Mrityudaata (1997)

Best movie ever!

As Good As It Gets

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This was Amitabh Bachchan's comeback after INSANIYAT (1994)Sadly this film bombed at the box officeThe film has a storyline that may have worked in the 70s but this is the 90s which was full of college campus, justice and a revenge-seeking hero This film just had to release in the 90sAmitabh and Pran had some memorable work like AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY, NASEEB, NASTIK, SHARAABI and the last to be JAADUGAR which was horrible and also crashedAmitabh Bachchan can't get his emotions right Dimple Kapadia is alright Karisma Kapoor's voice sounds different Arbaaz Ali Khan cannot act Deepak Tijori is a loser Mukesh Rishi is typecast Ashish Vidyarthi is funny

After Bachan's delayed release Insaniyat(1994) flopped, Bachan took a break from movies and made a comeback with Mrityudaata(1997). Director Mehul Kumar also directed Mrityudaata after his two super hit films Tiranga and Krantiveer. I had great expectations from this movie and Amitabh Bachan is not a flopper like Akshay Kumar in 1997 who gave 7 flops in a single year. However, his only 2 hits being Bade Miya Chote Miya and Major Saab in 1998, he was crticized for picking some wrong films. The movie started off well, the introduction of the villains and their needs is shown well. The attempt to murder is also well shown and the introduction and current position of our hero Amitabh is well shown. The flashbacks of how Amitabh's family is killed is also well shown. Basically, everything before the interval is good and I really liked this movie before the interval. But, right after the interval, all the crying from the family about Arbaz's death and then when Karishma is getting married and Big B's brothers death things meet, Dimple Kapadia dies after doing some retarted shouting. But, I expected the movie to get better with some revenge and action. The following happened. However, the story was out of control and Pran's limited screen time is nothing good, he is just wasted. Big B running from the police and then Diler Mehendi's squeezed in song which was good. However, the plot is weak how they run into to Diler's show. Then they chase Amitabh to a brothel and Amitabh suddenly stops running and starts doing a Sunny Deol act beating everyone up. From here, they stop lengthing the movie and quickly finish it with Amitabh killing every villain. The ending is good, how they expose the villains. But, the prolonged ending of Amitabh and all the crowd chasing Paresh Rawal to the end is really prolonged and dragged. Amitabh kills the villains but is injured to such an extent, he dies. Its stupid how Amitabh kills all the villains but burning them and even in his last movie, he dies at the end. But, that was stupider. Mehul Kumar is a pathetic filmmaker who relied on actors to save his films but Amitabh doesn't save the movie for him. According to box office results, Mrityudaata was a flop, not as bad as Insaniyat but still a flop. Amitabh does his role in ease, he doesn't ham or mess his role up, Dimple Kapadia does good but her death scene is bad, she overacts, Karishma Kappoor is good but even she overacts, and Arbaaz Ali Khan doesn't known how to act, he's terrible. The villain inlcude Deepak Tijori who is wasted in his little screen time, Mukesh Rishi who can only get angry and overact, Ashish Vidhyarthi who is okay and Paresh Rawal who is good. Supporting Actors like Pran had only 20 minutes of screen time and is wasted. Overall, a movie which is just average. Could have been better if the second half was improved and then Big B would have saved the day.

ABCL's maiden production with Big B in the lead. Gave away expectations that the movie will showcase Big B in its glorious form and deliver a product that is nothing short of perfection. Add to that Mehul Kumar fresh out of success of "Tiranga" & "Krantiveer" which breathed a new lease of life for Rajkumar and showcased Nana Patekar in his best. The icing on the cake was the comeback movie of Big B after his sabbatical. You bet, it couldn't get any better. Sadly even the hardcore Big B fans found it appalling. It seemed the stale 1980's script was served a decade later and fan-base questioned how could the star even approve of it. "Foul" they yelled. Surprisingly the audience cheered when Daler Mehendi's song was injected which gives an inkling how poorly the proceedings were. There was absolutely nothing that seemed positive about "Mrityudaata". Later Big B accepted with humility that as an artist it was a bad decision to impose a self-exile which led to turning a blind eye to the real world. "Mrityudaata" will be remembered for first amongst the series of flops which sunk his "larger than life-size" image deeper than the reason. Nonetheless he later returned as a true "phoenix".

Amitabh after INSANIYAT(1994) returned with this filmLot of expectations were from this film because it was Bachchan's comeback after 3 yearsSadly it became one of his worst filmsFirst and Foremost: Bachchan looks so aged and out of shape that he doesn't look like the hero of the film and the angry young man doesn't suit Arbaaz Ali Khan is terrible and can't act for anything The film has a story which could've worked in 70's not in 1990'sIn Short the film is another Bachchan masala which went outdated by late 80'sThe story is done to deathComing to the execution Director Mehul kumar was never a great director, his films like KRANTIVEER and TIRANGAA relied on the actors to save it and their powerful scenes, in 1997 he had 2 disasters, LAHU KE DO RANG which had Naseeruddin and Akshay and this film both were similarly crap, because in this too the director thought Amitabh will save his day This film is the last film of Amitabh and Pran together after their memorable work in the past like AAA, ZANJEER, MAJBOOR, NASEEB, SHARAABI and their last before this JAADUGAR which also was horribleThis is also one film starring Bachchan and Dimple who were seen last in a crap AJOOBA(1991) and recently in HUM KAUN HAI(2004)This is one film starring Bachchan and Karisma, another film of theirs ZAMAANAT started perhaps at the same time and never released till dateWondering why im giving so much trivia instead of a review? Well the film is not worth a mention at allThe film as I said has the same formula done to death it has the same villains Mukesh Rishi, Paresh RawalThe mandatory romance, songs, fights.etc Suddenly in the middle of the chase of Bachchan being chased by some goons we break to a last minute planned song NA NA NA NA RE which comes all of a sudden perhaps to save the filmThe climax has Bachchan dieing another time after killing all the villains Surprisingly he died in his last film before retirement in INSANIYAT and also his comeback and both the films crashed tooDirection is bad Music is bad Amongst actors Bachchan looks too aged and out of shape and just goes through his motions Dimple is alright karisma irritates, Arbaaz Ali Khan is a non actor Amongst rest Mukesh Rishi, Paresh Rawal, Ashish Vidhyarthi are as usual