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KARZ (1980) - The story behind its making and inspirations, straight from the captain of the ship, Subhash Ghai. (Nostalgia Series - 5)
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30 Sep, 2013 |
NOSTALGIA, BOOK REVIEWS, VINTAGE MAGAZINES & MORE / Articles on Cinema
The year 1980 had a pleasant musical KARZ, coming from the (then) Hit machine Subhash Ghai, which was surprisingly based on an unusual but unique idea of reincarnation & revenge. The film was an unexpectedly decent earner (not a big Hit) as the trade pundits were not convinced enough of its core subject before the release. But KARZ more or less proved them all quite wrong due to its strong likable content and went on to become one of the 'most daring and well attempted classics' of Hindi films in the later years, post its initial release. Though not close to Ghai's other huge box office hits, it did marginally well particularly in few cities and not in other centers. Certainly an ‘ahead of its times’ kind of project, KARZ had a novel treatment and execution involving the supernatural in an entertaining manner. And probably that is the reason why it is now widely considered to be a Cult Musical due to its various appreciable merits including the soundtrack.
Interestingly KARZ can easily be quoted as one of the most influential films of 80s too, which later inspired many other big projects in more than one way. Its title was re-used as “Karz - The Burden of Truth” released in 2002 and its basic subject as well as some substantial footage, along with a song was used in Farah Khan’s “Om Shanti Om” in 2007 (which also featured Subhash Ghai in a cameo). Next after almost three decades, the film was remade by Himesh Reshamiya as “Karzzzz” in 2008 featuring himself and Urmila in the lead roles, which did not do well at the box office.
Further praising its fabulous soundtrack, the hit songs/lyrics of KARZ, melodiously composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal (winning the Filmfare award) & superbly written by Anand Bakshi, gave birth to six fresh titles of Hindi films later as "Dard-e-Dil" (1983), "Paisa Yeh Paisa" (1985), “Main Solha Baras Ki" (1998), "Ek Hasina Thi" (2004), "Aashiq Banaya Aapne" (2005) and "Om Shanti Om" (2007).
However, the other hidden truth behind this famous musical classic remains that it was in fact hugely inspired from "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" released in 1975. And its still hit music had very strong inspirations from the west, namely from 'We as love' from George Benson's 1977 album 'Weekend in LA' and Lord Shorty's song “Om Shanti Om” from his 1974 album titled, 'Endless Vibrations'.
But here instead of writing more on the subject, I would like to share a valuable scan from the past, wherein the captain of the ship, director Subhash Ghai is himself talking about one of his favourite creation, KARZ and its making. The article has many interesting mentions and confessions on all those controversial decisions he took while executing his dream and thus truly deserves the attention of all like-minded friends here loving those great times. Moreover as a concluding note, it needs to be added that in the present world there are not many who would be ready to accept as well as confess about their inspirational sources so clearly as done by the veteran in the shared scans.The article was published in the magazine TINSEL TOWN in its November 1991 issue. And you can just click on the links of its individual pages given below to read it easily.
Hope you enjoy this journey back in time!
Cheers!
Tags :
Karz Nostagia Article, The Making of Karz 1980, Subhash Ghai on Karz, Scans from the Past, Nostagia Series at Bobbytalkscinema.com, Vintage Articles on Hindi Cinema, Vintage Magazine Scans, Vintage Articles Scans.
