Being a big fan of Subhash Ghai movies, I always love to see his movies again and again and Karz is no different for sure. Although you can say that this is also a masala movie like other Ghai movies, the storyline is a bit different than other movies directed by him. Most of the Subhash Ghai movies in the 1980s and in the 1990s had a storyline of revenge, but this movie has an interesting story of reincarnation.
Along with the storyline, there is nothing different one can feel in Karz because it is also a musical like many other Mukta Arts movies. If I am not wrong then through this movie only Subhash Ghai became the producer. Another first from this movie is that for the first time, Subhash Ghai did a cameo (in Paisa yeh Paisa song) that later became a must in all of his movies.
Karz (1980) Cast and Crew
Cast: Rishi Kapoor (Monty Oberoi / Raj Verma), Simi Garewal (Kamini Verma), Tina Munim (Tina), Durga Khote (Raj Verma’s mother), Pinchoo Kapoor (GG Oberoi), Abha Dhulia (Jyoti Verma / Pinki), Pran (Kabir Badshah or Kabira), and Premnath (Sir Juda).
Supporting cast: Jalal Agha, Iftekhar, Viju Khote, Birbal, Mac Mohan, Mukri, and Aruna Irani (cameo)
Screenplay: Sachin Bhowmick
Dialogues: Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi
Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Produced by: Mukta Arts Pvt Ltd
Directed by: Subhash Ghai
Karz Synopsis
Ravi Verma wins a long-lasting legal battle against Sir Juda and that angers Sir Juda. Sir Juda plants Kamini in Ravi’s life and despite his mother’s dislike, Ravi gets married to Kamini. On their way back home Kamini kills Ravi and gets control of his property and kicks out Ravi’s mother and sister of it. It is obvious that Kamini is just a face actually it is Sir Juda who is controlling that huge property once possessed by the diseased Ravi Verma.
The story then shifts to Monty Oberoi who is a famous singer whose popularity goes up and up with each day passing. One day while performing live on the stage he plays a tune on his guitar automatically which used to be a favorite of Ravi Verma. Before Monty could understand what is happening he gets fainted. Doctors find nothing special regarding Monty’s problem but yes one of the doctors does believe that this is probably a case of reincarnation.
After this incident Monty gets involved more and more to that tune and with each day passing he starts to see some visuals of a huge property and then some voices, some faces. This makes Monty uncomfortable and decides to find that property that is situated in Ooty. But at the same time, he gets the shock of his life when he learns that his father GG Oberoi is not his real father and he has been adopted by him. GG Oberoi threatens Monty to go legal if he stops singing for him and goes to Ooty, but Monty doesn’t care and he leaves for Ooty.
After reaching Ooty Monty starts to know about the property of which visuals he used to see. Then he gets to know from locals that Kamini Verma is the real culprit who killed Ravi Verma, Monty’s previous birth, and Ravi’s mother and sister are still alive but in desperate situations. Monty first meets his previous life’s mother and sister and then plans to take revenge on Kamini with the help of Kabira the caretaker of his love Tina.
Late Review of Karz
As I have mentioned at the start of this blog that it is a different kind of Subhash Ghai movie, where revenge is not at the center of the story, but how reincarnation works or what is previous life is talked about more in Karz. But one thing we must be ensured that even this movie has typical Subhash Ghai treatment and that is not to make you leave your seat even for a second while you are watching it.
It is obvious that in reality, we don’t believe in reincarnation fully but Ghai Saab convinces us about it with his treatment, and that too from the mouth of a doctor. In a Subhash Ghai movie, every character is well documented and presented to us only if it is required, over here also each and every character has its own importance and they are not there just for the sake of it.
I heard that Premnath wasn’t ready to make a comeback into the Hindi film industry but Subhash Ghai convinced him to play Sir Juda and made that character so popular that even today some of the movies have a copy of that style of clinking spoon with empty glass to convey the message.
If we are talking about Sir Juda then let’s talk about Premnath as well. In my blog of Johny Mera Naam, I have written how I love Premnath and his acting abilities and Sir Juda played by him in Karz is another example of the way he used to act. In this movie Premnath doesn’t speak a single word, he just clinks the glass, and Mac Mohan conveys his message, but what Premnath does best here is acting with his face and his expressions are enough to let us know his mental status at that time.
Pran is another important character in this movie. Over here most of the time he speaks his dialogues the way we speak Kabir’s dohas. Yes, his name is Kabira only in this movie and the role perfectly suits Pran’s image of those days. Kabira is a bad guy with a soft heart; he spent most of his life in jail just to secure the life of his best friend’s daughter Tina. These emotions have been handsomely played by Pran in the movie and perhaps no other actor of that time would have done that.
Simi Garewal lives up to her image as a lady from a sophisticated society. Simi does show negative shades of her character but most of the time she remains a sophisticated upper-class lady that probably suits her as she never had a wider range of acting skills throughout her career. So I believe Subhash Ghai has drafted her smartly for the role of Kamini Verma.
Rishi Kapoor is as usual charming and lovable but he does show many shades of acting here. When there is a musical and Rishi Kapoor is part of one need not to worry about dancing and he is an absolute rock star in two or three dancing numbers in Karz. Without adding any further I would just say that Rishi Kapoor has played perfect Monty and it is probably one of the best performances of his entire career.
Karz as I have mentioned more than once, is a musical, and Anand Bakshi and Laxmikant-Pyarelal have given us some of the most memorizing and memorable songs. “Paisa Yeh Paisa”, “Om Shanti Om”, “Dard-e-Dil”, “Main Solah Baras Ki”, “Ek Haseena Thi”, and above all the theme music, it’s a treat to the lovers of Indian film songs lovers.
All in all, being a Subhash Ghai fan, I would rate Karz as one of his best efforts that came successful and still has a special place in the hearts of many of his fans like myself. So if you get a chance then do watch Karz and let me know your views in the comments section given below.
That’s it from me today, till we meet next time it’s Avjo from me!
23rd May 2023, Tuesday
Ahmedabad
SiddTalks
