Cast: Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Parveen Babi, Neetu Kapoor, Nirupa Roy, Pran, Jeevan.
Release Year: 1977.
Director: Manmohan Desai.
Hindi cinema of the 70’s was swarming with stories of lost-and-found siblings. A very clichéd and straightforward track. Two or three brothers get separated in a Kumbh Mela or some similar setting, are then reunited years later to fight against the baddie. Probably the biggest and definitely the most entertaining of this lot was Manmohan Desai’s super duper hit, Amar Akbar Anthony.
Kishanlal (Pran) is a driver working for a gold smuggler, Robert (Jeevan). When the latter commits an accident, he talks Kishanlal into taking the blame, on the assurance that his family will be well looked after. (Now anyone might wonder why such a big mafia is scared of the police pressing hit-and-run charges against him, but well, that’s 70’s Cinema for you!). When Kishanlal returns from jail (read: the iconic ‘Central Jail’), he finds his family in a state of misery. Angry and deceived, he goes to Robert, only to be humiliated. In a fit of rage, he picks up a gun and tries to kill Robert. (But well, the baddie is wearing a stainless steel type bullet-proof jacket. So the bullet can’t even scratch him!). Robert’s goons chase Kishanlal as he runs away with a car containing a box of gold.
Upon returning home, he finds his wife Bharti’s (Nirupa Roy) suicide note. Kishanlal puts his three children in the car and runs away. (Yes, the goons are still chasing him). Later, he tells them to get down at Borivali Park to hide, while he drives away the thugs. On returning with the box of gold, he finds the children missing. The eldest son, Amar (Vinod Khanna) is adopted by a Hindu police officer, the middle son, Anthony (Amitabh Bachchan) is taken in by a Catholic priest, and the youngest, Akbar (Rishi Kapoor) is raised by a Muslim tailor. Talk of National Integration! Meanwhile, his wife, who’d planned on committing suicide, miraculously looses her eyesight. She also regains it 20 years later in the film (again, miraculously!).
Amar grows up to be a police officer who falls in love with Lakshmi (Shabana Azmi, in a blink-and-miss role). Anthony, a local goonda and owner of a Country Liquor bar falls for Robert’s daughter Jenny (Parveen Babi) and Akbar, a qawwal, has Dr. Salma (Neetu Kapoor) for whom he can sing qawwalis! How the brothers reunite and fight against Robert forms the rest of the film.
The film is interspersed with a lot of twist and turns, fun moments, and not to forget, songs! The soundtrack was composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal and Anand Bakshi wrote the lyrics. It consists of hits like My Name is Anthony Gonsalves, Parda Hai Parda, Tayyab Ali Pyaar Ka Dushman and Humko Tumse. Humko Tumse is one of my favourites, and as per my knowledge, the only song to have Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, and Lata Mangeshkar sing together.
Scenes to watch out for:
#1: Amitabh Bachchan drunken scene, when he is talking to himself in the mirror. Hilarious!
#2: When Rishi Kapoor comes dressed as an old man, and is ordering for his sewing machine to be brought. He is irritating, yet so cute!
Why not to miss this movie:
Despite the film being a li’l more than 3 hours, its a complete masala entertainer!
No comments:
Post a Comment