User Reviews

Harmesh Malhotra the director of such blockbusters as Nagina and Dulhe Raja is assistant director of this Film.Rajinder Krishan is the lyric writer.Madan Mohan is the music director.Rajrishi is the director .

it has good songs ,the melodious "Sawan Ke Mahine Mein" sung by Mohd. Rafi,two mischievous song "Jao Ji Jao"."Tum Ho Haseen Kahan Ke".others are "Mujhe Le Chalon","Kabhi Na Kabhi" and "Do Do Haath".

Sharabi(1964) is Madhubala's last film she died in 1969 though another of her film Jwala with Sunil Dutt was released after her death 7 years after Sharabi was released.

its an excellent film with a well written script which brings on celluloid the life of an alcoholic played by Dev Anand.he does complete justice to his part infusing life in his character rising above the script and giving the role something of his own,a hallmark of any great actor.

Lalita Pawar plays the alcoholic's mother.she portrays her role powerfully bringing to life her character.a strong willed mother who desperately wants her son to change, to give up booze and to lead a normal life.this is definitely one of her best roles besides Anari's Mrs D'Souza.her confrontation scenes with Dev Anand are great and quite emotionally exhausting.a mother who loves her son too much but has to be strict to change his drinking habit.

Madhubala as always is heartwarming and immensely beautiful.she is superb in this film,one of her best and a very different film from her earlier ones.she is in love with the alcoholic (Dev Anand).after his father's death he promises his mother he will not drink.he took up work in Madhubala's father's office.spring is again smiling on them.they are soon engaged to be married.meanwhile his mother goes away for a day.he gets extremely painful alcoholic pangs and drinks wine.his mother gets upset when she finds him in drunk state.he again takes to alcohol.his mother can no longer see his degradation and leaves.Dev Anand in his drunk state creates a scene outside Madhubala's home.her father gets furious seeing him like this bringing his name to shame. he breaks off engagement.

Dev Anand follows his mother to a coal mining village.Madhubala's father dies and she also reaches there in search of him.alcoholic's mother think of her as her own daughter asks her to stay.Dev Anand never gives up drinking and his mother asks him to leave.also at the bar when his mother breaks his booze bottle he gets extremely mad and tries to strangle her.

in his state of intoxication he reaches his place of work,the coal mine field.there they break coal rocks with explosive materials.he is given the work of blasting the coal rocks.he sets the blast at the wrong time when lots of people are working in the mine.there are many casualties ,his mother who has taken work in the mine as a daily laborer gets badly hurt.Dev Anand goes to jail.next day he takes permission to see his mother at the hospital.his heart shatters when he discovers that because of his carelessness his drunk state his own mother has lost both of her legs.film ends with him going away to the prison.

a very realistic and an entertaining film bringing to fore the evil of alcoholism.how a human being becomes a devil when he is drunk.how it ruins not one life but several others.a lovely classic film still very fresh and spellbinding.

***Mild spoilers alert***

I received a summer-long Netflix membership as a high school graduation present from my aunt. I saw this as a great opportunity to catch up on the Bollywood movies, since it is supposedly bigger than Hollywood.

After a little research, I discovered Madhubala and peoples' comments saying she was the Indian Marilyn Monroe (or at least the Indian Doris Day). I decided to check out some of her movies. Unfortunately, Netflix did not have "Bahut Din Hue," so I chose (what was supposed to be) the next best thing as a start to my expedition in Bollywood: "Sharabi," a tale of a man's plunge into alcoholism and its negative effects on everyone he knows. I figured I couldn't go wrong with a movie that starred Dev Anand and Madhubala, and had a IMDb score of 10/10 as of 5-21-07.

I saw it today. The eleven people who voted for this movie must have seen a different copy than mine, because I was greatly disappointed. Let me start with the good: The first forty- five minutes are excellent. Dev Anand's portrayal of a happy drunk is pretty good, and he is best when performing with his female counterpart, Madhubala. Madhubala was stunning. She was downright beautiful, and gave the best and most energetic performance. She was the life of the movie. Her performance was easily one of the great ones I have seen in any movie.

However, for the next hour or so, the focus is put on Dev Anand. He just did not do it for me. I can take classic melodrama because I'm a fan of old-school Japanese flicks, but Anand took the melodrama to a whole new level. God bless him, the man tried, but he just did not succeed.

The story is okay. Some might find it hard to believe a family putting up so much with such awful conduct from one their own, but that part of the movie is realistic. What angered me most about the story is the final act in the coal mine. Anand's character commits a horrible act, but is let off easy. Maybe the realistic resolution was one of the many scenes missing from the copy that Netflix has. I hope so. Because this was the most unrealistic ending I've seen since "Jaws: The Revenge."

Anyway, the beginning of this expedition into Bollywood has been extremely disappointing to say the least. I should be getting "Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka" next. I hope that is much better.