Gopal Krishna (Hindi Film) * Sachin, Zarina Wahab, Reeta Bhaduri, Master Sundeeps

When I first came into knowledge of Krsna circa 1983, and began chanting and reading Srila Prabhupada's books, video tapes of this film where in heavy rotation at not only local Krsna temple, but other gatherings within the Hindu community as well. Back then there where no subtitles available for the film, although both me and my mom had the pleasure of a nice Indian lady whom once translated it for us during a viewing. Watching this film always has been and will be magical to me, despite the obvious flaw of Sri Balarama not making his appearance until 75% into the film. Watching Gopaal Krishna now, I wonder how I have managed to allow myself to somehow become distanced from it, and as such it is again synonymous of my relationship with Krishna.Side note: I am surprised that unlike I had thought, Gopaal Krishna is a 1979 production. For so many years I had erroneously thought it to be from a couple of decades previous to my initial viewing of it in 1983.Gopaal Krishna, not only brings back memories of my early years as a devotee of Krsna (both within & outside of Iskcon), and the days when the celebrations of the various holy days were done with such pomp & pageantry that one would think them on the par of those of Vedic times. Of course, the fire, excitement, and fervor of the days when Krsna consciousness still flourished (even in the absence of Srila Prabhupada) has died down considerably. My local temple has not been available for quite sometime now (except for a brief period of a month) in the past year or so. This is due to a long delayed remodeling of the temple room which took about 7-months, then the impact of COVID19 following quickly on the heels afterwards. I am certain that (although it has not been announced yet) the cancellation o f the Janmashtami 2020 celebration is inevitable.As a result, I have decided to seek this film out, and put it into heavy rotation (along with the morning Japa-tape) at my home, with the hopes that such might usher in some sort of Jubilee, or renewal of faith, and to much to my surprise... it is working!

An uncut unedited version is needed higher-quality even Blu-ray with subtitles DVD for this classic movie. An extended version of or a remake for a new audience with better characters would be wonderful also a movie based on srimad bhagavatam of krishna's life after Mahabharat would also be a hit also. Instead of the junk trash anti hindu mafia crooks in bollywood currently makes.

Gopal Krishna is a SUPERB 1979 Bollywood (Hindi) movie starring Reeta Bhaduri, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Zarina Wahab & Manher Desai and is based on the birth, childhood, and adolescence/young adulthood of Lord Krishna from Hindu mythology. Although I gave this movie 3 stars, its NOT because of the movie itself, but because of the DVD. Personally, if I could give the movie 10 STARS (☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆) I would!I think this movie is one of the BEST (if not THE BEST) Krishna movie I've ever seen (and since the advent of DVDs/Blu-Rays and online video streaming, I've seen at least a few) and is definitely among the best Hindi movies in general. I probably wasn't more than 3 or 4 the first time I saw "Gopal Krishna" (there are childhood photos & home videos of me and my brother re-enacting/play-acting scenes, songs & dances, and characters from this movie when I was between 3-6 or 7). and over the years/decades I've seen this movie HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS (maybe even TONS more!) of times -- and yet so far, I've still never gotten tired of it!☆☆ WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS!! ☆☆Gopal Krishna is an EXCELLENT movie that chronicles the birth, childhood, and adolescence/young adulthood of Lord Krishna from Hindu mythology, starting with Prince Kansa's coup d'état & imprisonment of his own father, the righteous & honorable King Ugrasen of Mathura (India), Kansa's coronation & terrorization of his subjects, including his own sister, Devaki & her husband Vasudev, and how Lord Vishnu took human form, in the avatar of Lord Krishna to kill Maharaj (King) Kansa and put an end to his tyranny & oppression. This movie is primarily about Krishna's early years. It tells the story of his conception, and birth in the dungeons that Kansa had Devaki & Vasudev imprisoned in, about his surreptitious transport to Gokul to be raised in the home of Nanda & Yashoda, and Kansa's numerous attempts to find & kill him, and his naughty & mischievous childhood as a "makhan chor" (butter thief) who yet was endeared by all. The movie goes on to show his adolescence and young adulthood, including his close relationship with Radha, his consort, and the continuing attempts by Kansa to kill him (including Krishna's duels with the deadly serpent, Kaliya, the killer bull, Bakasura, and killer elephant, Kuvera), culminating in an epic battle with Kansa to the death!This is an AWESOME movie, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to anyone interested in Hindu mythology and/or epic films. The casting is OUTSTANDING and I ♡ the acting of pretty much EVERY SINGLE character in this movie...........the actors who play the baby and young child Krishna as well as the young child Radha are ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE, Reeta Bhaduri and Zarina Wahab are WONDERFUL as Yashoda (Bhaduri) and adolescent/young adult