Karz (1980)

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This movie is an Indianised version of THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD (1975)The movie follows a good plot line as THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD while making the characters and incidents differentRishi Kapoor and Raj Kiran look the same thats why the reincarnation bit looks really good The best scenes were shared by Rishi and SimiThe memorable songs include OM SHANTI OM, DARD-E-DIL and EK HASINA THI Rishi dances well to these songs and the picturization was brilliantRishi Kapoor is a really good actor and you can touch his feelings using his expressions Pran steals the show Premnath as a mute villain is different His name is quite strange but it was the 80s Simi Garewal was beautiful and sinister Tina Munim is OK

Karz is one of the most famous Subhash Ghai films, but according to me it is nowhere among his best. The execution is uneven and at places the film does not flow well. The story is very interesting, but the script lets it down. The film spans for a period of something like three decades (Monty's age was specified as almost 30 in the film), but the characters do not even age appropriately during this time. Some of the dialogues and the proceedings are overdone and some sequences are amateurishly done. Despite the flaws, Karz does have entertainment value, mainly due to the fantastic music and some successfully shot moments of suspense. Songs like "Dard-E-Dil", "Om Shanti Om" as well as the instrumental theme of the movie are beautiful. The entire reincarnation track could have been better done. Rishi Kapoor is Monty, a top singer who was named Ravi at his previous birth. Ravi was killed by his wife Kamini and eventually reborn as Monty, probably in order to take revenge. Kapoor did his part well, but at some points he overdid it. The vibrant Tina Munim played his love interest, and her overly childish attitude really got on my nerves. The show was stolen by the awesome Simi Garewal, and she played her elegant vicious Kamini with style. Karz is an okay film, quite watchable and enjoyable, but basically nothing particularly good.

Karz is a goosebumps inducing tale of revenge that spans lifetimes. Sir Juda (Prem Nath in an over the top villainous role) plots with a brother sister duo to trap and kill Ravi Verma (Raj Kiran) so he can take over the Verma family fortunes in Ooty. Who needs villains when you have Simi Garewal, playing the loving wife Kamini. She marries Ravi, there is joyous listening to his favorite guitar music, and then she crushes him to death with her jeep within days of the marriage! Then she ousts Ravi's mother (a suitably weepy Durga Khote) and sister, and sets out to rule the empire. Of course the strings are being pulled by Sir Juda (what a weird name but it was the 80s!). Cut to modern times where a young pop star Monty (Rishi Kapoor in a youthful avatar) begins to have hallucinations that seem to come from a past life and are associated with a musical guitar riff, yes that one. He is in love with Tina (the beauteous Tina Munim) and follows her to Ooty. Tina's uncle (Pran) knows part of Kamini's secret and Monty fills in the gaps. Then they hatch a scheme to terrorize her and scare her into confessing her crime. The final song sequence where Kamini finds out that all is known is the stuff of legends.Subhas Ghai was still in his magical phase of film making pre-Khal Nayak, Taal and Kisna! The story is well written, the cinematography is quite innovative for its time, and he is able to get decent performance out of all concerned. Particularly noteworthy is Simi as the greedy Kamini - the role of a lifetime, beautifully done. She is sleek, beautiful and yet sinister. Rishi Kapoor does a decent job as Monty, at close to 30 he still manages to carry off the 21 year old Monty really well, without being handicapped by his short stature. Tina Munim sizzles in looks, is okay in acting and the role is that of a young ditzy girl - a bit silly. BTW - did anyone else worry about a 16 year old marrying a 21 year old man? I mean she was 16 - why was she getting married? Pran is great, Prem Nath is a caricature and he does it well. Raj Kiran is quite good as Ravi.Karz is the film it is because of 2 outstanding music numbers by Laxmikant Pyarelal. The starting number Meri Umar Ke Naujawanon (Om Shanti Om) is flawless in the singing (dancing leaves much to be desired). Ek Haisna Thi - this is a goosebumps inducing number, amazingly sung and performed on stage. This song is the heart and soul of Karz. Forgettable are Paisa Yeh Paisa, Main Solah Baras Ki, and Kamal Hai (even Aruna Irani sizzling cannot save this atrocious number). Darde Dil Darde Jigar is very sweet but not that relevant to the story.The bad - parts of the film are amateurish to the extreme, why are random people with scarred faces, or dressed as skeletons shown to be scaring Kamini. That stuff was laughable. Sir Juda and his cohort were quite silly. Tina Munim acting the super naive girl and then they get married - that was disturbing. No one really seemed to age appropriately in 21 years.But overall Karz is more than a timepass film. It does reach out to the viewer and captures your imagination. The idea of revenge that can be had even past one life time is very empowering. It is sort of like a karmic wheel that got compressed by the wronged.

This movie is an absolute all time classic. It even had me stunned that Subhash Ghai was able to make a movie like this. He never even came close again. But this time he wasn't the self proclaimed showman, no, he had the help of the son of the ONLY showman Mr. raj Kapoor's son RISHI KAPOOR the best actor from all the Kapoors! Rishi really shows what acting is all about. You can feel his pain and confusion by just looking at his face. Really next to Amitabh one of the best actors Indian Cinema has ever had but never really appreciated. The film is loosely based on the movie THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD only Indianised a bit of course. Simmi Garewal gives a good performance (again with Rishi after Mere Naam Joker) and Pran steals the show. Prem Nath as a gunga is different than usual. Even Tina Munim is likable. And i haven't even mentioned the music...Wow! Dard-e-dil, Om Sjanti Om, Tu Solah Baras Ki, Ek haseena thi- all smash hits. They don't make 'm like this anymore.