My reliance on English subtitles may have a lot to do with my under-appreciation of this one, but I found it the toughest sledding so far in my progress through a good list of the top Indian movies of all time. I also imagine there are subtexts about the history of India that I can't pick up.
That said --this is a big historical melodrama about the tragic romance between Salim, son and heir of the Moghul ruler Akbar, and a slave girl called Anarkali. There is a respectable implicit psychodynamic element to the story -- as a child, Salim was seen by his father as spoiled, so he was sent off into wars for ten or 20 years, ripped out of his cozy life and away from his mother -- which can kind of "explain" his later willingness to risk absolutely everything for the love of the beautiful slave girl.
For me this was the kind of Bollywood movie parodied in "Bollywood Calling," though it is much better--but every line delivered is stentorian or worse, the characters are really one-dimensional (mother is motherly, Salim is passionate and self-willed, father is virtually unyielding, slave girl is alluring and vulnerable), there are many scenes of the slave girl in chains, etc. There's a good amount of spectacle--big armies, big terrifically-costumed armies on horseback and of course elephants, and some very satisfying palace dance performances, most notably in the last third of the movie which is in color.
That said --this is a big historical melodrama about the tragic romance between Salim, son and heir of the Moghul ruler Akbar, and a slave girl called Anarkali. There is a respectable implicit psychodynamic element to the story -- as a child, Salim was seen by his father as spoiled, so he was sent off into wars for ten or 20 years, ripped out of his cozy life and away from his mother -- which can kind of "explain" his later willingness to risk absolutely everything for the love of the beautiful slave girl.
For me this was the kind of Bollywood movie parodied in "Bollywood Calling," though it is much better--but every line delivered is stentorian or worse, the characters are really one-dimensional (mother is motherly, Salim is passionate and self-willed, father is virtually unyielding, slave girl is alluring and vulnerable), there are many scenes of the slave girl in chains, etc. There's a good amount of spectacle--big armies, big terrifically-costumed armies on horseback and of course elephants, and some very satisfying palace dance performances, most notably in the last third of the movie which is in color.