Deewaar (1975 film)
| Deewaar | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Yash Chopra |
| Produced by | Gulshan Rai |
| Written by | Salim-Javed |
| Starring | Shashi Kapoor Amitabh Bachchan Parveen Babi Neetu Singh Nirupa Roy Satyendra Kapoor Iftekhar Madan Puri |
| Music by | Rahul Dev Burman |
| Cinematography | Kay Gee |
| Editing by | T.R. Mangeshkar Pran Mehra |
| Studio | Mumbai |
| Distributed by | Trimurti Films Pvt. Ltd |
| Release date(s) | 24 January 1975 |
| Running time | 176 mins |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Box office |  75.0 million (US$1.4 million)[1] |
Deewaar, or Deewar (English: The Wall), is a 1975 Indian crime-drama film directed by Yash Chopra, written by Salim-Javed, and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor. Reflective of "the tumultuous politics of the early 70s" in India, Deewar tells the story of two impoverished brothers who, after their family is betrayed by the misplaced idealism of their father, struggle to survive on the streets of Mumbai.[2] It is loosely based on the life of the Mumbai gangster Haji Mastan. It is also reported that Amitabh Bachchan met Haji Mastan before beginning the film.
Deewaar was a ground-breaking work. It was one of a few films which established Bachchan as the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema[3][4] and Parveen Babi as the "new Bollywood woman" [5] whose character Anita is "a liberated working girl, smoking, drinking and sleeping with her lover, defying every Hindi film heroine rule."[6][7] This movie cemented the success of the writing duo Salim-Javed, who went on to write many more blockbuster films, and made them one of the most memorable writers in Hindi cinema. It is said that after the success of this film, the value of film writers skyrocketed, thanks to Salim-Javed, and they soon were being paid as high as some of the actors at the time.[8][dead link]
Deewaar received the Filmfare Best Movie Award of 1975 in addition to six other Filmfare Awards and was a "superhit" at the box office, ranking as the 4th highest grossing Bollywood film of 1975.[9] Indiatimes ranks Deewaar amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.[10]
Contents |
Plot [edit]
Synopsis [edit]
The movie tells the story of two brothers, Vijay and Ravi Verma, who follow different career paths: Vijay is a smuggler and Ravi the policeman who is asked to hunt Vijay down. Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor) are the sons of a trade unionist, Anand Verma (Satyen Kappu), who was defeated and disgraced by the management of his firm using his family as bait.
Unable to bear the public disgrace father deserts the family, and the sons are raised by their mother (Nirupa Roy) who brings them to Bombay City, who suffers the trials and tribulations of a poor single mother. Vijay Verma, the elder brother, grows up with an acute awareness of his father's humiliation and is victimized for his father's supposed misdeeds. In the process of fighting for his rights Vijay, who starts out as a boot polisher and becomes a dockyard worker in his youth, becomes a smuggler and a leading figure of the underworld.
Details [edit]
The film opens with the strong leadership of trade unionist, Anand Verma (Satyen Kappu), who works hard to enhance the lives of struggling laborers. He lives in a modest home with his wife, Sumitra Devi (Nirupa Roy), and their two young sons, Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor). Anand, however, is blackmailed by a corrupt businessman who threatens to kill his family if Anand does not cease his protest activities. Forced into compliance, Anand is thus attacked by the very same laborers who then jeer him for his betrayal, unaware that he was blackmailed. His family is also persecuted by the angry workers. Out of shame, Anand leaves town, leaving Sumitra to care for their sons alone in destitute poverty. It wasn't until several of the angry workers kidnap Vijay and tattoo his arm with the words: "Mera baap chor hai" in Hindi translated into "My Father Is A Thief." Not knowing what else to do, Sumitra brings her children to Mumbai and struggles as a day laborer to care for her now homeless boys.
