Shakti

Shakti is a very interesting film, although it's hardly original. The film is in a way a variation of Deewar, which in itself is a version of Ganga Jamuna. The only difference is that Deewar shows a clash between brothers and Shakti between a father and son. But that being said, the relationship is actually very, very well portrayed. Due credit should go to Ramesh Sippy who is one of the great directors of mainstream Hindi cinema. He directs the film really well and except for the action sequences, which are not very well done, and some of the scenes towards the end, the film is a huge surprise in its depth, subtlety and realistic dialogue. The interactions between the characters are often quite real and the narrative reminds one of some European films, as its power comes from its serenity. Even the background score is often beautiful and soothing and not the usual whiny type.

The actors are very good - Kumar is typically understated in the part and so is Bachchan who gives another fantastic performance, letting the viewers sense his inner pain all through. The two actors work really well opposite one another, while Raakhee and Smita Patil absolutely shine each in her role. Raakhee takes up the risk of playing wife to Kumar and mother to Bachchan, usually her regular romantic costar. While in other films such casting decisions are pathetic and seem to belittle the value of the actresses and their sell-by-date, here it seems like Raakhee's conscious choice to challenge herself. She is excellent. In a smaller part, Patil, a stupendous actress, does a lot with so little. Bachchan's scenes with Raakhee and Patil are of the film's best. Shakti is an unoriginal story which turns into an original, captivating film, which is not extraordinary but worth a watch.

Though Shakti (power) is the story of a father and a son who get distanced because of a misunderstanding that took place in the childhood of the son and that distance gets bridged only when the life of the son comes to an end, let me make it pretty clear that this movie is made on the lines of the most memorable movie of Amitabh Bachchan's career which labelled him as the Angry Young Man forever, i.e., Deewaar (1975). The writers of Deewaar, Salim-Jaaved revisited that classic movie seven years later by using the similar storyline which was originally for a mother and two sons, this time for a father, a mother and a son. In Deewaar, the mother was torn between one righteous son and one criminal son of hers whereas in Shakti, the mother gets torn between the law-protecting husband and the law-breaking son.

Supercop Ashwini Kumar (Dilip Kumar) is dead honest and highly dutiful who considers his duty above everything including his family. And when the question comes whether to do his duty or to save the life of his little son who has been kidnapped by the baddies, he prefers performing his duty as a committed cop over performing his duty as a loving father. Besides, one member of the kidnapping gang, saves the life of the little boy who could be killed by the baddies. Both these incidents leave a very negative imprint on the tender heart of the kid (Master Ravi) who starts sympathizing with the criminal and fostering a grudge against his father in his heart. Years later, when the son, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) is a grown-up man, the unresolved issues of childhood still trouble him. He feels that his father does not love him. He himself becomes a criminal and gets added to the wanted criminals list of his father. The most hit by this father-son conflict which is more subtle, less loud is the mother (Raakhee). Falling in love with Roma (Smita Patil) and then marrying her also does not bring any positive change in Vijay's life and finally he reaches what is the destiny of a criminal in the hands of his father only, realizing before his death how much his father loves him.

The biggest strength of Shakti is neither the screenplay nor the characters but the power-packed performances of the lead actors performing the father-son duo. Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan have delivered towering performances and so this movie has called a Clash of the Titans by many spectators as well as critics. They have risen above the script and made the movie a memorable one. Action star Amitabh Bachchan has delivered another highly emotional performance in a role which contains the shadows of Deewaar. Dilip Kumar, in this second innings of his career, is again highly impressive. And the one who surpasses these two is Raakhee who has been quite surprisingly cast as AB's mother (she has played as his heroine in several movies). In perhaps the first mature role of her career, she has performed superbly. One of the pillars of parallel cinema movement, (Late) Smita Patil joined the commercial cinema and her pair with Amitabh Bachchan appears quite cute on the screen. The song - Arre Jaane Kaise Kab Kahaan Ikraar Ho Gaya is an example of the lovable romance and amazing on-screen chemistry of Amitabh and Smita.

The movie starts with Anil Kapoor who plays the grandson of Dilip Kumar (and the son of Amitabh Bachchan who is no more) and his grandfather tells him the whole saga, explaining how difficult it is to do your duty as an honest and committed policeman. The whole film runs in flashback and there is no boredom at any place. While watching, you remain engrossed though the script is formula-based only which can be easily seen, understood and felt. Ramesh Sipply who happens to be the director of the epic movie, Sholay has ably directed this movie according to the demand of the script and the stature of the cast.

R.D. Burman's music is good. Maangi Thi Ek Dua Jo Kabool Ho Gayi (Mahendra Kapoor), Aye Aasmaan Bata (Mahendra Kapoor), Hamne Sanam Ko Khat Likha (Lata) are good both lyric wise and composition wise. I have already mentioned my favourite song of this album - Arre Jaane Kaise Kab Kahaan Ikraar Ho Gaya (Kishore-Lata). Anand Bakshi has written admirable lyrics for the tunes of Pancham Da.

The great lesson that is rendered by this movie is the same that I repeat every now and then. Be communicative and never allow any communication gap or any distorted understanding of certain facts to play havoc with delicate relationships. Father-son relationship is a very special one and the father has to be expressive of his love towards the son so that the son never misunderstands him and no outsider gets a chance to bring about any rift between them. He should not expect the kid to understand the subtle language and make him vividly see and feel his fatherly love. The ending dialog of Dilip and Amitabh underscores it perfectly when Dilip says to Amitabh, 'Main Bhi Tumse Bahut Pyar Karta Hoon Bete (Me too loves you very much, son) and then Amitabh asks, 'To Aapne Kaha Kyon Nahin Daddy ?' (Then why did you not express it, father ?).