Radha (Wahab) and best of all both Manher Desai (who plays Kansa) and Sachin Pilgaonkar (who plays adolescent/young adult Krishna) SHINE in their respective roles!The only casting choice I didn't care for as much was the choice of the actress who played Devaki (Lord Krishna's birth mother) because IMHO, she tended to overact and was too weepy — though given that her character was terrorized & imprisoned by her brother Kansa, who murdered 6 -7 of her children right in front of her (though in the movie they say that Kansa murdered 7 of her children, in the actual Hindu mythology, Devaki's 7th pregnancy was said to be a miscarriage and instead the baby was divinely transported into the womb of another woman, Vasudev's first wife, Rohini Devi to be born as Balarama, Krishna's brother/half-brother) and was separated from her 8th child (Lord Krishna) immediately after his birth, its understandable that the character was written as very weepy and the actress who played her tended to overact.Other than that, this movie is FABULOUS, and the only reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 4 or 5 (or the 10 stars I'd give to the movie specifically) is because the DVD itself left a LOT to be desired. If Rajshri & Ultra had put just a little more time, money & effort into the manufacturing and "editing" of the DVD, I'd have had no problem giving it 4 or even 5 stars. But unfortunately, its clear that they spent as little time, money and effort as possible rushing the production of his DVD, to pay attention to & avoid preventable defects of recording/manufacturing like abrupt cut-offs of scenes.For example, in both this movie, as well as in the Hindu mythology this movie based on, because of a prophecy that the 8th child of Devaki and Vasudev, Krishna (as an incarnation of God -- the avatar of Lord Vishnu in human form) would kill the evil Maharaj (King) Kansa and stop his tyranny & oppression, Kansa is trying to find Krishna & kill him first, in order to prevent fulfillment of that prophecy. However, because Krishna was taken to Gokul immediately after his birth, Kansa orders that ALL infants in the town of Gokul be killed. So the King's soldiers go on a rampage in Gokul, violently ripping infants from their mothers arms and brutally & ruthlessly killing them. There is a scene in this movie in which, when the King's soldiers get to the home of Nand & Yashoda where Krishna was taken, Yashoda is standing against the door trying to block them from coming in to take and ostensibly kill Krishna. However, the soldiers burst in so forcefully, it sends Yashoda crashing to the ground, and knocks her into temporary unconsciousness. Anyway, due to some illusory tricks by baby Krishna (who is Lord Vishnu in human form) the soldiers run away without him, and when Krishna's baby babbling wakes Yashoda from her stupor/unconsciousness, and she sees Krishna is still there, alive & safe, she grabs him into a hug and says "Bhagwan Ne Bachchaliya Mere Laal Ko" (God has saved my son). But on this DVD (or at least MY copy of it) that scene is cut off in the middle of of that line and instead the movie goes silent for a moment until it changes to the next scene!Also, although this DVD movie DOES have English subtitles, they are done VERY badly. First of all, the subtitles are NOT properly time-synchronized to appear right when the person saying the line (or lines) is ACTUALLY speaking it. Instead it either appears too early (before the person says the line[s].) and then disappears from the screen BEFORE (or by the time) the person actually says it -- OR it appears too late (after the line[s] have been said and the line[s] or at least the final part of the line appears in combination with the subtitles for whatever the next speaker is saying -- even if its a completely NEW scene AND even if/when someone else is already talking, thus, falsely making it appear to the viewer that its the new/most recent character saying those lines when it was the character in the prior scene!). If that's not bad enough, some/many of the translations are NOT even accurate and/or certain lines, phrases or words are omitted, and some translations of the dialogue are left incomplete. One example of this is the scene mentioned above, where Yashoda embraces/holds baby Krishna in a hug and says "Bhagwan Ne Bachaliya Mere Laal Ko" (God Has Saved My Son), and in the middle of that line, the scene abruptly cuts off and on this DVD (or at least my copy of it) not only is that scene cut off in the middle of the line, but NONE of that line is even translated with the English subtitles. Or for example, in one of the"makhan chor" (butter thief) scenes of the movie, one night, Krishna & his friends mischievously enter neighbor Chabeli's house, and eat the butter/yogurt. Meanwhile Chabeli and her husband are sleeping in the next room (actually in the courtyard, I think) when they hear strange noises, and they have a conversation about what the noise is, and how the number of rats have increased in Gokul, and that those rats even have no fear of cats. Then Chabeli makes a comment asking "But where is/ARE the cat(s), and though her husband says something in reply to that, the DVD never bothers to translate that last line AT ALL! Regrettably, that is NOT the only time that the DVD fails to translate lines or dialogue in this movie, or gives a wrong translation. In the aforementioned Chabeli scene, after Chabeli finds Krishna & his friends in her storage-room/pantry eating her butter & yogurt, Krishna's friends get away (mainly because Krishna creates a diversion [throws a couple handfuls of butter/yogurt in Chabeli's face to distract her] while his friends get away and he "takes the fall"). However, Chabeli catches Krishna and ties him to a pole in her courtyard (to keep him there) while she goes to complain to his mother (but why she didn't just take him with her instead, to prove her contention, is beyond me!). When Chabeli reaches Krishna's house and sees his mother, she initiates the conversation by asking/saying to Yashoda something to the effect (remember, I'm NOT fluent or even conversant in Hindi, and only know some [though that's increasing the more Hindi/Bollywood movies I see] words & phrases) that, "If you have milk, yogurt or butter, can you send me 2-4 pitcher/pots?" but instead the DVD translation just starts off saying, "shall I send you some?" without even saying WHAT it is being referred to! Then after giving that incomplete/inaccurate translation, it goes on to continue the errors. Because after Chabeli asks Yashoda if she can have some milk, yogurt, butter, Yashoda says "What are you talking about?" (which if UNLIKE me, the viewer understood NO Hindi, and were completely dependent on subtitles, they'd probably be asking themselves that same question -- WHAT are these characters talking about?!?!?) and Chabeli replies by saying "He (Krishna) does what he's been told not to do, what can we do?" and instead the DVD translation abridges the subtitles to say, "What else can I say?" omitting the correct & complete translation of the line. Another instance of the DVD giving inaccurate (and/or incomplete) subtitles is in one of the scenes in which Krishna is leaving Gokul to go to Mathura to battle with Kansa, and as he's going, the chariot he's riding in, comes across Krishna's consort, Radha, lying on the ground in the middle of the road (a dirt path, but a road, nonetheless!). So Krishna gets down from the carriage and ask Radha what she's doing, and Radha replies that she is not going to let Krishna go to Mathura, and that if he's still going, that he (Krishna) will have to take her life first and then go. But instead the DVD subtitles changed the translation to "I won't let you got to Mathura. If you have to go, go over my dead body" which, while essentially means the same thing, still is NOT an identical translation of what was said. Which makes me wonder what other translations they may have similarly fudged (or even given wrong) & skated by on.Unfortunately, these are FAR from the only examples (there are countless more -- too many to list here!) of the problems with the subtitles and other manufacturing defects -- and this is NOT the only Hindi movie DVD with these kinds of issues. My DVD of "Masoom" has the SAME kinds of problems with the subtitles, and the abrupt cut-off of scenes in the middle of lines or dialogue and disjointed/jerky moves to the next scene. I don't know why that is -- I've never noticed those problems on most (or really, ANY!) of my other Hindi/Bollywood DVDs like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, my 3 disc set (Two Disc DVD + CD) of Taare Zameen Par, my 2-disc set of Veer Zaara or others. Thus, I suspect that the manufacturers of the DVDs for lesser-known, or lesser-publicized (UNLIKE the modern-day Bollywood blockbuster hits of the present-day) and older Hindi movies like "Gopal Krishna" & "Masoom", are skimping on the production costs, because they don't see the DVD sales of these movies being as profitable as the new movies getting tons of Internet and media press worldwide. Its a shame that they don't realize that if they put out a quality product, even if its for old(er) movies, that long-time & loyal fans of those movies will still buy them, even if they already own it. For example, I already owned VHS versions of both "Gopal Krishna" and "Masoom" when I bought the DVD versions -- and if they come out with a GOOD-QUALITY Blu-ray version, I'd still get it AGAIN. But it would have to be BETTER (and NOT identical to or worse!) than the DVD for me to get it on Blu-ray, even though I already have the DVD!Because I ♡ ♥ ♡ this movie!Although the DVD itself is mediocre, the movie, IMHO, more than makes up for it, and I HIGHLY recommend it for all but the youngest and/or most sensitive of children — as a child and occasionally, even now, certain scenes in "Gopal Krishna" used to scare the hell out of me!Gopal Krishna is an EXCELLENT film -- the casting is PERFECT (or as close to perfect as its possible to get), the acting is EXEMPLARY, and the clothing & jewelry, especially the women's are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! When I was a kid I LOVED and envied the dazzling, shimmery twirly skirts and the beautiful jewelry on Yashoda, and Radha, and to a lesser degree, the other women. Granted, the special effects, such as the scenes with Kansa, are crude & primitive compared to today's standards and available technologies, but considering this movie was produced in 1979 India, its understandable, and is still a GREAT movie, nonetheless!☆☆☆ 2 STARS for the DVD + ☆☆☆☆☆ 5 STARS (if not, a LOT more!) for the movie itself = ☆☆☆ 3 STARS!!!!!!

Awesome movie to watch. This movie is about Lord Krishna in his young time. This is only one part of the Bhaghvad Geeta. Great movie to watch with the kids. Would highly recommend this for all ages. English subtitles are there too, for those who wanted to learn more about Lord Krishna.