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!

Angaar directed by shashilal k nair is a brilliant mafia film, well directed, acted and scripted. Actions are realistic. Kader khan does a marlon brando act. Angaar seems to be inspired at certain points by godfather movie. The nexus of mafia and crime along with power and money forms the plot of the story. Fight against discrimination is the result and climax of the movie. Each character is grey shaded. Dialogues are awesome. Jackie shroff is impressive. Nana patekar is brilliant. Rest all actors are convincing. But the main attraction of the film is veteran kader khan. His voice according to character is an aspect of method acting. A must watch. This film should be remaked.

Large empty spaces...fore-grounded sound effects...minimal background score...unusual song picturizations...brutal violence and dystopian atmosphere are just a few of the elements which makes this familiar underworld tale by K Shashilal Nayar, a minor masterpiece.

Jehangir Khan (loosely based on Haji Mastan played aptly by Kadar Khan) and his sons; the gangster Farid Khan (Mazhar Khan) and the white collar builder Majid Khan (with an Hafeez Contractor agenda of 'Bombay should be clean!' played by Nana Patekar with a nervous calm) dominates the matters of the city. Jehangir Khan, the mafia ruler of the city since the last 40 years now proclaims himself as the messiah of poor and just like the Mughal king Jehangir promises justice in an open personal court. Whereas, Farid's men create havoc in poor slums by eve teasing and other illicit activities.

One such slum is 'Asha Colony' whose unofficial leader is Jaikishan alias Jaggu (Jackie Shroff) who is a graduate and a job seeker and an occasional street musician. World's of Jehangir and Jaggu collide when Majid gets determined to wipe off Asha Colony to make multistoried buildings there.

The cinema of Angaar is gritty and atmospheric...the death scene of Jaggu's father and Jaggu's torture in the state mental asylum are pretty hardcore. Most of all, the climax where multistoried buildings are blown off is both spectacular and a form of unique vengeance to the old 'Basti' problem.

Nayar's real cinematic achievement comes with his ability of unique treatment of spaces, both visual and aural. Visually, most of the times the spaces were either kept very empty or overpopulated with people which presents the city of Bombay as a city of extreme opposites. Aurally, in the key scenes one crucial sound is kept in the foreground instead of always resorting to the mundane background score which provide the scenes with necessary tension and urgency like in the scene where Jaggu first meets Majid at a construction site. Except the dialogue only one sound can be heard which is that of Jaggu's motorcycle.

Performances in the film are truly A-class, especially those of Jackie Shroff, Kadar Khan and Nana Patekar. Even minor characters like those played by Nina Gupta, Achyut Potdar and Kiran Kumar leave their mark.

This movie portrays the problems of Mumbai lower class due to the nexus of criminal gangs and the fight against them by an angry young man Jackie Shroff. Though movie is typical for a one man fight against corruption similar to the Amitabh Bachhan movies and strongly resembles Arjun by Sunny Deol; still movie receives credit for strong performances by Kader Khan, Nana Patekar and the silent yet powerful acting of Jackie Shroff. The real-estate builders want to wipe off the slums in Mumbai and make five star hotels for fast profit. Jackie Shroff is struggling for a job and also pressurized by his family problems. While Nana Patekar's gang is trying to isolate the slum, they get a head-on with Jackie and face repulsion. Nana's brother Mazhar Khan goes to beat Jackie but gets killed by him during a fight. Nana kills Jackie's father which ignited a fury to extinguish his evil empire. Though Kader Khan is actually the Don and father of Nana, he only uses his powers to give justice to the poor and not oppress them. He detests Nana's activities but is unable to stop him. He tries to persuade Jackie to forget the whole episode, but Jackie rejects and goes on his spree to destroy Nana. He places bombs in the illegal building constructions by Nana and eventually kills him. Dimple is ornamental as she was in Arjun, but looks graceful. Jackie was stunning and the movie also has a few good songs. Worth a watch.....

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.