Zameer

This movie is quite okay compared to other movies of its era. Funny to see Shammi Kapoor and Saira Banu as father and daughter if you know that Saira made her debut in Junglee opposite Shammi Kapoor as her hero. Saira is the girlfriend of Amitabh in this movie. This is the second movie in which Saira and Amitabh starred together (the other one being the comedy drama HERA PHERI which also has Vinod Khanna as the other leading man, in this movie he makes an special appearance). The storyline is somewhat like an old Kishore Kumar movie which name i forgot and the black and white movie BOMBAY KA BABU wby Raj Khosla which had Dev Anand and Suchitra Sen and was probably the first Hindi movie which dealt with incest. This movie touches that subject lightly, though you know that Amit and Saira are no brother and sister. Shammi as the father is okay, Vinod Khanna as the real heir in his special appearance is okay. This is the first movie directed by Ravi Chopra who would later maken movies like Baghban (amitabh again), Baabul (Amitabh again) and THe Burning Train (the only Hindi disaster movie with an all star cast).

Like most of the routine 70s and 80s productions, the film has much of the improbabilities like lost children, mistaken identity, birth-mark etc. The story-telling and performances are formulaic. However, as the film was made under BR Chopra's banner under the direction of Ravi Chopra, the tastelessness of the drama is at least minimized and nevertheless the cheap items like cheap jokes, cabarets, unnecessary fights if not discarded has at least been avoided which makes the film likable in instances. The music, pace, and the treatment of the film makes it a bit watchable despite the boredom created by the tastelessness of the drama and the average performances given by its lead even though the film had a big starcast of the time like Shammi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Saira Bannu, and Vinod Khanna who fail to emanate a blowing performance owing to a weak story.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4

Zameer review :

Released in the year of Amitabh's Deewaar and Sholay, BR Chopra produced Zameer didnt turn out to be a blockbuster but nevertheless, achieved reasonable success at the box office. The film drew influence from Dev Saahab's Bambai Ka Babu (1960) which had an imposter realising that his lady love is actually his sister (albeit fake).

Amitabh Bachchan played that thief who impersonates a lost heir to rich farmhouse owner Shammi Kapoor and gets a shock to find his girlfriend Saira Banu as Shammi's daughter. Interestingly, Shammi and Saira were romantically paired in the blockbuster hit Junglee (1961) before playing baap-beti here. Vinod Khanna appeared in a cameo in the films second half and his fight scene with Big B was films highlight.

The ever graceful Saira Banu was paired with Amitabh in Prakash Mehra's Hera Pheri (1976) as well but somehow, they didnt look good together as a couple. Vinod Khanna made a hit pair with the Big B in Hera Pheri and later in Manmohan Desai's Parvarish (1977) in which the lost and found angle of Zameer was repeated with practically the same cast, Shammi Kapoor included!!

The biggest positive of Zameer was its soundtrack and two songs - "Zindagi hasne gaane ke liye hai" and "Tum Bhi Chalo Hum Bhi Chale" are ever memorable. And ofcourse, Big B rocked as ever.

Overall, Zameer is not a celebrated Amitabh Bachchan film but is good enough for a Sunday afternoon watch with family. Do give it a try.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.