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Zanjeer (1973 film)

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Zanjeer
Film poster
Directed byPrakash Mehra
Written bySalim-Javed
Produced byPrakash Mehra
Prakash Mehra Productions
StarringAmitabh Bachchan
Jaya Bachchan
Pran
Om Prakash
Ram Sethi
Ajit Khan
Bindu
CinematographyN. Satyen
Edited byR. Mahadik
Music byKalyanji-Anandji
Production
companies
Distributed byPrakash Mehra Productions
Baba Digital Media
Digital Entertainment
Eros Entertainment
Release date
11 May 1973
Running time
146 mins
CountryIndia
LanguagesHindi
Urdu

Zanjeer (Devanagari: ज़ंजीर, