(aka ' My Shadow')
directed by Raj Khosla
India
(Hindi) 1966
My first Bollywood film experience was a successful one. I enjoyed 'Mera Saaya" for its simplistic charm and cultural exposure (accurate or not) of upper-class East Indian life. I get the feeling that films like this are standard fare in India, but this may be a shining example... I really don't know. It had a few musical numbers interspersed with expressive exaggerated acting and a suspenseful, engaging plot. I found even the obviousness of the humor portion brought a smile to my face. I was quite taken with it and will seek out more of the same hopefully trying to recreate the enjoyment experience. If you aren't overly sensitive about many cinematic details and omissions I can't really see how you wouldn't get something out of 'Mera Saaya'. It had a few interesting directorial techniques, and hey, I didn't have over-the-moon expectations either. This was, in a word, 'fun'.
out of
DVD Review: Sky Entertainment Region 0 - NTSC
| DVD Box Cover |
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| Distribution | Sky Entertainment Region 0 - NTSC | |
| Runtime | 2:11:04 | |
| Video |
1.33:1.00
Presumed to be the 'Original Aspect Ratio' Average Bitrate: 5.24 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
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| Bitrate:
Sky Entertainment NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | Hindi (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) | |
| Subtitles | White removable English | |
| Features |
Release Information: •
Color, animated main menu screen
• Tu jahaan jahaan chalega, mera saaya saath hoga"
• Listing of 4 similar Sky titles with covers DVD Release Date:
Unknown |
Full Cast and Crew for Mera Saaya (1966) Directed by Raj Khosla Writing credits (in alphabetical order) Akhtar-Ul-Iman Cast (in alphabetical order) Sunil Dutt Sadhana Original Music by Madan Mohan Sound Department Manohar Amberkar .... sound recordist Other crew Asha Bhosle .... playback singer Lata Mangeshkar .... playback singer Mohammad Rafi .... playback singer |
| Comments: |
Although the
print does show occasional, but infrequent, damage (see sample below), I don't think it
impinged on the entertainment value of this DVD. The colors were not
overly dull,
but I would say it was the print again not the transfer. I didn't see
any examples of contrast boosting or edge enhancement so it looks like
it was taken cleanly from the not-so-wonderful print. The removable
English subtitles are clear, grammatically correct and seem accurate to
the events onscreen. A nice addition to this DVD are the songs from the
film
accessible to be played separately and continuously. You can't really do
a lot of complaining about this DVD as it is so inexpensive ($5.99 US).
If you have never seen a Bollywood film/DVD then I would recommend it. I
give this DVD a strong |
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out of
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DVD Menus
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Screen Captures
Censor board certificate (left) - Print damage sample (right)
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Subtitle sample
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