Silsila

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 SILSILA [1981]

Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, Jaya Bachchan

Direction by Yash Chopra, Music by Shiv-Hari

Language: Hindi

I was watching this new show on Netflix: ‘The Romantics’ and it reminded me of two Hindi movies that I have watched but completely forgot to review: so here I will be reviewing Silsila. 


Mein aur meri tanhai, axar yeh baatein kartein. Tum hoti toh kaisa hota? Tum yeh kehti, tum voh kehti. tum is baat mein hairan hoti, tum is baat mein kitnee hasti. Tum hoti toh aisa hota, tum hoti toh vaisa hota. Mein aur meri tanhai, axar yeh baatein kartein.

Me and my loneliness often converse. If you were here, what would happen? You would say this, you would say that. You may have been astonished by this talk or you may have laughed. If you were here, this would happen, if you were here, that would happen. Me and my loneliness often converse. 


Sorry! There are certain Hindi dialogues that I just remember and that’s one of them. My translation might not be the best, but you almost need to be a native speaker to understand the full poetic values within the dialogues in this movie. 

My Spotify playlist knows exactly what I like. I have a playlist with Bollywood songs exclusively from the 60s, 70s and 80s, and Silsila songs started to get recommended to me. From then on, I became fixated on watching the movie - and let me tell you that I was not wrong in wanting to watch it. 

The 80s was a dark time in Bollywood cinema, and although the film may not have done well when it came out, it was definitely gold standard. For the first time, a movie dabbled in the incredibly taboo themes of extra-marital affairs, which was a social commentary so needed in the Indian society at the time where films were somewhat distant to the common man. 

I have never been a fan of Jaya Bachchan, and this film was no exception. I really hated her character: I feel as if she plays the same role of the subservient housewife in every single film she acts in. However, this was completely offset by Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan. This dangerous love was intense, exhilarating, and left me yearning for more at every corner. 

You will hear me going on like a broken record about the music. Get used to it: whenever I review an Indian movie, I will talk about the music. If the music is not good, there is no point in watching the movie. Watching as a young person in modern times, the lyricism and poetic nature of the song lyrics, especially in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar, is chilling in the most thrilling of ways. 

9/10 (only because I didn’t like Jaya Bachchan’s role).

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