What looks like a standard rich boy, poor girl love story with the basic formula of boy meets girl, they fall in love and have to face several hurdles before being reunited is actually much much more. The movie itself contains an important social message about faith, hypocrisy and the distortion of religion for personal gains. Bold for its time. Raj Kapoor introduces newcomer Mandakini in an extremely powerful heroine oriented role, causing controversy with the now infamous waterfall scene where her breasts were visible, through a flimsy white sari.
The story follows the journey of Ganga, a girl from Gangotri (the source of the Ganges),who starts out as pure as the Ganges itself, and as the events unfold She follows the course of the Ganges and reaches Calcutta tainted just like the sacred Ganges. The performances on the whole are excellent. Raj Kapoor extracts some fine acting from all the star cast, even his son Rajiv who shines despite his limitation.
The way the dramatic scenes are executed are sheer brilliance, and you are kept almost at the edge of your seat. Raza Murad stands out as the most memorable character and plays his part with utter conviction.
The soundtrack is also worth mentioning as the beautiful music by Ravidra Jain, with voice's of the legendary Lata Mangeshkar and Suresh Wadkar is simply sublime with its mix of classical and modern film music. The cinematography for a Hindi film of its time really stands out (especially the songs) in and era where films were rather technically poor in India.
The only low I would have to say is the ending. We reach the pivotal climax beautifully executed. What follows is a quick lets get over with this and finish the film with the usual commotion, fighting and over dramatisation. The ending is rather abrupt and you are left with a feeling that the story has not been fully resolved.
What stops this film from being one the greatest stories ever told is the inclusion of certain unnecessary scenes which make the first half less gripping than it could have been.. Certain plot lines such as the Murder of Ganga's brother are left uncompleted. The fight scene where Ganaga is accused of theft is not necessary and just seems to prolong the story.
All in all a great film that could have possibly been even greater. do watch it if you can get hold of it on DVD.
The story follows the journey of Ganga, a girl from Gangotri (the source of the Ganges),who starts out as pure as the Ganges itself, and as the events unfold She follows the course of the Ganges and reaches Calcutta tainted just like the sacred Ganges. The performances on the whole are excellent. Raj Kapoor extracts some fine acting from all the star cast, even his son Rajiv who shines despite his limitation.
The way the dramatic scenes are executed are sheer brilliance, and you are kept almost at the edge of your seat. Raza Murad stands out as the most memorable character and plays his part with utter conviction.
The soundtrack is also worth mentioning as the beautiful music by Ravidra Jain, with voice's of the legendary Lata Mangeshkar and Suresh Wadkar is simply sublime with its mix of classical and modern film music. The cinematography for a Hindi film of its time really stands out (especially the songs) in and era where films were rather technically poor in India.
The only low I would have to say is the ending. We reach the pivotal climax beautifully executed. What follows is a quick lets get over with this and finish the film with the usual commotion, fighting and over dramatisation. The ending is rather abrupt and you are left with a feeling that the story has not been fully resolved.
What stops this film from being one the greatest stories ever told is the inclusion of certain unnecessary scenes which make the first half less gripping than it could have been.. Certain plot lines such as the Murder of Ganga's brother are left uncompleted. The fight scene where Ganaga is accused of theft is not necessary and just seems to prolong the story.
All in all a great film that could have possibly been even greater. do watch it if you can get hold of it on DVD.