Saturday, November 11, 2017

Baghban

Baghban
(translates as "gardener")
2003
4/5 stars


Raj Malhotra (Amitabh Bachchan) and his beloved wife of 40 years, Pooja (Hema Malini), have given all they have emotionally and monetarily to their five sons, four natural and one adopted (played by Salman Khan).  When Raj retires, he has no money set aside and assumes that his children will help him as he has helped them.  Instead, his four natural sons resent his request and split up the loving couple with plans to rotate their parents between homes.  Raj and Pooja are heartbroken without each other, but have no way to change their circumstances until chance helps them out.

This sometimes overly sentimental movie is a sweet love story of a long-married couple.  It's also a discussion of respect and what is owed to one's parents.  Bachchan is a wonderful actor, as is Malini.  Their chemistry was excellent.  There are some truly beautiful songs, but little in the way of choreography.  Overall, it's film that requires some understanding of Indian culture to appreciate, but if one does, it makes for good viewing.







This movie available on Amazon Prime and  YouTube: