SPOILERS POSSIBLE
I rented this movie as I had heard it was an Indian classic. I was very impressed by the far superior MOTHER India and since GUIDE was one of the first Bollywood musicals to get an American release, I figured it was something special. The comments here on IMDb enforced the risk of the three hour investment, but they turned out to be strictly sentimental.
What a disappointment! Previous reviewers acclaimed this as a pioneer musical and a consummate Indian film, but besides possibly establishing the absurd plot format of all future Bollywood films, (good prostitutes, distressed drunks, suffering mothers, silly uncles) the premise is strictly lifted from 1930's B level Hollywood musicals.
This is a tale about a cheerful tour GUIDE with a Tin-Tin hairdo who falls on hard times when he encounters an unhappy bride. The Bride, a crude-mouthed prostitute's daughter, is in an unhappy marriage with a wealthy archaeologist who is older and has no time for her. She indeed wants to be a snake dancer in spite of having an enormous arse that would make dancing an improbable career choice.
After many suicide attempts and melodramatic over-acted moments, she runs away with the GUIDE who alienates family, friends and neighbours in order to keep the bumble-bee-arsed dancer within his grips. Once there she melodramatically attempts to run away and spare him the anguish but seems unable to find the door and decides to practise her vulgar dancing there instead.
After chasing away his beloved mother, he guides her career to incomprehensible international success (see every bad Hollywood musical from the early sound era) where, even in Europe, audiences reward her with enthusiastic applause apparently for running with bells on her ankles and spinning in place. She becomes his meal ticket and so he marries her and they revel in their new found "shared" wealth.
Her estranged former husband, impressed with her success, sends her a copy of his new book and rewards her by sharing the family jewels. The GUIDE forges her signature on the agreement so as to avoid her contact with the man who once caused her so much pain. She rewards him by pressing charges against him and sending him to jail.
The movie then goes on an extra journey of self discovery and plot filler (see THE RAZOR'S EDGE -1946 for more information of where that was blatantly stolen from)not worth going into, for a contrived ending that would allow for the required three hour running time to finally come to an end.
The now seemingly typical Bollywood musical numbers feature people running across fields singing and dancing cannot help this movie from being mundane and badly dated even by 1950's Indian standards. Most modern Bollywood films steal from the best of Hollywood. GUIDE steals from the worse of the early Western sound films. (Satyajit Ray, why didn't you stop them!)
Stick to MOTHER India and the modern Shah Rukh Khan films with beautiful and talented female leads and avoid this mess at all costs.
I rented this movie as I had heard it was an Indian classic. I was very impressed by the far superior MOTHER India and since GUIDE was one of the first Bollywood musicals to get an American release, I figured it was something special. The comments here on IMDb enforced the risk of the three hour investment, but they turned out to be strictly sentimental.
What a disappointment! Previous reviewers acclaimed this as a pioneer musical and a consummate Indian film, but besides possibly establishing the absurd plot format of all future Bollywood films, (good prostitutes, distressed drunks, suffering mothers, silly uncles) the premise is strictly lifted from 1930's B level Hollywood musicals.
This is a tale about a cheerful tour GUIDE with a Tin-Tin hairdo who falls on hard times when he encounters an unhappy bride. The Bride, a crude-mouthed prostitute's daughter, is in an unhappy marriage with a wealthy archaeologist who is older and has no time for her. She indeed wants to be a snake dancer in spite of having an enormous arse that would make dancing an improbable career choice.
After many suicide attempts and melodramatic over-acted moments, she runs away with the GUIDE who alienates family, friends and neighbours in order to keep the bumble-bee-arsed dancer within his grips. Once there she melodramatically attempts to run away and spare him the anguish but seems unable to find the door and decides to practise her vulgar dancing there instead.
After chasing away his beloved mother, he guides her career to incomprehensible international success (see every bad Hollywood musical from the early sound era) where, even in Europe, audiences reward her with enthusiastic applause apparently for running with bells on her ankles and spinning in place. She becomes his meal ticket and so he marries her and they revel in their new found "shared" wealth.
Her estranged former husband, impressed with her success, sends her a copy of his new book and rewards her by sharing the family jewels. The GUIDE forges her signature on the agreement so as to avoid her contact with the man who once caused her so much pain. She rewards him by pressing charges against him and sending him to jail.
The movie then goes on an extra journey of self discovery and plot filler (see THE RAZOR'S EDGE -1946 for more information of where that was blatantly stolen from)not worth going into, for a contrived ending that would allow for the required three hour running time to finally come to an end.
The now seemingly typical Bollywood musical numbers feature people running across fields singing and dancing cannot help this movie from being mundane and badly dated even by 1950's Indian standards. Most modern Bollywood films steal from the best of Hollywood. GUIDE steals from the worse of the early Western sound films. (Satyajit Ray, why didn't you stop them!)
Stick to MOTHER India and the modern Shah Rukh Khan films with beautiful and talented female leads and avoid this mess at all costs.