Shashi Krishna We, in Denmark, began daylight saving today – March 28, 2010. What this basically means is that our clocks will now be set to an hour ahead. It is curious how this day coincided with my viewing of Shyam Benegal's 'Suraj ka saatwa ghoda' (The seventh steed of the sun) last night. Based on a Hindi novella by the same name by Dr. Dharamvir Bharti's, the movie starts with Raghuvir Yadav introducing us to a few afternoons from his life where he knew a man called Manek Mulla (Rajit Kapur in his debut venture). Manek, we are told, was a master story-teller. A man who could blur out the distinct lines between reality and fiction purely by his talent at peppering his tales with metaphors aplenty. Working with the railways department, Manek had acquired the knack of keeping the three young men (of which Yadav is one too) occupied during lazy afternoons with his tales of love, deception, social imbalance and immorality within the lower middle classes of India.So, with this premise, a question is thrown – 'Should love stories be built at being relevant to the socio-economic growth of a society?' A bizarre, albeit thought-provoking, reference is made to the literary importance of 'Devdas' where, Manek says, there is no room for any sort of social relevance or optimism towards love as a public emotion. A definition, he claims, is what makes love so wonderful. Its lack of being a private, mysterious and almost forbidden concoction. So, in an effort to tell a tale of love lost connected with the complex fabric of social strata, he starts speaking of Jamuna. He speaks of how he was in school back then and Jamuna, the attractive next door girl, was in love with Tanna, another neighborhood fellow. Jamuna's and Tanna's love story was dated given the venomous relationships the two families shared due to lack of consistency in the Indian economic balance. As a result of this, Tanna is married off to a more educated Lily and Jamuna ends up with an old man knocking on the door of his grave.As you might have realized, there is nothing new or refreshing with this piece. What starts making this short story more interesting, is the way Manek describes his role in it and carefully begins to uncurl the tiny strands that were knotted during the narration of the aforementioned tale. For instance, the fact that Jamuna is unable to conceive from her old-man husband and so chooses to go on a bizarre religiously aligned but emotionally maligned detour with the tonga-wallah is brought to surface. Also, the fact that the girl Tanna ends up with – Lily – actually was Manek's love/friendship interest and how a mutual separation was finalized in both their interests is unearthed. Connected to this colorful mix as well, is the story of Tanna's lusty father (Amrish Puri in a truly memorable role as Mahesar Dalal) and his wile desires towards the lowly gypsy-woman Satti (Neena Gupta) who befriends Manek purely for his intellectual skills. Her eventual fate against an adamant Mahesar Dalal and the decisions young Manek makes form the twisting portions of the climactic sequences. All of these is documented from various angles aimed at the same scene. So, it isn't so much that Manek is narrating different short stories but essentially narrating just one story but from the perspectives of various characters in them. In some of them, the characters seem like the victims, while when seen from the view of another person's tale, the same character in the same scene will suddenly appear to have acquired some gray shades. Shades one would see in a predator. Truly – if a movie can accomplish this level of intellectual worth, then it has truly defined itself as the best example of cinema.What makes this movie greater in its worth is the fact that such a unique feat was written by Dr. Bharti in the 70s and narrated by Benegal in early 90s! Today we sit in awe at the intermingling of multiple stories in Hollywood and, of course, in their remade versions within Bollywood, and applaud them as being 'masterpieces'. But to compare this work to any of these would be nothing short of a huge disservice. In fact, I would call 'Suraj ka...' a work of meta fiction which successfully attempts to expose the fictional aspect of the illusive world woven by Manek Mulla.I also read some reviews that compared Manek's character to that of the holy trinity in Hindu mythology – Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar – and as to how he slips into these roles, albeit with varying degrees of subtlety. In the first tale with Jamuna, Manek is Brahma, the creator of a relationship that he knew was meant to be doomed. In the second tale with Lily, he became Vishnu, the preserver of her sanctity and an upholder of a more mature and practical relationship. In the final tale with Satti, he turned into the destroyer – Maheshwar – who ended up putting an end to what could have possibly been the redeeming factor of his life. I suppose it is in spectacular interpretations like these, that 'Suraj ka...' stands out as a truly unique piece of work.

anuj-vivek I saw this movie about a year back and was really impressed by Benegal. I am not much of a reviewer, and decided to submit a review only because i was appalled by the reviews this movie has got here. This movie definitely deserves a watch, at least by all Indians. The screenplay was brilliant, the plot unfolds slowly and beautifully and you start feeling for the characters. The performances are brilliant, Nina Gupta and Amrish Puri being the most impressive. The direction and photography are flawless and clearly show why Benegal is so respected. Overall, the movie was entertaining and thought-provoking and definitely one of the best Hindi movies i have ever seen. And i can say i loved it more than several top 250 IMDb movies.The Hindi, i agree, might be a little difficult to understand at times, but let it not bother you, or still better, use subtitles.

Avil Avate I was 16-17 when i watched it. It's a great one by Mr. Shyam Benegal. actually it was a first movie i saw directed by him. the direction is flawless and you can connect yourself with the characters in the flick. If you want a baseless entertainment then its not for you. The role played by Mr. Rajit Kapoor is far different than a common Hindi film hero it is not a very brave or larger than life kind of char. but it attracts why? because it close to reality. *********** spoiler alert*************The story starts with raghuvir yadav in a modern art exhibition. He comes across this picture which reminds him of his mohalla (neighborhood) and his college days. He starts narrating about his days and starts talking about Manik mullah (Ranjit kapur) a railway employee who was a great story teller and how he and his friends would go there when ever they get free time and how manik would tell them stories.The movie now shifts to a flashback where young raghuvir yadav and his friends discuss about the current literatures and romance. They ask manik to tell them a romantic story in his own style.Manik starts the first story "Being true to one's salt".Manik who is sitting in the window looks down at the next house and sees a cow tied to the shed and a girl walking towards the cow.He starts the story that when he was young they used to have a cow and the next door neighbour girl used to frequent to there house.

Kalpesh Thavrani I don't usually write reviews on films, whether I have liked the movie or not, but when I tried to search the best film I have ever seen I was shocked to notice that there was only one review for this movie and to add more to it the rating of this movie which probably should have been higher.Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda title comes from the story of the seventh horse of the Sun's chariot, which is the weakest and youngest of the horses but goes on to become the driving horse of the chariot. The movie is about love seen from men's perspective at different situations.The film is presented as a flashback of an artist, Raghuvir Yadav, who remembers the master raconteur Manik Mulla (Rajit Kapoor). In Allahabad, every evening, the bachelor Manik Mulla tells stories to a group of friends at his house. Over two evenings, he tells his friends three different stories of his love affairs to define what love is all about. These three stories are independent stories about three different women with whom Manik had relationships, first as pre-pubescent boy, then an adolescent and lastly as a mature adult. After each story, the friends discuss about the human traits and the definition of love. You are then surprised to notice that these stories were happening at the same time. The protagonist, Manik, is shown as an escapist in all his affairs. Each story is amazingly intertwined with the notion of love, romance and separation. The presence of the same characters in all the stories makes it the most amazing.The way the film ends where in the raconteur, Manik just vanishes away, and in the process, a writer(Raghuvir Yadav) is born, makes it a classic. Its an ideal example of film-making. All the supporting cast for the film is fabulous.This film is an adaption of Dharmvir Bharti's classic by the same name.