I rest my case.

It was 1982, and I waited all evening at Jumbo Video Centre in Kuwaiti Building in Bahrain to get my hands on a copy of Shakti on VHS. I was in class VIII that year, still realising the depth and breadth of Hindi cinema, and commercial films with large stair casts were my regular beckoning. Shakti was one of the most anticipated films of the year, billed "The Clash of The Titans", and I had huge hopes of entertainment pinned on it. After having waited until 10 pm that night, the much coveted video cassette was handed over to me by Rajesh, the owner of the parlour, and I remember running home all of the over a kilometer distance in excitement, my parents also waiting to watch the epic.

Epic it was by all standards. Produced by Mushir-Riaz and directed by Ramesh Sippy, it opened to a scene straight out of Sholay's opening scene, a train stopping at a deserted platform and a young man stepping out, none other than Anil Kapoor, recently having debuted with Woh 7 Din. Then came thespian Dilip Kunar and Smita Patil, the only other survivors of the family, and Shakti began its narrative on a truly sombre note. As the flashback played out for the rest of the film, the story gathered pace, and how! As it starts out telling the tale of a childhood kidnapping of Vijay, the only son to Ashwini Kumar (the pivotal character played by Dilip Kumar, you almost thought that this is going to be another potboiler, urging yourself lower the expectations.

But Shakti was meant to belong to a different class of filmmaking. As the father-son conflict started spawning, Amitabh Bachchan made his grand entry as the brooding, intense anti-hero, torn between the love for his mother and the dislike for his father's diehard principles. Oh the clash of the titans it undisputedly was, a simmering, smouldering conflict that rose to dizzying heights, leaving the viewers drooling over the prospects of a crescendo at the climax. Rakhee Gulzar's Sheetal and Smita Patil's Roma were the soothing balm of the dazzling war of histrionics of the two superstars, one from the past and another reigning the present.

Everything was prim and proper. The music by R.D. Burman turned the melancholy strains of the story into melody, that's today considered classic. The episodes where Ashwini and Vijay came together on the screen were dramatically underplayed by the director, allowing the two of them to act out their hearts - and a battle royal it was. I know who won the trophy on this occasion, the winner was loud and clear, albeit in an intense silence and a well nuanced, controlled dialogue delivery and body language, but allow me to be politically correct by stating both Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan held their fort and gave their best. The viewers were the winners, rarely had we seen anything as good in commercial cinema since Deewar. Every moment was Shakti was worth its weight in gold. The imax was predictable as it had been defined right at the start, but a tearjerker it was in the end, sounding off the end to the legendary clash and it did deliver the crescendo it promised.

Shakti turned 38 this year and I read with utter horror yesterday that there's a plan to remake it. Pray tell me it isn't a sacrilege to reinvent the wheel and try to improve upon perfection? Who can step into the shoes of and stand in for Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan? Why take away our simple pleasure of watching replay of Shakti with all its bells and whistles in original? What justice do you think this remake will mete out? I have watched Shakti over 40 times and can see it another forty times as it remains one of the best films of my lifetime and it should be preserved for its worth, not dabbled with for the purposes of experimentation or commercial benefits. Please allow Shakti to retain its place in our hearts and minds.

Shakti review :

While Salim Javed's Deewaar (1975) had two warring brothers on opposite sides of the law, their Shakti saw the same situation arise between a baap - beta duo. Noted for being the only film to feature acting legends Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan together, Shakti is one of the most powerful and intense films made in Bollywood.

Continuing to stir a debate on who was better - Dilip Saahab or Amitabh - Shakti remains favourite film of both the legends fans. In my opinion, Dilip Kumar had an edge over Amitabh at script level itself as his role of upright honest cop Ashwini Kumar was far better written than Amitabh's Vijay who is a flawed brooding anti hero with minimum dialogues.

Even then, Amitabh was excellent in the film and his rant in drunken stupor to Smita Patil demonstrates the actors class. Every scene where Bachchan and Dilip Kumar come together is electrifying experience for the audience. The police station scene where Dilip Saahab reprimands his reel son Amitabh to Rakhee's death scene where Amitabh consoles a weeping Dilip Kumar is extraordinary.

Full marks to director Ramesh Sippy for not only doing total justice to the Salim Javed script but also for extracting outstanding performances from the entire cast - Rakhee and Smita Patil included. If not for Sholay (1975), Shakti would've been the best film of his illustrious career.

RD Burman's music is melodious and the awesome background score (BGM) was later referenced in most of 80s and 90s films. MS Shinde's editing is another strong point of the film.

Shockingly, Shakti underperformed at the box office when released in late 1982 though it has gathered a cult following today. Earlier in the same year, Jeetendra's masala potboiler Farz Aur Kanoon, which had a similar plot, became a super hit while the hard hitting realistic Shakti tanked. But then, who remembers Farz Aur Kanoon today??!!!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Two mega stars of Bollywood, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan star in this action drama. The story is pretty familiar, with the father cast as a dedicated inspector and son a criminal. Instead of regular stunts and villains, the film focuses much on the psychological relationship between a father and the son, who both love each other immensely but fail to understand each other until it is too late. In their roles as a father and son, both mega stars have performed brilliantly and instead of their star power they have shown their pure acting skills. Smita Patil and Rakhee both have shared some of the most heart felt sequences. Music and songs are good enough. The flaws if you want to point out include certain sequences which are familiar from other Amitabh Bachchan movies like the regular cop and criminals chase, Amitabh's alcoholic scene, or the regular image of the police.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4