Silsila
Tags: cult, romantic

Plot synopsis:
Orphaned at very young age, brothers Shekhar Malhotra (Shashi Kapoor) and Amit Malhotra (Amitabh Bachchan) lead independent lives. Shekhar is a Squadron Leader with the Indian Air Force, and Amit is an emerging writer. Shekhar has fallen in love with the lovely Shobha (Jaya Bachchan), while Amit seeks to woo the attractive Chandni (Rekha). Amit finds professional success as a playwright in Delhi, enjoying a successful launch into the circles of Delhi's intellectual elite. Amit's passion and dedication to his craft wins Chandni's affections for Amit, and they share a brief, blissful period of courtship.
Chandni's parents prepare to arrange her wedding to Amit. Both Shekhar and Amit plan to marry at the same time, but Shekhar is killed in air combat against PAF, leaving a pregnant Shobha behind. Taking pity on Shobha, Amit marries her and writes to Chandni to forget him. This news breaks Chandni's heart. She goes on to marry Dr. V.K. Anand (Sanjeev Kumar), who is in love with her.
Tragedy strikes once more, and Shobha loses her child in a car accident. With no child to bind them together, Amit and Shobha drift apart. Amit runs into Chandni and they secretly rekindle their romance. They meet on the sly until a fateful night when Chandni accidentally hits a passerby on the way home from a tryst with Amit. The police get involved but Amit manages to hush the matter up. But the secrecy of the affair is endangered by the fact that the police inspector in charge of investigating the accident is Shobha's cousin (played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda), who is determined to expose Amit's affair with Chandni. Soon Amit decides that he can no longer continue his loveless marriage to Shobha and wishes to reconcile with Chandni. This news shatters Shobha - who had long known of Amit's affair - but she does not lose hope. She believes that if her love is true he will return to her. Similarly, Chandni's husband Dr. Anand is aware of and devastated by Chandni's infidelity. Dr. Anand leaves on a business trip, assuring Chandni he will be back soon, hopeful that she will be there when he returns. Amit and Chandni leave town to start a new life elsewhere, but tragedy strikes. Chandni's husband Dr. Anand's plane crashes, causing the lovers to rush to the wreckage site visible to them from the overhead helicopter they are making their escape in. Rushing into the fray to save Dr. Anand, Amit is confronted by Shobha, who in a moment of turmoil reveals that she is expecting his child. When Dr. Anand is rescued from the wreckage Chandni realises her love for her husband. The film ends with a song depicting Amit and Shobha living happily in marriage and an end title saying, "Love is faith and faith is forever".

Review: Taking pity on the devastated young woman, he decides to marry her, leaving behind the love of his life, Chandni.
There begins a new extramarital relationship between the two, through which the story deepens and grows.This is Silsila, Yash Chopra's take on relationships and adultery in a modern 80s India.
A romantic drama, it is quiet, serious and focused, and is shot beautifully like every other movie made by Chopra.
The story is simple to follow, the script and the characters are very well written, and the film is generally subtly made.Chopra's portrayal of relationships is very well done.
At times some proceedings were difficult to relate to or identify with, but who knows, maybe one should really be in a particular situation to understand its meaning and its effect on people at times of pressure.
Leaving the seriousness aside, as a film, Silsila is simply entertaining.
It flows well, it is interesting, and is aided by several melodious and memorable songs composed by Shiv-Hari.Rumour had it that Silsila was based on the true triangular story of Amitabh-Jaya-Rekha.
Jaya Bhaduri is Bachchan's real-life wife and Rekha was rumoured to have been involved with him back then in an extramarital affair.
This adds to the film's authenticity, but more than anything, the acting is natural to make it work the way it did.
Jaya Bhaduri is brilliant as his intelligent, sensible and smart wife Shobha, and displays her character's fear, strength and determination with great depth and conviction and as naturally as ever.
Rekha gets less scope, yet she is wonderful in her restrained portrayal of Chandni.
She is extremely beautiful and acts with grace.Silsila has some other limited appearances by Shashi Kapoor and Sanjeev Kumar, the former being fine and the latter being exceptional.
The main complaint with the film was its ending, but I quite liked it.
The reason behind Amit's decision was a bit unjustifiable, but anyway, this is one of the better and more interesting works of Yash Chopra.
Silsila is based on the true story of Amitabh, Jaya, and Rekha.
As with many great movies that don't follow the typical Bollywood  format this was a big flop when it was released, and yet there is no one today who hasn't seen it.
Like most Yash Chopra films this one looks great and so are the songs, especially the first two:  "sar se sareke" and "ladki hai yaa sholaa" (I probably didn't spell that right).
Unlike most of Amitabh's films this is more of an ensemble piece and the whole cast delivers.
Amitabh gives a powerhouse performance as the poet whose life is suddenly shattered and he's forced to give up his happiness for Jaya.
Sanjeev Kumar steals every scene he's in especially the one at the airport with Rekha and the one when he's talking to Jaya at the hospital.
Rekha is good although her performance is the weakest of the four.
The subject matter was handled nicely by the writers (they never get too preachy) and there are many scenes, especially the ones between Amit and Jaya, and Rekha and Jaya where you wonder how that scene took place in real life.
We aren't given a reason as to why Amitabh makes the decision that he makes.
Also the big revelation from Jaya at the end of the movie doesn't really make sense.
People call Lamhe Yash Chopra's biggest risk but in my opinion Silsila was his biggest risk.
That is because with Silsila he tried to make us feel sorry for adulterers Amitabh and Rekha.
That is one problem I had with KANK, they way it was written I failed to garner any sympathy for Shah Rukh and Rani and that is a major flaw.Amitabh and Rekha are lovers but Amitabh marries his deceased brother's wife who is carrying his child leaving lover Rekha heartbroken.
They actually try to forget about each other but fate has other plans for them and they are soon reunited.The music, as per usual in a Yash Chopra production is exceptional and perhaps the music he has had in any of his movies.
Speaking of Rang Barse I love the acting of Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bachan in that song.
When the song starts they are happy with Amitabh's and Rekha dancing together but towards the end they start to get insecure, such great acting.
Now onto the acting, Amitabh,Jaya Bachan,Rekha and even Sanjeev Kumar were all exceptional.When released it flopped but made its money back through reruns.
Apparently people were unhappy about the fact that after Amitabh spends all the movie thinking about Rekha when they do run away together he ends up going back to his wife.
That in my opinion was Yash Chopra's only fault and yet I still enjoy throughly despite the ending.
After this movie was released rumours started to circulate that Amitbah and Rekha did have an affair during the filming of Silsila.
In my opinion Silsila is the best Bollywood movie based on adultery and is miles better than Karan Johar's KANK..
For a number of reasons this films stands out among the myriad mass produced Hindi films which the industry turns out.
This isn't your average Hindi film for the very simple reason that it deals with a controversial theme - an extra-marital relationship.
In the beginning of the film he plays the clown.
The transformation of his persona in the face of getting married to a woman he does not love, is something only an actor of Amitabh's calibre could have pulled off.
His role is central to the film, and it is quite exceptionally played.
Then he is once again at his clowning best when he sings Rang Barse in his own voice.I would have given this film 10 out of 10, if it were not for the ending.
I've been dreaming of watching Silsila since 1981 and recently it has come true.
Amit was striving for his happiness and love but did not have enough strength and courage to win.
Yash Chopra challenged moral principles speaking about adultery but even here those principles (or maybe stereotypes??) were not broken.
And remember the last words of Amit that he has burned his love and that Shobha is his wife and he is her husband.
Looks like there is no parallel between love and marriage.
However I got a pleasure from watching the movie.
Nice actors and tears-provoking acting but not good to watch second time due to the above said..
This movie was billed as a true story when it came out.
Even though it is still a masala Bollywood movie, it has some striking resemblences to the life story of the leading ladies and the hero, Amitabh Bachan.
In real life Amitabh had an affair with Rekha while married to Jaya Bhaduri.
The movie version follows the same script, except adds many secondary characters, such as Sanjeev Kumar as Rekha's husband.
Jaya Bhaduri gives a passable performance, while rekha and Amitabh both overact.
There are a lot of unnecessary fantasy sequences shot in the Tulip farms in Holland which have no relevance to the rest of the movie.
In spite of all this, this movie remains interesting because it dared to treat the theme of extramarital romance when such topics were taboo in Bollywood..
Has a different style compared to other Bolywood movies.
The subject of adultery is handled delicately in this movie.
The acting by the lead actors looks natural and the movie has some great songs.
