Zanjeer

As a child, Vijay witnesses the murder of his parents by their unscrupulous employer, worried that pops will spill the beans on his "spurious injections" business. As luck would have it, Vijay was hidden in a wardrobe at the time and all he sees of the killer is his golden chain, with a cute little plastic horse dangling from it.

20 years later, Vijay has morphed into Amitabh Bachchan and is a police officer, always in trouble with his superiors because of his tendency to take crime as a personal affront and use any means available to punish its perpetrators. He's a very serious and intense young man, haunted by nightmares of his parents murder.

Prior to 1973, the name Amitabh Bachchan was not revered amongst Indian cinema goers as it has been ever since. Indeed, Amitabh was considered to be box office poison at the time, and director Prakash Mehra was thought to have gone mad for choosing him as the star in his new film Zanjeer. History appears to be on Mehra's side, for Zanjeer was a resounding success and created the "Angry Young Man" image for Amitabh Bachchan that dominated Indian cinema for the next decade.

Zanjeer follows the same pattern as many of Amitabh's films - or rather, many of his films follow the pattern of Zanjeer, I guess. Amitabh has proven himself a very versatile actor, but it is the driven intensity he brings to roles such as this that made him Bollywood's undisputed king. Driven by a rage he cannot release, he tears up the screen and the bad guys but remains vulnerable and easy to empathise with.

Bachchan is joined by some interesting characters - the larger than life good-bad guy Tiger played by Pran, and the sassy gypsy girl played by Jaya Bhaduri, who was Bachchan's love interest and later his real-life wife. Unfortunately the bad-bad guy is less charismatic and interesting than he might have been - he is cold and cruel, but not as "villainous" as he might have been.

I don't know just how original Zanjeer was at the time of its release... it seems to follow a pretty conventional formula, but the impression I get is that it largely created this formula. Perhaps similar plots were covered before, but I can't imagine anybody filling such a role as well as Amitabh. Certainly Zanjeer was a runaway success, and a profoundly influential film.

Sadly, in this case 'first' does not mean 'best'. Although it's certainly a solid film, it's not as well scripted as other films along similar lines, and Amitabh doesn't have the cocky confidence that he would quickly develop and employ so effectively in his numerous star roles. I guess everybody involved was still finding their feet a little, so it's not surprising that the elements presented here would be improved on in later films.

The conclusion I draw is that ZANJEER is not the best starting point on an Amitabh adulation path, but is definitely worth picking up once such a path has been a little trodden in.

My enjoyment of the film was doubtless hampered somewhat by the DVD presentation, which is clearly heavily cropped - most obviously at the bottom of the screen, where a good 20% must be missing. This was probably done to get rid of subtitles burnt into the print used for mastering, but unfortunately you lose a lot along with the subs - people's mouths during close-ups, for instance. I think it was also cropped at the sides, possibly to preserve aspect ratio. It may even have been a 4:3 film originally though, cropped to more than 1.85:1. Whilst this cropping (and general print wear and tear) do not ruin the film, it's definitely an impediment to full appreciation.

Zanjeer review :

"Jab tak baithne ko na kaha jaye, sharaafat se khade raho. Yeh Police station hai, tumhare BAAP ka ghar nahi"

When Pran Saahab's Sher Khan had to eat humble pie to a lanky police officer whose eyes spoke volumes, a super star was born.

Prakash Mehra's Zanjeer gave India its first angry young man. Playing an upright cop who is battling his troubled childhood memory, Amitabh Bachchan was just the kind of the hero the aam junta of that time was looking to celebrate. After all, he epitomised their frustrations and angst against the system.

Salim Javed's script may seem tailor made for Bachchan today but Zanjeer was a film rejected by many reigning superstars from Rajkumar to Dev Anand before landing in Amitabh's lap.

Ajit played the sophisticated Teja whose Mona darling jokes are still popular. I am particularly fond of the restaurant scene where Amitabh goes to meet Teja and Mona (Bindu) having their dinner.

"Khana khate waqt cigarette peena bahut buri baat hai"

Punchy dialogues, perfect plot and an angry Amitabh. Thats the immortal Zanjeer!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Zanjeer (The Chain) is the film where Amitabh Bachchan made the breakthrough from being an established actor to superstardom, and where the trend was set towards the revenge film in Indian cinema. Amitabh's Angry Young Man character was born in this film in his brilliant portrayal of the brooding, temperamental Vijay who is haunted by a recurrent nightmare. Indeed, his performance as a disturbed, vengeful young man propelled him to new heights, such that he was at the top of many directors' wanted list for at least a decade afterwards. Interestingly, the role was rejected by several stars of the early 70s before being offered to Amitabh, illustrating how luck can play a part in a career's success or failure. Who knows what different turns Bachchan's career would have taken had he not had the chance to play Vijay, the young man with chips on both shoulders. Surely his talent would have found an outlet somewhere, but would he have made such a ground breaking impact in any other role?

