There are very few Hindi Masala movies in the 80's that really stand out even 20 years later. I happened to catch a re-run on TV just today and realized that even 23 yrs later, this movie is a masterpiece...Subhash Ghai delivers in almost every department. Be is direction, script writing, editing, songs, dialogues or action, he excels everywhere.I was never really fond of Dilip Kumar-ji, being a hard core Amitabh Bachchan fan, but I do have to admit that he is simply superb in this movie. And to balance the scales on the other side is an excellent performance by Anupam Kher as the evil Dr. Dang. Even his side-kick Shakti Kapoor and others do their job well of being the evil guys we love to hate.Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Naseeruddin Shah are fantastic in their individual roles and together as a team of prisoners on death row recruited by Dilip-saab to fight for their country in exchange for pardons. Naseeruddin Shah particularly stands out in his performance as Khairu-bhai the cold blooded killer with a soft heart.Nutan-ji emotes without dialogues and her solid performance is still a study for actresses today. Sridevi and Poonam Dhillon are good in their roles as the female leads.One performance always gets overlooked and that is of Dara Singh as Dharma. A large man with an ever larger screen presence, he is simply too good in his role as Dilip Saab's faithful aide. Many forget his contribution to Karma and other movies alike.Last but not the least, the movie's theme song 'Mera Karma tu...' is a benchmark even today for patriotic songs. Even one line played on the radio is enough to fill the heart of every Indian with patriotic fervor. I remember listening to this in the US many years back and all the Indians in the room had a tear in their eye...Brilliant Masala Movie of the 80's!!

this is one of my favourite films, that is because it has all the elements needed to make a good movie, it has comedy; action; romance; and emotion. Subhash Ghai on of the best directors, who's made great films like Karz and Ram Lakhan has outdone himself again with karma, the comical duo Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff are amazing. Naseerudin shah is amazing, along with Dilip Kumar a legendary actor of his age. then there is Anupam Kher, and for him i have only six words- oh my god! what a performance- he was amazing and one of his greatest movies as a villain. the songs in the film were also amazing, and as we have seen in all Mr Ghai films that he has always portrayed the right song at the right time. my favourite song has got to be 'De Daru' and ' Na Jaiyo Pardes'. overall i think this a great film and will always be part of Bollywood history.

Discount comments by existenz-6: He merely wanted to see an exact replication of Hollywood cinema, and he's disappointed the *Indian* film had any roots other than his own. If you're used to conventional western cinema, and that's all you want to see, you simply aren't going to like this movie! If you fall into that category, and yet (for some inexplicable reason) you still want to see a bollywood flick you're going to want to check out the more recent ones (something by Ram Gopal Varma, perhaps). They're much more "westernized". That said, Karma is one of the greats of the 80's. It has comedy, action, tragedy, and excellent acting. Dillip Kumar, as usual, plays his role well. A. Kheir steals the show as Dr. Deng, there was something so morbidly dark about the look on his face when Dillip Kumar's character slaps him, he suddenly transforms from a comical amusement into a character to be taken dead seriously. He remains so for the rest of the movie. As cinema in the 80s was, there are a few shoddy moments in transference from humor to tragedy. If you can deal with that roller-coaster, and the fact that bollywood flicks don't pack budgets comparable to Hollywood, you may want to give this movie a peak!

I was really looking forward to this movie. I'd seen the poster in an old French textbook (don't ask why) and it looked quite awesome. I'd never seen an Indian film before, and I figured an Indian action movie from the 1980s could be great. So last month I purchased the Karma DVD online.Two words: big disappointment.I don't know if all Indian movies are like this, but the photography was terrible, the acting was cheesy, the songs are incredibly generic (they all sound the same to my western ears), and the action is TERRIBLE. The movie has a few good explosions, and lots of guys get gunned down, but the stunts are third rate (at best!). The director doesn't handle the story or the action with any sort of style or exuberance. The movie has only one redeeming quality, and that's the actor with the black beard. He's a real badass, and he nearly pulls this movie from the brink with his incredible Bronson/Eastwood-esque performance.If the Indians want to make movies like Hollywood, they need to trim their scripts down and learn how to direct. I still want to see Sholay, but if that's as bad as this movie then I won't be putting any more Indian films at the top of my list.