Angaar

Large empty spaces...fore-grounded sound effects...minimal background score...unusual song picturizations...brutal violence and dystopian atmosphere are just a few of the elements which makes this familiar underworld tale by K Shashilal Nayar, a minor masterpiece.

Jehangir Khan (loosely based on Haji Mastan played aptly by Kadar Khan) and his sons; the gangster Farid Khan (Mazhar Khan) and the white collar builder Majid Khan (with an Hafeez Contractor agenda of 'Bombay should be clean!' played by Nana Patekar with a nervous calm) dominates the matters of the city. Jehangir Khan, the mafia ruler of the city since the last 40 years now proclaims himself as the messiah of poor and just like the Mughal king Jehangir promises justice in an open personal court. Whereas, Farid's men create havoc in poor slums by eve teasing and other illicit activities.

One such slum is 'Asha Colony' whose unofficial leader is Jaikishan alias Jaggu (Jackie Shroff) who is a graduate and a job seeker and an occasional street musician. World's of Jehangir and Jaggu collide when Majid gets determined to wipe off Asha Colony to make multistoried buildings there.

The cinema of Angaar is gritty and atmospheric...the death scene of Jaggu's father and Jaggu's torture in the state mental asylum are pretty hardcore. Most of all, the climax where multistoried buildings are blown off is both spectacular and a form of unique vengeance to the old 'Basti' problem.

Nayar's real cinematic achievement comes with his ability of unique treatment of spaces, both visual and aural. Visually, most of the times the spaces were either kept very empty or overpopulated with people which presents the city of Bombay as a city of extreme opposites. Aurally, in the key scenes one crucial sound is kept in the foreground instead of always resorting to the mundane background score which provide the scenes with necessary tension and urgency like in the scene where Jaggu first meets Majid at a construction site. Except the dialogue only one sound can be heard which is that of Jaggu's motorcycle.

Performances in the film are truly A-class, especially those of Jackie Shroff, Kadar Khan and Nana Patekar. Even minor characters like those played by Nina Gupta, Achyut Potdar and Kiran Kumar leave their mark.

This is a Hindi language film of the gangster genre with Jackie Shroff and Nana Patekar in key roles.

The film is highly underrated but actually was outstanding for its storyline and performances. With a gritty script and relatable situations in Mumbai where builders are always on the lookout to set up multi storeys via gangsters as the legal route is cumbersome. And gang lords running parallel courts and starting to see themselves as messiahs. And the real problems of the youth, of joblessness and fall into violence to protect their self respect. The film has it all elevated by excellent performances by everyone in the cast. Every character is shown in grey, with a human side to them. Nana Patekar is the cruel businessman bent upon revenge for his brother's death, but also tends to a mentally challenged child. There is a scene where his assistant played by Kiran Kumar has to convey the news of his younger son to Kadar Khan, and the loud wail of the gang lord father is unforgettable. All of those who played a part should consider this one of their best films! A must watch for gritty tough film lovers.

underrated movie. Suffered from production delays. Notable for Kadar Khan's performance, and for Mazhar Khan's last turn on screen. Jackie did a workman like job. Dimple's character, weird for weirdness's sake. Nana channelled Nana. Loved Kadar khan and the seedy mumbhai ambience.

This movie portrays the problems of Mumbai lower class due to the nexus of criminal gangs and the fight against them by an angry young man Jackie Shroff. Though movie is typical for a one man fight against corruption similar to the Amitabh Bachhan movies and strongly resembles Arjun by Sunny Deol; still movie receives credit for strong performances by Kader Khan, Nana Patekar and the silent yet powerful acting of Jackie Shroff. The real-estate builders want to wipe off the slums in Mumbai and make five star hotels for fast profit. Jackie Shroff is struggling for a job and also pressurized by his family problems. While Nana Patekar's gang is trying to isolate the slum, they get a head-on with Jackie and face repulsion. Nana's brother Mazhar Khan goes to beat Jackie but gets killed by him during a fight. Nana kills Jackie's father which ignited a fury to extinguish his evil empire. Though Kader Khan is actually the Don and father of Nana, he only uses his powers to give justice to the poor and not oppress them. He detests Nana's activities but is unable to stop him. He tries to persuade Jackie to forget the whole episode, but Jackie rejects and goes on his spree to destroy Nana. He places bombs in the illegal building constructions by Nana and eventually kills him. Dimple is ornamental as she was in Arjun, but looks graceful. Jackie was stunning and the movie also has a few good songs. Worth a watch.....

This movie deserves accolades for its awesome direction, characters , screenplay and dialogues ! I was surprised to see that is is rated 6.7 on imdb and surely it deserves much more ! It is not less than a classic gangster flick.