Zanjeer is certainly not all about one actor, and a strong cast showcase their talents to the full. The greatest character actor of all time in Indian cinema, Pran, gives a very enjoyable performance as Vijay's loyal friend, Sher Khan. As ever, Pran's attention to detail and willingness to 'live the character' is immediately obvious and doubtless he will have researched the Pathan dialects to deliver a richly authentic performance. Jaya Badhuri cleverly plays the sassy knife sharpener with great depth and sensitivity. Ajit is no conventional villain: not the hothead that is seen in so many Indian movies; instead he is cold and cruel but nevertheless, quintessentially evil. Even Iftekhar's cameo as Vijay's boss, the Police Commissioner is worthy of praise.

This classic thriller is tightly scripted by Javed Akhtar, and never loses its pace thanks to Salim Khan's screenplay and Prakash Mehra's clever direction and the richly talented cast. It has a high octane tension which is sustained throughout. An example of this is in Vijay's visit to the party when the gangster's moll (played by Bindu) seeks to seduce Vijay in the raunchy number Dil Jalon Ka. The posturing of the unimpressed Vijay and Teja (Ajit), the cool, calculating tycoon and his cronies with the backdrop of the gyrating Bindu and superb musical score are captured expertly by a circling camera team. Mehra achieves all this without being overly melodramatic, something that might not be said of one of his other big hits, Muqaddar Ka Sikander, and that is very much to Zanjeer's benefit.

There are several haunting, dark moments in this film which last long in the memory. The initial murder scene against the backdrop of the firecrackers of the Diwali celebrations, as well as Vijay's nightmare of the black hooded rider atop a galloping white horse are enduring images which immediately spring to mind. The film is essentially dark in mood and many of the images - the inner city back streets and railway sidings give it a real gritty feel - and yet in contrast, many of the scenes are shot in bright daylight. Mehra's attention to detail influences all aspects of the film, giving it a rich texture, quite literally in some cases! Vijay's costumes are very early 70s Western chic, without going over the top, and the Pathan, Sher Khan (Pran), wears authentic cultural dress.

The enjoyment of this film is slightly detracted from in a couple of scenes, as the cropping of the edges of the film mean that facial expressions of the leading characters are missed. This does not detract from the fact that Zanjeer is pure, carefully crafted art and that this seminal film is essential viewing for anyone with an interest in Indian cinema.

This movie is lots of fun. It has EVERYthing in it - car chases, dance numbers, action, crime, revenge - like many Bollywood films - there's something for everyone. The film cant help but be dated - some of the 70's era clothes are hilarious. Some of the cliché zoom shots to an actor's face and yes, the movie is long - 145 minutes - it is slow at times but hang in there - it is worth it. The fact that Bachchan became a huge superstar after this also makes it a must-see. He supposedly found the seeds here to start his "angry young man" act. And the gypsy knife sharpener girl became his future wife in real life. I loved her first dance number where she gets customers to come out of their homes and bring her their knives to be sharpened. One thing about the copy we watched on DVD - it was subtitled but the SONGS WERE NOT. Frustrating.

Zanjeer (1973) : Brief Review -

Indian cop drama gets gritty and intense like never before. Amitabh Bachchan was coming from soft roles, and it must have been a shocking experience for the audience to see him in such an intense role, and that too in a masala-driven cop's avatar. The cop dramas in Bollywood or Indian cinema have always believed in keeping things massy and preferred revenge as the main tool behind the anger of the character. Zanjeer is also based on the same lines, with an additional touch of gritty character, which was mostly seen in Hollywood's western dramas back then. For our audiences, a cop movie meant a simple action masala flick, and the equation hasn't changed till date. Be it Singham, Dabangg, or Rowdy Rathore, you see diversity in the screenplay and the characters because the writers don't want to take a risk. Zanjeer took that risk in the peak era of masala movies and turned out to be a successful film. That's why it should be hailed forever. It has also inspired many mainstream theories, but the ideological metaphor of Vijay's character remains unmatched. In the above-mentioned films, you'll see a cop behaving like a child in a few scenes or becoming comical for a while, but you don't see that in Inspector Vijay Khanna's character. The seriousness of being on duty or being traumatized around corruption or past memories has to be highlighted, and Zanjeer did that so well. Amitabh Bachchan plays that angry young officer's role, and in the 10-15 minutes you know what kind of material he is. Pran plays one of the best roles ever written and portrayed in any cop movie in history. Be it his dialogues, action, attitude, or even that joyful dance of friendship, everything is top notch. Salim-Javed's screenplay looked fantastic, even though a few things seemed to be borrowed from classic Western material. Jaya Bachchan was more fun as a chatterbox than a responsible woman. Mehra must be on fire from inside while making this one.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.