Trishul (1978)

The Worst Film Ever

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Trishul has a better cast than Kaala Patthar, but IMO the latter is the better film. Yes, Trishul has Sanjeev and when did he ever fail to satisfy? But his character is most undeveloped in my opinion. In the beginning it is clear that he loves Waheeda, is forced by his mother to marry the rich man's daughter, is torn when she announces she is expecting his child - so he is not all bad. But would just that one act of weak caving-in make him more and more extreme in his dealing with people? No fault at Sanjeev's door, he did a very good job with the material given him. Rakhi was just there, Sachin and his lady, not needed other than to stage a coup against the patriarch. Shashi was quite good, as was Hema - their love story was convincing. Amitabh yet again stole the show with his simmering rage and outrage at the abandonment of his mother. The fight scenes were so real, but the story was somewhat predictable. This one, like Kaala Patthar, was also mostly focused on the story and did not rely on too much romance or songs.One thing I like about these oldies from Yash Chopra is the very matter-of-fact dealing between the sexes. In Kaala Patthar Shashi invites Parveen to stay with him after she is thrown out, tells her he lives by himself, and without any coyness she accepts. In Deewar the relationship between Amitabh and Parveen is most matter-of-fact. In Trishul the same goes for the relationship between Waheeda and Sanjeev. And these were educated people, not from the lower strata - yet they did not have the prudishness one sees on display in modern fare.

Trishul is the story of Amitabh Batchchan who was born out of wedlock, his mother passed away and he goes to Bombay in search of his father Sanjeev Kumar. On arrival his father has changed into a very successful businessman. He, however, also found out that he has got a half brother. But nothing interests him, since he goes to Bombay to take revenge from his father because he though his father made his mother died and there he started his misery in destroying Mr. RK Gupta (Sanjeev Kumar). But at the end it was a twist in story. Where father got to like son. And son got to like father. The movie also starring in Shashi Kapoor, Prem Chopra & Rakhi Gulsar etc. They helped to add more spice to the food.

I don't speak or understand Hindi (though I'm contemplating teaching myself), so I was glad to know that the the DVD came with English subtitles. However, when I watched the DVD, I realized that the translation was so sloppy. The subtitles do not read complete sentences. Further more, there is a huge period in the movie, where there are no subtitles at all!!! I thought that I'd have to call up one of my cousins to listen and translate the movie for me.I had not seen such sloppy translation since I watched an old video of Marlene Dietirch's "The Blue Angel/Der Blaue Engel". Only in that case I was learning German, so I was not so annoyed.However, the movie shows how versatile Sanjeev Kumar was as an actor. First you see him playing a jolly, romantic, caring man. He even wanted to help Shanti after learning about her preganancy. Then when he gets older, we see him playing a temperamental jerk, and the contrast is shown so well. The movie showed that he was good at playing both good people and villains. I thought the ending was beautiful. Although Raj dies, we realize that he is still a good person, who decided to take a bullet for Vijay and die so that he will not ruin the developing relation between Vijay and his half-siblings. It was sweet at the end, when Vijay renames his company Shanti Raj Constructions...sign that he eventually forgave Raj.

Trishul is one of Bachchan's best movies. The role of Vijay was tailor made for him. Yash Chopra has created another master piece with this movie. It was a super-hit, running for more than 100 Weeks. The song 'Mohabbat bade kaam ki' is a very good song.