Vijay, the elder brother, grows up with an acute awareness of his father's failure and is victimized for his father's supposed misdeeds. In the process of fighting for his rights, Vijay, who starts out as a boot polisher and becomes a dockyard worker in his youth, becomes a smuggler for the underworld. It wasn't until Vijay beat up several thugs working for ther ruthless leader Samant, which then influenced one of Samant's rivals to bring Vijay to his inner circle, leaving Vijya to become a new leading figure of the underworld. He also sacrifices his own education so his brother Ravi can study. Ravi is an excellent student and grows up to become an upright police officer. He is also dating Veera (Neetu Singh), the daughter of a senior police officer. On the Commissioner's suggestion, Ravi applies for employment with the police, and is sent for training. Several months later, he is accepted by the police, and has a rank of Sub-Inspector. Vijay, on the other hand, becomes involved with Anita (Parveen Babi), a woman whom he meets at a bar. When Anita becomes pregnant, Vijay decides to abandon his life in the underworld, marry her, and confess his sins. He also hopes to seek forgiveness from his mother and brother.When Ravi returns home, he finds that Vijay has become a businessman overnight, has accumulated wealth, and a palatial home. When Ravi finds out that Vijay has acquired wealth by crime, he decides to move out along with his mom. One of his first assignments is to be apprehend and arrest some of Bombay's hardcore criminals and smugglers which includes his brother, Vijay – much to his shock, as he had never associated his very own brother of having any criminal background. Ravi must now decide to proceed on with apprehending Vijay, or quit from the police force. However, when Anita is brutally murdered by Samant, Vijay loses all sense of rational behavior and brutally murders Samant in revenge for Anita's death, leading him to be branded a criminal forever. Their mother, who had sided with Ravi despite the fact that Vijay was her favorite, is tormented by Vijay's decisions and rejects him. When the two brothers meet for a final clash, however, it is Vijay who dies in his mother's arms seeking forgiveness and Ravi who is awarded for pursuing justice.
Cast [edit]
- Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Verma (the elder brother)
- Shashi Kapoor as Ravi Verma (the younger brother)
- Nirupa Roy as Sumitra Devi, Vijay & Ravi's Mother
- Parveen Babi as Anita
- Neetu Singh as Veera Narang
- Satyendra Kapoor as Anand Verma, Vijay & Ravi's Father
- Manmohan Krishna as DCP Narang
- Madan Puri as Samant
- Iftekhar as Mulk Raj Daavar
- Sudhir as Jaichand
- Jagdish Raj as Jaggi
- Raj Kishore as Darpan
- Yunus Parvez as Rahim Chacha, Head porter
- Mohan Sherry as Peter's Henchman
- Alankar Joshi as Young Vijay Verma
- Raju Shrestha as Young Ravi Verma
- Rajan Verma as Lachhu
- A. K. Hangal as Chander's Father
- Dulari as Chander's Mother
- D. K. Sapru as Mr. Agarwal
- Kamal Kapoor as Anand Verma's Employer
| Gunga Jumna (1961) | Iru Thuruvam (1971) | Deewaar (1975) | Thee (1981) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
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| Gunga (Dilip Kumar) |
Rangan (Sivaji Ganesan) |
Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) |
Rajshekhar (Rajinikanth) |
| Dhanno (Vyjayanthimala) |
Kumari (Padmini) |
Anita Verma (Parveen Babi) |
Anantlakshmi (Shobha) |
| Jamna (Nasir Khan) |
Durai (R. Muthuraman) |
Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor) |
Ravi (Suman) |
| Kamla (Azra) |
Kamala (Rajasree) |
Leena Narang (Neetu Singh) |
Radha (Sripriya) |
| Govindi (Leela Chitnis) |
(Pandhari Bai) |
Sumitra Devi (Nirupa Roy) |
Sita (Sowcar Janaki) |
Crew [edit]
- Director: Yash Chopra
- Story: Salim-Javed
- Screenplay: Salim-Javed
- Dialogue: Salim-Javed
- Producer: Gulshan Rai
- Cinematographer: Kay Gee
- Editor: T. R. Mangeshkar, Pran Mehra
- Art Director: Desh Mukherjee
- Stunts: M. B. Shetty, Kodi S. Irani
- Music Director: Rahul Dev Burman
- Lyricist: Sahir Ludhianvi
- Playback Singers: Asha Bhosle, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar, Bhupendra Singh, Ursula Vaz, Usha Mangeshkar
Soundtrack [edit]
| Deewaar | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Soundtrack album to Deewaar by R.D. Burman | |
| Released | 1975 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Language | Hindi |
| Label | Universal |
| Producer | R.D. Burman |
The Soundtrack of the movie was composed by Rahul Dev Burman, and the lyrics were penned by Sahir Ludhianvi. The soundtrack did well, and the track "Kehdoon Tumhe" was a chartbuster.
