I was a 10 year old back then and a huge anil kapoor/jackie shroff fan at the time....This movie just shook me up and scared the hell out of me. It was the sheer horror of reality sinking in... what life can do to the underprivileged and how circumstances can sometimes test relationships...relationships between brothers...Nana Patekar was terrifying as the gangster with his own personal demons...yet if we see him...he is the mentor we see in todays corporate world or any world should i say...There is not one but many memorable set pieces that can be called cinematic brilliance from Mr. Vinod Chopra in his true element....The songs were beautifully shot, stirred the soul, yet you could feel the darkness lurking around.. somewhere ...in the sequence of events to come..I always felt and still feel that this movie was way ahead of its time....I am a bit surprised to see an average rating of 8 for such a movie considering the background of Indian cinema at the time, the kind of crap Indian audience is fed in present times... this movie still holds true in modern day era....wish we had more such movies....

Why would you want to watch a 1989 movie ?The scenario is pure Bollywood : brothers torn apart by values, sacrifice and family, a damsel in distress critical of the hero's actions, a pure evil villain and flashbacks to when all the movies major characters are hungry pitiable children. The tone is melodramatic(standard by old Bollywood standards) and the songs and their videos are typical of the time.Since childhood elder brother Kishen(Jackie Shroff) leads a life of crime under Anna(Nana Patekar) to support younger brother Karan(Anil Kapoor) but Karan does not know this. The occurrence of a series of events, anymore would be a spoiler, creates an idealist Karan versus merciless don Anna plot with Kishen torn between these two sides.The problem with most crime films is they tend to be too cold while dramas tend to drag on and lack a gripping plot. In this film, however, the crime and drama elements are well integrated and well paced, this overcoming the liabilities of either genre.Despite being a quarter century old technically it is still impressive. The cinematography is done thoughtfully and painstakingly. The background score is fitting. It even won a national award for editing.All of this is topped by great performances from Nana Patekar(National Award) and Jackie Shroff and by the old school eye candy i.e. Madhuri Dixit.Unlike the recent Vidhu Vinod Chopra movies i have seen(3 Idiots, Munna Bhai) it does not carry a direct message or say that this or that is right. Instead it presents the protagonist with a conflict, even the audience cant solve, like all fiction is supposed to do.(a theme is explored better by dialogue then by a lecture isn't it?)For a modern day viewer the acting and dialogue may be over the top and for the impatient a few scenes too slow.So, why would you want to watch a 1989 movie ? because it is a masterpiece. It is not special because of anything new or different it did but because it the perfection of the genre: Bollywood . A true Classic.

"The Most Powerful Film Ever Made" indeed! As if! I was so disappointed with this offering, having seen both Chopra penned delights "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." and "Khamosh," the later of which he directed as well, like this movie. This movie felt like a badly made combination of both, in style. Whereas the songs and the placement of such in "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." set a certain tone to the film and assisted in carrying the story along. In this film, they felt inappropriate to story's the flow, added absolutely nothing to the telling, and stretched it to an almost unbearable length.There was a similarly tense style of dramatization in both this film and "Kamosh," but whereas "Kamosh" moved along at an appropriate speed, developed the characters and their motivations well, and was a novel tale with a constant barrage of twists, after a half hour of watching "Parinda," I started to get the feeling I was watching a badly made Bollywood version of "On the Waterfront," with no actor having the skill of a Malden, much less Brando. Oh, granted there were a few differences between the stories, but not enough to make a difference. The ending had been forecast so early that by the time the finale arrived, it was relief to see we had reached to end of this disappointing film The actors were flat, the characters were flat, all save Iqbal, who was the real hero of the movie ... Paro looked cute in her sari, but her character flipped and flopped without visible signs of whatever kind of conflict she had to have going on inside her. I wanted to like this movie, I really did. I searched it out having become convinced that Chopra was a cinematic genius and found his "Istar."

This movie is chilling reminder of Bollywood being just a parasite of Hollywood. Bollywood also tends to feed on past blockbusters for furthering its industry.Vidhu Vinod Chopra made this movie with the reasoning that a cocktail mix of "Deewar" and "On the Waterfront" will bring home an Oscar. It turned out to be rookie mistake.Even the idea of the title is inspired from the Elia Kazan classic. In the original, Brando is shown as raising doves as symbolism of peace.Bollywood must move out of Hollywood's shadow if it needs to be taken seriously.