Shakti

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.

Amitabh plays a wayward son to Policeman Dilip Kumar. Dilip Kumar who is known to have a polished way of acting without much shades in any film of his, he goes smoothly playing a father, he does very well as a disciplined police officer. Amitabh known for easily shifting shades in many of his superhit films does it again. He is the bad boy of the movie, the story revolves around him, he is very good to his girl friend & is a mama's boy. He plays all the shades in 1 movie with ease. Everybody can see the vast difference when comparing why Amitabh was way too good, it was as easy as saying Amitabh is taller than Dilip & all big heroes physically also.

Rakhee too has 2 shades to the role she played, supporting both husband & son. In a way the comparison could have easily been between Amitabh & Rakhee. Amrish Puri does a good job as villain too.

A must watch for every movie goer to watch Amitabh the supreme actor in action.

Amitabh Bachchan plays Vijay Kumar, son of a righteous police officer, who comes to resent the law because he feels his dad's job causes him to neglect his family. When he takes a job working with a known smuggler he finally has a place in life where he's wanted - and as he rises to the top the smuggler begins to treat him more and more like a son. But Vijay's new career creates a rift with his dad that inevitably leads to conflict... but of course it's poor mum that suffers the most.

Sound familiar? Yes, it's basically a retread of DEEWAR with different family members. My bad luck to watch both this and DEEWAR back to back! (well, a week apart). Even though I could watch Amitabh Bachchan all day (lucky given the length of Bollywood movies ), I did get kind of bored watching basically the same things happen again. The details are different, but the broad strokes paint pretty much the same picture.

Ramesh Sippy (producer behind SHAAN and SHOLAY, both directed by his brother G.P.) adds a little bit less melodrama into the mix though, and a little bit more action (which is quite exciting... in a bad 70's kind of way). Amitabh gets to smoulder intensely a lot more, and again exudes the levels of cool and charisma that make him India's number one superstar.

There's quite a lot to like in SHAKTI, and it's perhaps unfair that I judge it after so recently seeing DEEWAR. In reality there was 7 years between the movies, so audiences were probably ready for a retread. Perhaps the one week gap just wasn't enough for me, which is why I ended up kind of bored

SHAKTI is probably more fun than DEEWAR, but still nowhere near the inspired lunacy of DON or SHAAN, or the meticulously crafted suspense of SHOLAY. 7/10.

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

It is indeed a feast to watch the performance of the superstars in the movie. The plot is well developed. And Amitabh stands shoulder to shouler with 'Mughal E Azam' Dilip Kumar. Its not a question of who tops whom ? or who is best and who is worst ? They both suited their roles. And its a pleasure to watch them. Highly recommended in the must see movie.