Qurbani - What Would YOU Sacrifice? (film only review) (Qurbani (DVD))

Member Name: anonymili

Product:	Qurbani (DVD)
Date:	31/07/07 (145 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good acting, excellent soundtrack

Disadvantages: Rather lengthy film

Qurbani is a Hindi word and means "sacrifice". The film was released in June 1980 and is a classic Bollywood film remembered fondly by many even today. It stars Feroz Khan as Rajesh, Vinod Khanna as Amar, Zeenat Aman as Sheela, Shakti Kapoor as Vikram, Aruna Irani as Jwala, Amrish Puri as Rakka and Amjad Khan as Inspector Khan. The film was produced and directed by the leading man himself, Feroz Khan, who is still a successful producer and director these days.

The film runs for about 2 hours 40 minutes and is certified 15.


Rajesh is a small time thief who is in love with Sheela, a cabaret dancer. He befriends Amar and his young daughter Tina shortly before he ends up in prison where he befriends Vikram. Vikram is in prison for trying to kill Rakka who was married to Vikram's sister Jwala and stole her fortune and Jwala wants her money back. Whilst Rajesh is in prison Amar meets Sheela and falls in love with her whilst his daughter also adores her and becomes close friends with her.

When Amar finds out the Sheela is his friend Rajesh's girl he completely backs off from her and tells his daughter that they can't be friends anymore. When Rajesh and Vikram get out of prison Vikram tries to get Rajesh to break into Rakka's vault to steal back his sister's money. He's not keen to go along with it but Vikram threatens the lives of Sheela and Tina but somehow Rakka gets killed and the murder pinned on Rajesh.

Rajesh now needs to find out who framed him and with Inspector Khan telling him it was Amar who killed Rakka so Rajesh would get framed so he could have Sheela all to himself, what happens next? Who will survive going up against Vikram and his evil sister? Who will end up with the hand of the beautiful Sheela?


Qurbani is one of those films packed with action from start to finish with a few songs thrown in along the way. I'll come back to discussing the songs later but first let me talk about the acting and the story.

The film was shot on location in the UK and Vinod Khanna was the 2nd choice for the other protagonist in the film. Originally the part was offered to Amitabh Bachchan, who was one of Bollywood's biggest names at the time (and still is today).Vinod Khanna was a good choice for the role though as he carried it off really well and it was one of his best roles ever. Both Feroz Khan and Vinod Khanna were famous for being rather suave and sophiscated actors and their teaming in this film was a great accolade for Khan as a producer and director (obviously as well as being one of the main protagonists in the film). They managed to play their parts really well with neither of them seeming to try to steal the thunder from the other and both looked really good on screen.

Zeenat Aman was one of Bollywood's hottest babes and was the darling of Hindi cinema in that era. She looked perfectly stunning in the film and the role of a cabaret dancer/singer suited her to perfection. It gave her a chance to show off some real snazzy outfits and her dancing skills as well as her dazzling smile and gorgeous figure. She was Miss Asia Pacific in 1970 and was most famous for playing strong female roles not typical of Indian actresses of her era who stuck to submissive obedient wife type roles. Aman was more daring and played heroines who dared to wear revealing outfits, danced in nightclubs with abandon and generally enjoyed being a woman! One of her most famous films was Hare Rama Hare Krishna where she played a westernised hippie! Aman has not acted in many films since Qurbani as she got married and had kids, choosing to be a stay at home wife until she lost her husband in 1998. She has appeared in about 4 films since then.

Amjad Khan is in his element here as the Inspector (amusingly enough they gave him his own name as his character name). I would have to say this was his best role outside of his infamous role in Sholay as the evil Gabbar Singh and it's the only role I really recall seeing him in where he plays the good guy. Amjad Khan worked mostly in theatre till he came into film and although he made 130 films before he died in 1992; he was mostly cast in villainous roles as he was just so good at playing them! It's almost amusing watching his character trying to stop the character of Rajesh at every step of his way whilst he tries to do what he needs to do to keep Sheela and Tina alive.

Aruna Irani was often cast in these type of roles where she played a vampish woman or a bitchy neighbour or relative. Her role was a supporting role and she was adequate as always. She never quite got into being cast in leading roles apart from 2 or 3 in the early 70s which never really took off even though she was cast opposite big names. She was cast in about 300 films in her career and these days she is mostly cast as a mother or aunt in films.


Qurbani is one of those Bollywood films which many Hindi film fans will have heard of. It did so well when it was released, and since, that a remake is being made, interestingly enough one of the leads is being played by Feroz Khan's son, Fardeen, who is a very able actor. Vinod Khanna also has a son who is doing fairly well in the film industry, Akshaye Khanna but he's not in the film, instead Saif Ali Khan has been cast in the other leading role. I think it would have been an interesting experiment to cast both actors' sons from the original film in the remake.


Qurbani had several songs in the film which became quite famous, several of them are played at Indian parties to date and have had several versions released. Aap Jaise Joi Meri, meaning "Someone like you" is one of those disco songs sung by Nazia Hassan (which shot her to instant fame back when the film was released) has been released by various other artists over the years. This song always brings a smile to my face when I hear it as no one has been able to match the voice of the original singer. Kya Dekhte Ho, meaning "What are you looking at?" is a lovely haunting melody sung by Asha Bhosle and the late Mohd Rafi. Laila o Laila is sung by Amit Kumar and Kanchan and is another song which has been remade several times and is a fast paced disco track - this is the sort of song you can imagine a belly dancer dancing to! Hum Tumhen Chahte Hain is an excellent memorable song too sung by Anand Kumar, Kanchan, and Manhar and has some excellent 70s music sound effects which will make you smile.


The Qurbani (sacrifice) of the title of the film can refer to various scenarios in the film: that of Rajesh risking his freedom to follow Vikram's instructions to keep Sheela and Tina alive or the sacrifice Amar makes of backing off from the woman he loves because he finds out his friend loves her too. It's a buddy movie in one sense as well as being a love triangle and cops and robbers thriller!


Amazon are offering the DVD of Qurbani for £19.99 which seems rather steep in my opinion but it's also available to rent from lovefilm.com which might be more worth it if you want to watch the film before deciding if you like it enough to fork out 20 or so pounds for it. You can also purchase the DVD from bollywood4uonline.co.uk for £11.95.


The story in Qurbani is quite hectic; you have a criminal gang in operation and the lead protagonists are trying to get the better of them. You have a police inspector hell bent on catching these small time crooks out and you have a love triangle. It's difficult to know what to focus on but the film is very entertaining viewing in all and has stood the test of time well. The outfits worn in the film made me chuckle as they're just SO 1970s kitsch! They have to be seen to be believed. The film, in my opinion, is well worth a watch. I'd give it a strong 8 out of 10.


N.B. this review is also posted on ciao.co.uk under the same username.

Summary: Definitely recommended