King Uncle

I consider King Uncle to be a very overlooked movie. At the time of it's release it didn't make much of an impact at the box office. It's a shame really because it's a very enjoyable, fun filled movie with Jackie Shroff on great form in the main lead.

Anu Agarwal and Nagma provide good support and this movie is also notable for having an early performance from Shah Rukh Khan, before he really hit it big time with Darr. There is a pretty decent supporting cast consisting of Deven Verma, Dilip Tahil amongst others. As the main villain, I found Paresh Rawal to be terrifying as a child. Off course now he's more known as a comedy actor, I wish he would go back to doing the odd serious role like this one once in a while.

That said the highlight of the movie is Pooja Ruparel as Munna. Her acting is just so natural. After DDLJ, she disappeared from movies but in the past couple of years it seems that she's making a comeback, which is great news. The songs, as per usual in a Rakesh Roshan production are absolutely top notch. All in all rewatching King Uncle makes me feel nostalgic about a very happy childhood.

I normally don't use such harsh words. But this movie doesn't deserve any better. I don't know, who would watch and like this. 1. To put Sharukh Khan on the cover to sell this movie is totally misleading! He appears only in the beginning and end and that's why the movie gets any points at all. 2. The other Characters, the bad Uncle etc. are played badly! This movie tries to be funny but is just ridiculous, its just too much parody. 3. Although the theme can be quite charming (stone-hearted person is convinced, that love is a beautiful thing by an orphan he has accidentally taken in is house) this movie offers no charm at all! If you are 10 years old, you might enjoy it, but else: hands off!! The scenes with SRK are not worth the money and the time!

You will really like this film... If you can get past your first impressions of Pooja Ruparel .... Munna (orphan girl), you will soon come to love this film. Granted Pooja is a bit over the top in her portrayal, a bit like watching the stage production of Annie, but she does seem to manage to steal your heart in the end, just as she does in the film.

Just remember, this is an older film, from Shah Rukh Khan's early days in films, so things may seem a bit dated, but you will soon get past that, and come to love the characters and story.

This is a very sweet film.

King Uncle is one of Rakesh Roshan's lesser-known films and it's considered to be one of his worst, but I like it. I watched it as a kid and found it thoroughly fun and entertaining. Based partly on Annie, the film is nowhere a quality film, the production values are quite poor even for a big-scale director like Rakesh Roshan, and the script doesn't really provide anything fresh or particularly credible, although it has twists and later on it even adds up some moments of suspense. The film's often childish energy often makes it into quite a watchable family/children film. This is true of many other films by Roshan, including Karan Arjun, Koyla, Koi Mil Gaya, all of which have great heroes, plain caricatures for villains, childish dialogue and so on - in this regard this film, which has all of it, caters to the simple-minded audience (don't get me wrong, I mean it in a good way) and thus really often works for kids just as it worked for me when I was a kid.

Take the film's leading actor as evidence to that. He is Jackie Shroff, in my view normally one of the most unaffected and authentic leading actors in Hindi cinema at the time. Here he gets a very uncommon role and he clearly enjoys playing it, and he also clearly directs his performance to the younger, more unassuming viewers. Shroff is wonderful as the goofy, clumsy and crabby man whose personality changes with the entrance of a bubbly orphaned girl into his house (sounds familiar, I know). The writing lets him down, however, when all of a sudden, he transforms into this confident, outgoing man. This is exactly why, unless seen as a simple family film, this film doesn't make much sense. But it partially works and even picks up and gains some tension towards the end. The supporting cast includes Anu Agarwal, Nagma, and Shah Rukh Khan, who is wonderfully awkward in one of his early films. Pooja Ruparek is decent as the girl. Can't recommend the film, but you might find it a good go as a family watch at your own cost.

Perfect film to watch where you don't have to do much thinking. The film is fun and the relationship between Munni and Ashok and Anil is pure magic. Although similar to Annie i find this version much more appealing because obviously Munni is more cute than Shirley Temple was. Jackie Shroff plays his role int he second half perfectly although the first half is a bit over exaggerated and over acted. The songs were all great especially Khush Rehne Ki and the one with Munni and her King Uncle. the only downside i felt was Fanny's character who was just a caricature in my opinion and could have been done so much better. The villains were sometimes slightly over dramatic but for the most part believable. And to be honest i found the rest of Munni's little orphan friends slightly annoying.