Review of Nastik

Introduction

The film is obviously a ploy to show that the ‘good lord’ exists. However the is not as fulfilling as it could have been for both Indian film fans and for Big B fans. The film begins to slack from the very start. It builds up uninteresting characters that we neither root for nor care about simply because it is a run and tested formula, which we have seen in better movies. Also it is a very slow film which prolongs the expected. If it weren’t for the performances of Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan I would have seriously turned off the film long before intermission.

The film is done with very serious intentions with a long and shallow bajhan (Indian gospal) song, which recurs throughout the film. Furthermore to show its intentions are the numerous shots of the statue of the gods, and dialogues that are filled with propaganda.

Many Indian films are filled with similar content and I really don’t mind as I like to have an open mind. But at least make the content watchable. Because of the serious intention on the themes Nastik looks at most audiences won’t feel drawn to it, despite its escapist form of entertainment with coincidences that are very much alike Manmohan Desai movies.

There are way to tackled themes of religion in films via a successful manner. In the film Mr Natwarlal (1980) wit and humour was used. While the film Jai Santoshi Maa (1975) it was handled it as opera like drama. But if the mood is monotone and the screenplay drastic then you can`t expect the film itself to be no better. Nastik qualifies for the latter part.

The soundtrack is quite weak, and Hema Malini performance forever grows annoying as an urban `Basanti` like character taken from the masterpiece film Sholay (1975). Supporting cast range from poor to watchable, and technical values are okay. However this is one film that disappoints and it is remembered solely on the fact that Amitabh Bachchan stars in it. The fans keep this film alive.

On this title I didn’t expect much of the restoration to be as good. The feedback I was getting from DEI was that the original negative itself was kept in a very bad way. When they received a brand new copy of it, made on an interpostive print, they tried their best to rid the screen of the numerous green funguses, wear and tear and other major damages found. The film is damaged for life unless expensive restoration work is on the scale of what was done on Vertigo and Lawrence of Arabia by Robert A. Harris. I somehow doubt that would happen on this title.

However what DEI have done for this film is reasonable enough. Although not brand spanking fresh it still remains more cleaner, detailed, and richer then many of the current releases on DVD from companies like EROS, Video-Sound and even Yash Raj Home Entertainment.

Video

The DVD is for the first time presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.55:1, which has been anamorphically enhanced.

However the telecinst has transferred the film as a 2.66:1 ratio and this results in the picture being vertically squashed by around 5%. While it has no major effect from afar on closer inspection you will see certain images look slightly fatter then usual.

Purist will obviously not like this, but if you have a widescreen television (16x9) then rest assured the problem could be fixed manually with your zoom settings. Those with the standard 4:3 ratio television set might have a problem as your are unable to change picture ratio settings. DEI have been made aware of this problem and they will re-do this title at a later date with the correct ratio.

The look of this film has never been as good for the home format with sharpness and picture information that impresses. Also seen is the wonderful detail founded on the contrast and black shadows.

However due to the poor way the 35mm original negative were kept the bold Eastman colour has been lost. What we are left with it is many scenes with golden brown hues, and weak colour saturation. All this is linked to the source and not the encoding of the disc, so DEI is not really to blame.

Some would argue that scene by scene colour correction could have been done. But that is a very expensive process and the sales of this title might not justify it. Minor wear and tear on the print is seen but they aren’t as distracting, while encoding problems like compression artefacts, or edge enhancement never makes their presence felt.

Audio

The Dolby Digital Hindi soundtrack is presented in its original soundtrack mono, and has some minor hissing noises due to the age and damage of the print. Still it is very audible and just as good a 20-year-old mono track can be for an Indian film.

Features

Once again the awful DEI box designs invade this title, which grows increasingly bad and embarrassing. Menus and English subtitles are the usual quality standards of DEI, meaning they are well done.

Conclusion

On a weak title and source material DEI have tried to do this film some DVD justice. Once they have fixed the `fat` picture problem on this title I would consider this disc above avarage.