Taal (1999)

Director:

Subhash Ghai

Writers:

Sachin Bhowmick (screenplay)
Subhash Ghai (dialogue)

Release Date:

13 August 1999 (India)

Genre:

Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Don't fall .. rise in love.

Plot:

On a sight-seeing road trip of India, U.K. based Manav Mehta meets Mansi, the daughter of a singer, Tarababu...

Plot Keywords:

Showbiz | Product Placement | Rip Off | Beautiful Woman | MTV

Awards:

15 wins

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Anil Kapoor	...	Vikrant Kapoor
Akshaye Khanna	...	Manav Mehta
Aishwarya Rai	...	Mansi
Alok Nath	...	Tara Babu
Amrish Puri	...	Jagmohan Mehta
Sushma Seth	...	Mrs. Mehta
Mita Vasisht	...	Prabha Shankar (as Meeta Vashist)
Saurabh Shukla	...	Bannerjee (as Saurab Shukla)
Jividna Sharma	...	Illa
Tanya Mukherjee	...	Shanam
Supriya Karnik	...	Shakuntala (Shaku)
Prithvi Zutshi	...	Deep Mohan Mehta
Manoj Pahwa
Rajesh Khera	...	Brij Mohan Mehta
Mithilesh Chaturvedi

Also Known As:

Thaalam (India: Tamil title)

Runtime:

UK:179 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | Tamil

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:U | India:U | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario)

Filming Locations:

CN Tower - 301 Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Trivia:

This was the second out of a trilogy of films that Subhash Ghai made which focusing on the Indian NRI abroad, the other two being Pardes (1997) and Yaadein... (2001).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bollywood/Hollywood (2002)

Soundtrack:

Kahin Aag Lage

the loadest taal(beat) in ghais career

a fresh feel, a fresh look, a fresh concept

Taal is a great movie. Great story, great performances, great songs and great look & feel. It should be the utopia of modern Indian cinema and it should represent what all movies should aspire to be like. This can be classed as one of the best, if not the best movie ever made by Subhash Ghai.

The cast is great, including the supporting cast. The star of the show is Ashwaria, whose portrayal of a simple village girl coming to terms with love, hurt and pressures of modern life is excellent. It was probably the role that helped her to shed her Barbie doll image and her acting was very natural, full of character and spot on. It was good to see the transformation from the first half where she is the small town girl, to the second half where she is a reputable icon. Akshaye was great in his role as Manav, a determined, strong headed, love bitten guy. Akshaye always gives sound performances and never lets you down as in this case. Anil Kapoor is fab in this role. His comedic side always hit the right note (best part being the rules of life!!). Alok Nath & Amrish Puri gave good performances and really do support the movie.

The story is simple, to the point and not extra bits added in. Manav sees Mansi and is smitten by her and slowly she develops feelings for him (through some fab songs like Taal and Ishq Bina) and then he goes back to the big city. She follows him and is cast aside by his family. Becoming more determined she pursues a sing job, becomes really good. Her career is helped by Vikrant who also has feelings for her and proposes to her. The climax helps to bring things together.

If one was to think of something bad to say about Taal, then they will be thinking for a long, long time.