Angaar

ANGAAR (1992) Although rated 6.2/10 on IMDB for obvious reasons, the main one being overall terrible execution; 'Angaar' is a film which could have been an epic great. The story and the performances had the potential but the film is terribly let down by the editing and foley.

The bad editing is the result of the some terrible shot taking but I must admit that I loved some of the master shots of each new scene. Some of the cinematography was absolutely stunning while at other times it was terrible shitty! The sound design is absolutely horrendous. But I still liked the film! I like the film for it's conviction and self belief. It almost reminded my of early films of Brian De Palma. If it had better technicians and technology this film could have been a classic.

Jackie Shroff, Dimple Kapadia, Nana Patekar, Kiran Kumar and Kader Khan, all performed so beautifully. It felt like they all really believed in their characters and it showed in their performances.

The film needed a bity of 'stay' and 'thairaav'. It needed some breathing but the terrible editing for one reason or the other totally spoiled it!

I loved the basic plat; it is very 90s. The angry young, unemployed man against the system and the prevalent criminality all around him; he struggles with his ideals and innocent yet brash philosophy of life. He fights and he fought back and suppressed. Suppressed so much that he eventually bursts!

I was surprised to see the climax which reminded of 'Fight Club' and 'Shool'; both of which are my fav films! I would recommend that all the fans of Dimple Kapadia, Nana Patekar and Kader Khan should watch this film!

My ratings: 7/10 ******* Do watch it if you love cinema! Traditional cinema!

Released at a time when Mumbai (then Bombay) was making the transition into the cosmopolitan city it is now, this movie captured the angst of the educated but unemployed youth striving to survive in the big bad city. The movie also made bold statements against the nexus between the city developers, the mafia and the corrupt politicos. What makes Angaar different from most other bash-the-mafia movies is the strong characterization. Almost every significant character has dimensions.

There is no pure hearted "hero" or mean-as-a-mule "villian" and the casting is perfect. Each actor fits the role perfectly. The story revolves around the House of Khans. The patriarch, Jehangir Khan (Kader Khan) is toughest Underworld don in the city and is now enjoying his retirement by solving issues of the poor folks in his "Durbar" (court).

His younger son, Farid (Mazhar Khan) handles the daily affairs of the underworld empire. However, there is a lot of tension between Jehangir and his elder son, Majid (Nana Patekar, superb as always), who is an architect and runs a construction agency. Even as Jehangir tries to reform himself by helping the poor, the ruthless and stubborn Majid wants to raze down as many slums as possible and build skyscrapers.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to Jaikishen aka Jaggu, who is a hot headed unemployed graduate and the leader of the brats in his small "Chawl" - Asha colony. One day, Majid happens to see Asha colony and immediately realizes that it is prime land. Majid politely asks Jaggu to clear the colony and promises to compensate for the relocation. However, Jaggu declines and then Majid decides to use his father's muscle power to grab the land. Matters complicate as Farid gets in a fight with Jaggu and dies of wounds. Jaggu is arrested and is declared mentally deranged because of his insane anger. Majid bribes the warden of the asylum and asks to torture Jaggu to such an extent that Jaggu becomes totally inert to respond. Meanwhile, Jaggu's friends - Hussain(Om Puri) and Mili (Dimple Kapadia) continue to expose Majid's and Jahangir's misdeeds through their newspaper. Jahangir repents and helps Jaggu escape from the asylum. Jaggu's friends help him recuperate. This causes panic in the Khan clan as now Jaggu can testify against them.

Majid's machinations finally succeed and he razes Asha Colony to the ground. Jaggu and his friends avenge their colony by bringing down Majid's high rises and the movie culminates in an over-the-top, fantastic climax where the State assembly is blown away as a part of Jaggu's "cleaning up the system" plan. This movie has excellent performances by the entire top cast, notably, Nana Patekar, Jackie Shroff and Kader Khan. However, it is the finer touches which make this movie so different - Jaggu's nagging dad (Achyut Potdar, brilliant), Jehangir Khan's faithful bodyguard Anwar (Kiran Kumar, executes the role with great restraint, he doesn't even speak throughout the movie!!!), the honest-but-helpless Police Commissioner, the tense family dramas in the Khan household, Majid's retarded son and his self-pitying wife (Neena Gupta), Jaggu helping Mili to cross a busy traffic intersection - there are many more things to remember in the film. The film also has some good art direction with huge sets and some decent miniature work, which for a 1992 Hindi movie, was path-breaking. Today, after 12 years, the movie doesn't look slick - but the performances are top-notch, so is the script. Some may find the climax too fantastic, but hey, that's Bollywood for you!

It's surprising that this movie did not win that accolades it deserves. When I saw it few days back I was amazed by the story , dialogues, direction and the performances. All were amazing.

The plot of the movie is the socio-economic class difference which exists even today in Mumbai. There are rich mansions and next to it are hutments of laborers. There are people earning 10 digit incomes and there are people who daily struggle to earn 10 bucks in an hour. This is how the story begins with Underworld Don, Jahangir's Khan palatial life with his two sons viz. Majid and Farid. Majid is married and has a mentally retarded son. On the other end we have a unemployed Jaggu living a middle class life with his parents, younger sister and is a leader of the young crowd in Asha colony. As the saying goes that wealth does not necessarily bring happiness, Jahangir has always a dispute with Majid. Jahangir is known to help poor people but for Majid what matters is wealth and power. Jaggu and his family have a very happy going life. Jaggu happens to meet a very shy girl named Mili and it doesn't take much time for them to fall in love.

The action begins when Majid eyes Asha colony and requests Jaggu to take some money and ask people living there to evacuate it. Jaggu refuses even when Jahangir calls to his palace to talk about it. This makes Jahangir furious and he orders Farid to beat Jaggu heavily. In the ongoing clash between Farid and Jaggu, Farid loses his life. Revengeful Majid proves in the court that Jaggu is insane and orders his doctors in mental asylum to torture Jaggu to an extent that he becomes a vegetable. A press reporter Parvez and Mili try to help Jaggu through their publications. Majid orders his men to kill Parvez but things turn upside down when his men kill Jaggu's father instead. Jahangir now repents his fury which leads to all this and requests his loyal Anwar to protect Jaggu in the asylum. Anwar fights till his death and rescues Jaggu. Mili and Parvez take Jaggu home and try to bring him to normal through his old memories. Jaggu recovers and takes revenge against Majid and his men till the end with Jahangir supporting him.

What the movie lacks is in the execution of last 20 minutes. Jaggu's rebellion against the law and order system is highly overdone. How come they get so much amount of RDX to blast each and every building of Majid? Why would Majid wait till Jaggu recovers, in order to bring down Asha colony? Where were Jaggu and his friends when Asha colony was brought down? Due to all this the movie turns out to be an action flick rather than bring a classic.

If this part is left aside the rest of the movie is good. Direction was good. Script was well made and very good performances by Kadar Khan, Nana Patekar and Jackie Shroff. Most of their movies Nana would dominate Jackie, but in this movie Jackie performs in par with Nana. All the supporting case were adequate in their performance. For Hindi movie viewers, I would recommend them to watch at least once.

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 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.