Two songs in this movie "Neela Asaman" and "Ranga Barase" are sung by Amitabh himself.
It is not very convincing why Amitabh and Rekha decide to go back to their respective marriages.
The movie should have spent some time explaining that aspect and cut short some of the scenes in the beginning where they show Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh and Jaya together.
Overall a very good movie.
Starts off as Propitious Romantic Melodrama and Ends up as Long Fashion Show !.
Then, our man faces his original love again, yet after being married to the doctor who happened to save his life once.
And with the right colors, songs, and landscapes; it's Hindi romantic melodrama.
And with Yash Chopra's dexterous cinematography and directing; it's even more; a fine Hindi romantic melodrama.
In fact, while watching a movie, what could be worse than rolling over your seat, asking "when will it end?", and praying god for more health to be able to finish it ?!The script stopped at one point; the coming back of love between Amitabh Bachchan's and Rekha's characters, then made such a huge cobweb around that, with more than enough; scenes, situations, songs and dialogues !
I think 2 hours of the 3 were spent over one question; what could be the end of that love?, yet with intention from the writer to elongate the time to the answer, not making the way to it thrilling in a decent way.
Therefore all what we had was fashionably dressed Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha singing, then new characters being presented, like Kulbhushan Kharbanda's, added to more than 20 obvious coincidences, reaching to the melodramatic climax and the so-longed-for ending !I believe it's unnecessary to assure how naive that ending was.
They extremely disappointed us, by ending this big enough melodrama, with that plane crash, which – suddenly and strangely – exposed how much Bachchan was in love with his wife !!
They should have written "and naivety is forever TOO !" It's like reading a pretty long mystery novel to discover eventually that there was no actual murder in the first place !
And no lovable stars, nice colors, sad songs could compensate.
I felt that I grew old in front of this movie !To be fair, one point was in this end's favor though, since it didn't lean to use the poetic justice where Bachchan's character would, for example, die as a punishment for cheating on his wife with a married woman.
I think the chosen end represented, in a way, new moral vision and more merciful solution, which consolidated values like realism and objectiveness instead of absolute black-&-white idealism.
For another broken rule, I must refer to the fact that in this movie Bachchan shows half naked in 2 shower scenes, and one bed scene while supposedly an illicit affair, let alone acting as someone impure who cheats on his wife.
Otherwise, the playwrights earn a lot, and I mean A LOT, in India !Some said that the story was loosely inspired by the alleged real life love triangle of Amitabh-Jaya-Rekha.
Well, I don't know precisely about that, however the big B looked so comfortable while doing his love scenes with Rekha, more than any other actress.
But, if I'm wrong, then this movie is so historically rare to capture a true and delicate love between 3 top stars at one moment !
Silsila starts off as propitious romantic melodrama and ends up as long fashion show (Bachchan is wearing a new chic outfit in every shot, and never appears with the same outfit twice !).
I hated its enjoying of elongating its situation endlessly, hackneying its characters blatantly, fabricating coincidences increasingly, and – most of all – putting its leads in lovey-dovey positions during a long list of songs to the extent of being the ultimate lovey-dovey movie of all time !
Classic - excellent cast with superb cameo by Sanjeev Kumar.
The only reason I saw this again was for Sanjeev Kumar's performance.
It is one of the best movie on the subject out of Bollywood, way ahead of its time back in 1981.
One of the few movies I know of where Amitabh sings to songs written by his father.
Amitabh, Sashi, and Rekha are good in their roles.
Jaya also excels as Sobha.
But Sanjeev Kumar steals the show, although he barely has 15-20 mins of on-screen time in the movie.
I don't understand how others can compare KANK with this movie, yes, there are characters who engage in extra marital affairs, but that is about it.
This movie was just about everything I hoped it would be, except for the stupid tacked-on ending.
Rekha and Amitabh are up there with Shah Rukh and Kajol as a great couple of Hindi cinema, and I loved seeing them together.
(Jaya...not so much.) I just thought, like many here, that for a movie portraying adultery with such sensitivity and compassion--and adultery with true love on its side--the ending seemed totally contradictory and kind of like a bashful retraction.
Even though it wasn't well explained, or at all explained, I at least understand the concept of him returning to his wife out of guilt and a sense of duty (I especially liked the line about him having to stay a god once he's decided to act like one), but the FAITH IS LOVE part at the end really seemed unnecessary.
