Softwing
Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
Matrixiole
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Hattie
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
silvan-desouza
Indra Kumar is known for weird sense of cinema, he gave blockbusters like DIL, BETA but if you see his comedy in his films there are really stupid surprisingly nowdays he is doing only comedy. His films in 1990s had comedy in first half and emotional in second half. The film is a remake of Kannada film, Mallammana Pavada (1969), starring Rajkumar, and B. Saroja Devi. It was remade to Telugu as Abbaigaru, and again to Kannada as Annayya. The entire track of Aruna torturing her husband and keeping Anil's character illiterate may sound hard to believe but is well handled, Anil's romance with Madhuri is well handled though melodramatic a bit The entire Madhuri vs Aruna track is well handled, but there are some stupid comedy scenes involving Anupam Kher, Bharti Achrekar Also some scenes are hard to digest like the entire track where Adi Irani and his wife Kunika are made to work in the field The end is even more melodramatic, Anil after having poison suddenly gets up and bashes the goonsDirection is decent Music is good, Dhak Dhak was the biggest hit though which is a copy of Ilayaraja's super hit song "Abbanee teeyani debba" of the 1990 Telugu movie Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari starring Sridevi and Chiranjeevi which in 1991 was dubbed into Hindi as Aadmi Aur Apsara. The song "Koyal Se Teri Boli" is a copy of the Tamil song "Kondai Seval Koovum Neram" from the movie Enga Chinna Rasa by K. Bhagyaraj, with a similar storyline.Anil Kapoor handles his role perfectly, Madhuri Dixit is superb in her role, Aruna Irani is exceptional despite being few years older to Anil, Adi Irani(brother of Aruna in real life) is as usual,Kunika is as usual, Laxmikant Berde does have some funny moments, Anupam Kher and Bharti Achrekar irritate, while Akash khurana is good as usual, Satyen Kapoo and rest are decent
Peter Young
Beta is extremely melodramatic and for the most part suffers from very poor writing. Like most of Indra Kumar's films, it has a fantastic story which is poorly executed on-screen. The very inept depiction does not withhold the film from being entertaining and watchable though, and that's mainly thanks to its interesting concept, superb soundtrack and brilliant star-cast. The film has three main characters: the son, his devious stepmother, and his wife who enters the picture like a saviour. Kapoor plays Raju, a devoted son to his wicked stepmother who would kill and give his life for her if she asked. Since she entered the house as his father's second wife, she has used the boy who had carved for a mother and deviously left him illiterate. In addition to that, she quietly made her husband's life miserable by making the entire world think he is mentally imbalanced and imprisoning him - all for money. But soon Raju marries Saraswati, a young and smart woman who, unlike her loyal and innocent husband, shortly discovers her mother-in-law's true character and swears to destroy her plans.The film's story is, as said, fantastic. But the film itself suffers from a poor script and some amazingly annoying attempts at comedy. Having said that, it is filled with many great moments and scenes of romance and drama, it has some very worthy dialogues, the development of story is effective, and the songs are very melodious and pleasant. That's what keeps the film generally engaging and entertaining, but if there is one aspect that particularly manages to keep it intact, it must be the acting. Anil Kapoor, playing the title character, does get a bit let down by the very immature character he is given. But while his character's overly loving and often childish attitude does get irritating at times, his sincerity is much more powerful and is strong enough to make this performance memorable. Aruna Irani is simply outstanding as the vicious Laxmi and is thoroughly convincing. However, Beta is clearly Madhuri Dixit's film. She is mind-blowing as Saraswati. She always could rise above a poor script, and here she gets to play a courageous and sensible woman who is unafraid to fight everyone for justice, and she does just that. Her expressive eyes, forceful line delivery, smart attitude, decisiveness, hot dance numbers and overall persona -- are all spot on and contribute to making this performance unforgettable.All-in-all, Beta is not a film for everyone, but I think as a mainstream Hindi entertainment, it is brilliant. Some may find it overblown, but I still think it is one of Indra Kumar's better works (along with Mann, his best, and Dil). I found the film totally enjoyable and I liked the film's last scene, which was superb and quite satisfying. The film remains memorable for its music and for its actors, especially Madhuri, and it's easy to see why. This film could have easily been titled Bahu (daughter-in-love) after her character. Anyway, I recommend you to watch Beta. Remember not to expect that much, and you will be happy.
Dave Abbott
I totally agree with the reviewer who said that this is Madhuri's film. I only wish she could have had even more scenes, a better script, and been more involved in the climax. Her performance and the performances of all the dramatic stars caused me to give the film a 7 instead of a 5. Anil Kapoor did his best in a thankless role where, at times, he is extremely immature and a big momma's boy. His character was frequently tedious. The comedy(?) was grating and frequently brought the tension and story to a complete halt. Do the masses really like this kind of stuff? INDIRECT SPOILER. The ending was both implausible and unoriginal and left me shaking my head wondering what really happened.Music and photography were all top notch, especially some great shots of Madhuri by herself and with Anil.
vamshi
Clearly one of Madhuri's better performances. The film could have been treated better by the director though. Watch the film if you are a fan of Madhuri.