Review of Pratiggya

Introduction

This film could be classed under the genre of a western comedy. While it keeps some of western plot in focus, with a couple of changes in the screenplay to suit Hindi film audiences, the film has a disturbing overtone of comedy which is the reason this film is too jarring for my liking. At times the film rapidly changes in tone and style from revenge story to comic play at an unease pace. The result is not good as establishment of plot and characters is a mixture of mishmash making it quite ambiguous.

At times Dharmendra seems to be overacting, with his full on dialogue delivery of getting his revenge. This along with unfunny comic subplots, especially with the actors Johnny Walker and Jagdeep, adds more uneasy viewing of this film. Ajit is his usual self, and Hema Malini pleases the audiences with her limited appearance, and her performance. It could have worked had the director been more understanding in his handling of the narrative structure of how the movie industry works (basically if he sacked the person who wrote the screenplay).

Musically the film offers nothing new apart from the famous song `Main Jatt Yamla` which was wonderfully sung by Mohd. Rafi. Also notice how the sound department messed up when the sound of bomb blasts sounds more like guns firing together. It is a coldly made film which deserves a coldly viewing response.

The film was released the same year as the masterpiece; Sholay. Which displayed Dharmendra performances in such a way that he has hardly topped it since. Both films have its similarities in plot which has cause this film to be a forgotten cause. Had it not been the famous song this film would be extinct.

DEI have now released this film on DVD, so how does it fare......?

Video

This DVD has kept the intentions of the director as it has been framed according to the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The 35mm negative print source looks quite promising as not much wear and tear is detected, which is normally expected. The film has never looked as fresh as this version on DVD. It is nice to see DEI take care on such a film which is neither considered to be a classic nor a memorable film. Some wear and tear blemishes are detected in the form of small black and white dots by appearing randomly, but hardly distract viewers attention. The only distracting case can be seen in chapter 24 which shows how time and mishandling of the 35mm print can have an affect, scarring the film for life.

No major compression artefacts are seen while grain problems (due to the film`s age), shimmering, and moiré effects are viewable only in a few scenes, and will go unnoticeable. Picture detail is very vibrant offering us a new dimension of visual information on this film. Details like number plates on the police jeeps to the guns are examples of how well handled the picture is. This is further supported by the high average bit rate.

Colour saturation was very cinematic, and had moments of strong quality. But some instances of blue hues was detected in some scenes. Once again this is due to the age and damage of the 35mm negative. Fear not the colours for the majority of time are radiant; from the blue skies to the red yellow fires seen in many parts of the film. Contrast levels and black details was quite crisp, despite some extreme use of lighting effects by the filmmakers.

Audio

The soundtrack has been kept to its original mono source, which is great news for purist like myself. The dialogues are audible as are the sound effects. Detection of hissing and crackling is easy on this DVD but it is expected on a older titles like this. The distortion doesn`t disrupt dialogue information, and won`t offend the ear.

Features

The English subtitles used was very well laid out font wise and grammar wise. The box and menu designs also was quite thematic. No other extras are present.

Conclusion

As expected from DEI a great transfer despite disadvantages of the negative due to age and mishandling over the years, which was common in the Indian film sector.