You can't tell me that after all of that, the relationship between Amitabh and Jaya was more lasting than the one between Amitabh and Rekha--not to mention more powerful or more sincere.
Good Story........BUT!!.
Good movie BUT i was sadly disappointed by the ending.The beginning starts off with Jaya and Shashi which i have to say they made a nice couple then he dies and all of a sudden Amitabh has to hold responsibility and break it off with Rekha..FOR WHAT!
i didn't like Jaya's character she seemed very weak and helpless and not of the women like today.
the movie didn't elaborate on why Amitabh went back to Jaya it just didn't make any sense and then love is faith and faith is love ...WHAT?
when did we learn that from Amitabh and Jaya's pairing in this movie?
if anything i think the story should have ended with Rekha and Amitabh.this movie depicts the real life situation it just didn't make any sense why it ended like that.
I bought this move after hearing such great things about it ....but now i'm really disappointed with this film for me i give it a 9/10.
I give it a 9/10 because of the ending which didn't tell you much about why they got back together.Faith is love but ...........
Jaya Amitabh clearly did not prove that to me in this film .
In the end though i feel that Amitbah and Rekha should have gotten together..
Superb-the best of Chopra+Big B after Deewaar.
Silsila-one of the most sensitive, humane and intense movies ever made.
The film shows how a man's heart can work and how fragile a person's feelings can be...very beautifully made film-Worth watch Amitabh Bachchan's performance leaves a deep impact on the viewers when he gets angry, when he cheats his wife, when he recites poems, when he loved his babhi, when he enjoys with his bro, when he says "main aur meri tanhaayi....", when he plays safe in front of Sanjeev, When he asks Chandini(Rekha) to leave the place forever on their own, when he speaks to Shobha(Jaya) before leaving, when he last says to Shobha that (in Hindi of course)"the truth is that you are my wife and I am your shusband bakhi sab jhoot hai..."-You cant hate his character in the film.
You understand his feeling and love him...
Amitabh and Rekha- They just rock...best couple of Bollywood...
Sensitive film for sensitive viewers...Big B's performance deserved the actor awards of the year for sure, but yes yet again-Another dirty rude joke played on him (after Deewaar).
The only halfway interesting thing about this suffocating over rich piece of Indian junk food is the costumery and Amitabh's super stylish wardrobe -- notable are some of the flashy, dazzling, primary colored saris worn by Rekha in nearly every scene in which she appears -- (just stills of these would be a more rewarding than sitting through the whole film) -- Amitabh's carefully tonsured headdress --er -- hairdo....
and his white suits with flaired trousers, a homage to -- in fact a throwback to --mod American and English male fashions of the sixties (already out of date by 1981) -- The song picturizations on Amitabh and Rekha are not just bad --they are Sickening -- traipsing through fields full of Dutch tulips -- argh --embarassing -- Mister "Big B" is just not cut out for Romantic roles of this kind -- (a wide range as an actor he does have, but Romance is the one thing he does like a robot going through the motions) -- the whole thing looks like a prequel to Shahrukh Khan 15 years later!
the near-miss lip-sync kisses, and one kiss actually planted on Rekha's lips in long shot, are daring for the time --very daring, one might say ...
The theme of the jaunty heroic jet pilot killed in action (previously the likes of Rajesh Khanna and Raj Kapoor -- in this case Shashi Kapoor.) has been worked so to death that it practically constitutes a sub-genre of Indan films on its own ...
but there were some nice jet fighter landings and takeoff scenes -- somebody ought to make a compilation of just such dashing Indian fly-boy scenes!While eagerly looking forward to SILSILA because of the star cast, the star director, and all that has been written about the alleged kinky real-life triangle amongst Amitabh and Rekhaa/Jaya -- I started getting under-awed from the very first song/dance tulipy picturization opening the film and soon found myself saying --"What IS this?
-- c'mon, give us a break...) -- but I did dutifully watch it all the way to the family-values-must-prevail required ending, out of sheer determination ...
The only halfway decent performance in the ENTIRE flick was Sanjeev Kumar as the look- the-other-way devoted surgeon husband of Mme. Rekha -- This flick while gorgeously mounted (as are all Yash-chop films) has just about every tired cliché in the book and caters SLAVISHLY to every salacious preconception the Indian public had about the stars at the time -- UGH-ugh, and Ugh!