| Song | Singer(s) |
|---|---|
| "Kehdoon Tumhe" | Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle |
| "Maine tujhe manga" | Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle |
| "Koi mar jaye" | Asha Bhosle and Usha Mangeshkar |
| "Deewarun ka jungle" | Manna Dey |
| "Idhar ka mal udhar" | Bhupinder Singh |
| "I am falling in love with a stranger" | Ursula Vaz |
Awards and nominations [edit]
Deewaar is noted for having "swept the 1976 Filmfare Awards except for the Lead Actor, for which Amitabh Bachchan was nominated." [13]
- Won:Best Film (Gulshan Rai)
- Won:Best Director (Yash Chopra)
- Won:Best Supporting Actor (Shashi Kapoor)
- Won:Best Story (Salim-Javed)
- Won:Best Dialogue (Salim-Javed)
- Won:Best Screenplay (Salim-Javed)
- Won:Best Sound (M. A. Shaikh)
- Nomination: Best Actor (Amitabh Bachchan)
- Nomination: Best Supporting Actress (Nirupa Roy) [14]
Trivia [edit]
Rajesh Khanna and Navin Nischol were the first choice for Vijay and Ravi's roles but Salim-Javed insisted that Amitabh Bachchan would suit Vijay's character better. Similarly Nirupa Roy's role was first offered to Vyjayanthimala but she turned it down.[15]
Influence on other films [edit]
The film was later remade in Telugu as Magaadu (1976) starring NTR with Ramakrishna, and Tamil as Thee (1981) starring Rajnikanth, Suman, Manorama and Sripriya. Naam was also influenced by Deewar and was written by one of Deewar's cowriters. British director Danny Boyle, who described Deewaar as being “absolutely key to Indian cinema”, cited the film as an influence on his Academy Award winning Slumdog Millionaire (2008).[16] Actor Anil Kapoor noted that some scenes of Slumdog Millionaire "are like Deewaar, the story of two brothers of whom one is completely after money while the younger one is honest and not interested in money."[17]
Further reading [edit]
- Dwyer, Rachel. "Amitabh Bachchan: the Angry Young Man." British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 16 November 2007.
- Lal, Vinay. "Deewaar (The Wall)." Revised excerpt from The Secret Politics of Our Desires: Innocence, Culpability, and Indian Popular Cinema, ed. Ashish Nandy. London: Zed Press and Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 228–59
- Mazumdar, Ranjani. Bombay Cinema: An Archive of the City. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
- Virdi, Jyotika. "Deewaar: the fiction of film and the fact of politics." Jump Cut, No. 38, June 1993:26–32.
See also [edit]
- Deewaar (2004 film) – an unrelated work also starring Bachchan
Notes [edit]
- ^ http://www.boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=181&catName=MTk3NQ==
- ^ "Deewar: the fiction of film and the fact of politics". Ejumpcut.org. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ "Film legend promotes Bollywood". BBC News. 23 April 2002. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ Bombay Cinema. Books.google.com. 23 April 2007. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ Amitabh Bachchan and Parveen Babi in Deewar (23 January 2005). "As in life, so in death: lonely and lovelorn". Telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ "'We'll never know her full story'". Inhome.rediff.com. 24 January 2005. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ "'Cool' Babi broke Deewar of stereotypes". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 22 January 2005. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "BoxOffice India.com". BoxOffice India.com. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ "25 Must See Bollywood Movies – Special Features-Indiatimes – Movies". Movies.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ "Deewaar – Movie Review". Film Review. http://www.movietalkies.com. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
- ^ Lal, Vinay (2002). Of Cricket, Guinness, and Gandhi: Essays on Indian History and Culture. Seagull Books. ISBN 978-81-7046-184-5. More than one of
|author=and|last=specified (help) - ^ "When Kishore sang non-stop for Filmfare". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 28 February 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ "1st Filmfare Awards 1953". Deep750.googlepages.com. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
- ^ http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/indian-cinema-100-12-fun-facts-about-deewar-361620
- ^ Amitava Kumar (23 December 2008). "Slumdog Millionaire's Bollywood Ancestors". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ Runna Ashish Bhutda, Ashwini Deshmukh, Kunal M Shah, Vickey Lalwani, Parag Maniar, Subhash K Jha (13 January 2009). "The Slumdog Millionaire File". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
External links [edit]
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