically similar to action episodes in Sam Pekinpah’s Wild Bunch
(2) Male bonding of Veeru and Vijay is similar to that of Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid
(3) A Village hiring snipers to get rid of Bandits is a theme common to lot of Westerns and particularly Samurai movies.
(4) Unrequited love(AB and JayaB) due to prevailing social conditions — that’s there in Seven Samurai– but could be any other movie.
But there are many orinigal sub-plots, like Vijay ’s chat with Mousi “praising” Veeru which are Salim-Javed’s own creations/inspired from life.
Anyways, “Seven Samurai” is such a masterpiece … copying from it is like copying from Mahabharata or Shakespeare’s plays.
Since you said you are new to Japanese movies- Please watch films by Yasujiro Ozu’s (for a taste of old Japan (Post-War)) and that of Takeshi Kitano and Takeshi Miike (for a taste of new Japan). I’m sure you will fall in love with them and their rich culture.
Kenji Mizoguchi and Nagisa Oshima are fine storytellers as well.
But Kurosawa is GOD!
Varun, watch “Yojimbo” (Remade in Hollywood as A Fist Full of Dollars and Last Man Standing), “Ran”, “Kagemusha”, “Sanjuro”, “Throne of Blood”, “Red Beard”.
just to repeat-once upon a time in the west- sergio leoni, gotto watch this to see an identical shoot out against a family while a swing/cradle rocks in the wind afterwards- same as sholay- lead plays hormonica- charles bronson- same as bachchan, the sequence that leads to bachchans death- almost identical other than the double sided coin to - brandos only directed movie- one eyed jacks- they use two bullets behind the back to decide who stays to fend off the cavalry- behind a rock and bridge… not 100% about the bridge but the big rock is solid memory. (lol) as geezer up there suggests some strong elements of originality have made this movie a classic. no offence but for me don and deewar come before sholay- as my faves at least.
Yeah Alex
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is my fav western. I’m not that big into westerns… I didnt buy that whole Clint Eastwood thing back in high school much. Every movie seemed the same. Except for GOOD, BAD & the UGLY. That maybe because of that amazing theme music.
Then i saw Once Upon… few months back. Man the start of that movie has to be the one of the best opening of any western. If you see the latest 2 disc DVD the colors are mindblowing. And yeah that scene in SHOLAY was copied totally from here. But what the heck… I don’t mind a very good copy. Sholay was a good tribute to all these masters.
Sholay has been inspired by many many films. You should read the book on its making by Anupama Chopra. Lot of insights there. There’s a reason why it’s called a Curry Western. Deewar and Don are great films and I am crazy about them. But ain’t got Gabbar Singh. I have not seen any other film where the villain ends up being the real hero of the film. I would love to see the story of Sholay played out completely from Gabbar’s point of view instead of Thakur Baldev Singh’s. I hope that’s what Ramu does with his version.
I’m totally with Vijay. Sholay from Gabbar’s perspective. But idont like the idea of RGV playing with sholay. He has lost his mind.
BTW i am sure 2:37 will be one of the highlight of IFFLA this year :)
I saw MEMORIES OF A MURDER last nite. Anyone seen it. Man I dunno what those koreans are smoking …they are just going beserk. What a fuckin great movie. It has one of the best scenes i have seen in years. Go see MEMORIES OF A MURDER people.
Its directed by Joon-ho Bong and stars Kang-ho Song from Mr. Vengence. I’m gonna check out BONG now.
Vijay…i just found out that THE HOST is made by BONG.
man i am definitely gonna check it out.
Host is awesome! 2:37 will not play at IFFLA. It has already screened in LA at AFI Fest.
Just came back from watching the Host… liked it.:)>-
Oz.. is that ‘The Host’ as in the Korean film?????
= Steve, yes Gwoemul in Korean.
Oh, I’ve seen it!!
And loved it!!
That Sang Ho guy is s-o-o-o-o talented!
It was unlike so many films from that genre… really didnt know what to expect!
Korean cinema is truely wonderful….i have alot of admiration for their industry.
Hollywood should take a leaf outa their book… oh, they have!
They’ve started remaking their films too, lol!
@mainak yaar i have added memories of murder in my blockbuster list.
Just today i bought Sergio Leone’s trilogy (good bad and ugly, fist fill of dollars & for few more dollars) gonna watch em over weekend.
thanks every one for recommending.
Varun, here’s a good site should you like to know more about Japanese movies and the Samurai genre itself.
http://www.midnighteye.com/features/samurai_cinema_101.shtml
hey folks- i agree gabbar is hands down the best villain of all time (can’t believe it was amjads first film). amitabh pulled off black with no real problems but gabbar?, some things just shouldn’t be tampered with. although i have heard its a modern remake- hopefully it won’t interfere with our memories of the original then- veeru- ajay devgan? i think rgv is trying something radical here folks.
Sholay is the best we have, Seven Samurai is the best there is