This film has quite a reputation in Indian cinema apparently, although it's difficult to see why. Working strictly within the established confines of Bollywood genre movie-making, it tells a simple love triangle story that mirrors the tensions between traditional Indian values and Western ideology in the early years of India's independence from its colonial masters. Perhaps it is renowned because it was the first of its kind, because there is little here, when viewed nearly sixty years after it was made, to distinguish it from other films of its genre.
The nineteen-year-old Nargis plays Neena, headstrong daughter of a wealthy widowed industrialist, who is saved from certain death when her horse bolts by lowly Dilip (Dilip Kumar). The pair strike up an intimate friendship, which Dilip mistakes for mutual love, but tragedy looms when Rajan (Raj Kapoor), the love of Neena's life returns from London.
From its light-hearted opening, Andaz travels an increasingly dark path as Neena finds herself torn, not so much by the two men in her life, but by the conventions and expectations of a traditional Indian society that conflicts with her westernised outlook on life. She is an innocent victim, a figure of tragedy, whose life by the movie's end is irredeemably destroyed through no fault of her own. Given this, it's surprising how unmoving her plight is. Again, this is no fault of Neena or of Nargis, who gives an outstanding performance as she slowly transforms from a carefree young girl into a tragic, broken woman but of a script that jerks hesitantly along between a slew of musical numbers, an increasingly hysterical and implausible storyline (especially in the last couple of reels), and an overbearing performance from Raj Kapoor. In fairness to Kapoor, he is saddled with a character so irritating that it is impossible to understand what Neena sees in him. Accompanied by an even more annoying professor, Rajan is one of those types who relentlessly fires off a barrage of jokes and quips that are consistently unfunny so that, after a while, you wish someone would smack him up the side of the head for being so annoying.
As the film grows increasingly darker and ominous, it also grows increasingly melodramatic as, having dragged its feet for two hours, it suddenly realises the final credits are looming and it still has a load of stuff to do. The writers could have added a decent mystery aspect to the story had they used Neena's trial as a framing device for the entire movie, but instead the trial is summarised in a couple of minutes screen time. Kumar gives an admirably restrained performance as Neena's rejected suitor, but even he can't salvage anything from the mystifying about-face his character performs after being bashed on the head with a tennis racket. At that point all semblance of credibility is lost and the film sinks beneath the weight of its own hyperbole.
The nineteen-year-old Nargis plays Neena, headstrong daughter of a wealthy widowed industrialist, who is saved from certain death when her horse bolts by lowly Dilip (Dilip Kumar). The pair strike up an intimate friendship, which Dilip mistakes for mutual love, but tragedy looms when Rajan (Raj Kapoor), the love of Neena's life returns from London.
From its light-hearted opening, Andaz travels an increasingly dark path as Neena finds herself torn, not so much by the two men in her life, but by the conventions and expectations of a traditional Indian society that conflicts with her westernised outlook on life. She is an innocent victim, a figure of tragedy, whose life by the movie's end is irredeemably destroyed through no fault of her own. Given this, it's surprising how unmoving her plight is. Again, this is no fault of Neena or of Nargis, who gives an outstanding performance as she slowly transforms from a carefree young girl into a tragic, broken woman but of a script that jerks hesitantly along between a slew of musical numbers, an increasingly hysterical and implausible storyline (especially in the last couple of reels), and an overbearing performance from Raj Kapoor. In fairness to Kapoor, he is saddled with a character so irritating that it is impossible to understand what Neena sees in him. Accompanied by an even more annoying professor, Rajan is one of those types who relentlessly fires off a barrage of jokes and quips that are consistently unfunny so that, after a while, you wish someone would smack him up the side of the head for being so annoying.
As the film grows increasingly darker and ominous, it also grows increasingly melodramatic as, having dragged its feet for two hours, it suddenly realises the final credits are looming and it still has a load of stuff to do. The writers could have added a decent mystery aspect to the story had they used Neena's trial as a framing device for the entire movie, but instead the trial is summarised in a couple of minutes screen time. Kumar gives an admirably restrained performance as Neena's rejected suitor, but even he can't salvage anything from the mystifying about-face his character performs after being bashed on the head with a tennis racket. At that point all semblance of credibility is lost and the film sinks beneath the weight of its own hyperbole.