Saudagar clocks 35 years: The Clash of Bollywood Titans.

Cast: Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Jackie Shroff, Mukesh Khanna, Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover and Amrish Puri introducing: Vivek Mushran & Ma...

Cast: Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Jackie Shroff, Mukesh Khanna, Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover and Amrish Puri introducing: Vivek Mushran & Manisha Koirala 

Directed by : Subhash Ghai 

Music by : Laxmikant Pyarelal

They didn't call Subhash Ghai the 'SHOWMAN' for nothing!!

Only he could think of bringing the two titans - Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar - together as besties turned foes in a magnum opus loosely adapted from Romeo and Juliet. The focus was more on their feud than the love story of the young couple from the original classic tale.

Indeed, Saudagar is a complete director's film and Ghai showed his true calibre by not only handling the two veterans who hadn't worked together after Paigham (1959) but also by introducing two fresh faces - Vivek Mushran and Manisha Koirala- out of which one went on to become a big star of the '90s.

Laxmikant Pyarelal always reserved their best for Ghai and the love duet 'ILU ILU' ruled the music charts for nearly one and half year after the film's release. After Tridev's 'Oye Oye', 'Ilu Ilu' became eve teaser's favourite anthem and the police would actually pick anyone singing it loudly.

The confrontation scenes between Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar were epic stuff and the dialogue "Hum tumhe maarenge aur zaroor maarenge. Par woh bandook bhi hamari hogi, goli bhi hamari hogi aur waqt bhi hamara hogaa" joined the ranks of Raaj Kumar's best.

Clocking more than three hours, Saudagar released on August 9, 1991, opened to packed houses across India and it was simply impossible to procure tickets in its first week. I got to see the film only on its second Monday at Matunga's Badal Cinema which was still going full. Most of the crowd were repeat and they were screaming the dialogues and cheering so loudly it was difficult to hear the screen.

In 2017, Subhash Ghai re-premiered Saudagar at his own New Excelsior theatre in Mumbai and that was my second theatrical watch of this grand movie. This time, I had Ghai himself with Anupam Kher and Gulshan Grover seated in the row ahead of me. Wow!!

By Sumeet Nadkarni ( Editor & Reviewer SNRatings, Mumbai)