Amar Akbar Anthony

A true Manmohan Desai film tot he hilt...

This was one of the late '70s movies whose mega success defied the logic of all movie pundits. A typical lost-and-found formula of three brothers (brought up in three different religions); the movie stands out for brilliant individual performances and "seeti"(whistle) comedy and dialogues. Besides the All-Time Amitabh in his memorable role as 'Anthony' and star-studded cast, it is the crispy one-liners and dialogues that lifted this movie above all. Practically every song in this movie was big hit e.g. 'Anhonee ko Honee' 'My name is Anthony...', 'Tayab Ali', to name a few. Don't miss to catch all the patented dialogues by the Villains - Pran, Jeevan.

Back in my school, I remember my classmates reeling out dialogues at the back of their mind.

A must have "Timepass" collection

Amar akbar anthony is brilliant cinema and full of entertainment. Directed by Manmohan Desai who has made films like coolie, mard and naseeb. Once again Manmohan directs a fabulous movie with action, comesy and family drama. Vinod plays Amar a hindu character and gives a good performance. Rishi plays Akbar and gives a lovable performance. Amitabh plays Anthony and gives an outstanding performance. Amitabh received a Best actor award for his role of Anthony. Shabana Azmi gives a decent performance, Neetu Singh is alright. Parveen babi is lovely, Pran and Nirupa Roy are supporting roles in this movie and give good performances. The movie has loads of great songs, my favorite is My name is Anthony Gonsalves.

This film is a true Bollywood classic. The story is wonderful and quick moving. The acting, brilliant. It is a must see for anyone interested in Bollywood. The film follows a standard Bollywood format,i.e. family tragedy and the ability to overcome. Add that splash of romance and this movie has it all.

Amar, Akbar and Anthony are separated from their family and from each other as small children, and each is raised separately and in a different faith. Amar is raised a Hindu and grows up to become a police officer, Akbar is raised a Muslim and grows up to become a Qawaali singer whilst Anthony is raised Christian and grows up to be a small time hoodlum.

Most of the movie is focussed on the character of Anthony, which is fine by me since he is played by Amitabh Bachchan - surely the most charismatic actor India has ever produced.

As adults, none of the brothers have any idea of their familial origins, but believe their parents to be dead. To make matters worse, each parent thinks the other is dead and both think their children are dead. It must be said that they didn't go to great lengths to discover this, but the film would hardly have worked if they had so that's one piece of disbelief that has to be suspended. It's not the last one, as the film is wholly guided by a series of coincidences that gradually has the various members of the family crossing each others paths. I suppose one is encouraged to believe that these coincidences are orchestrated by the fates or a higher power, but putting it down to dramatic convenience worked just as well for me.

Also brought into the plot are the loves of the three brothers, for the requisite romance and feminine wisdom. The boys are lucky enough to have secured the affections of a bevy of beauties, and the actresses add a nice touch of glamour and colour to the film. In addition to and intersecting with these we have the evil villain of the piece, carrying the terribly intimidating name of "Robert".

At 175 minutes, Amar Akbar Anthony has plenty of time to flesh out its characters and develop the plot in a well paced fashion. The movie goes through many different moods and emotions, but after the first 15 minutes of melodrama the tone is generally kept light and pleasant.

As well as the romance and drama, the movie has a few moments where it shifts into action territory - Anthony especially has a knack for getting into a scuffle. The fights are very imaginatively choreographed but terribly executed, looking very staged and faked. This all adds to the fun of them though. There's also the songs of course, though not too many - especially in the first half of the film. Some of these are very catchy and the dance choreography cheerfully engaging.

Although it has something of an ensemble cast, there is no question that the movie belongs to Amitabh. His character is the most complicated and interesting, and his performance the most subtle and engaging. He gets all the best lines, too. He won the "best actor" award for this role, and it is largely for his performance that the movie is considered an Indian classic.

Like many Indian movies that run in the three hour range, there's something in AAA for everybody, and Amitabh's charisma especially means that it never grows wearisome. Although the first half an hour didn't have me terribly engaged, the film does just keep getting better and better (and more imaginative) as it progresses. I had to constantly keep upgrading my rating for the film as I watched. By the time the movie reaches its climax, it has managed to weave everything together so well that I was thoroughly delighted to be watching it.

Recommended!

Amar Akbar Anthony (AAA) cannot be rated AAA for the movie it is but anybody can rate AAA for Amitabh Bachchan's acting abilities. When Amitabh plays he can put all the cast of any movie aside & he alone reign it. This was evident for the umpteenth time by the supreme star he is. His comedy was superb, his command over Hindi & English are so effortlessly shown. His tapori Hindi of a Bombaiyya Christian suited him so well, no other actor including Rajesh Khanna (another superb star) could not have played so effortlessly. The movie is considered a classic because it was the trendsetter of those times, then a lot of movies like AAA came with different casts, none had the quality of AAA and the versatility of Amitabh Bachchan. Cheap imitations make this movie a deja vu feeling for many, as so many came & failed. The audience those days had a fresh feel with this story which was based on deceit, thrill, comedy, drama, chase & good songs. When you finish watching the movie you will only be appreciating Amitabh's acting ability. Without him or a lesser hero this movie would surely have failed. With him it was a blockbuster.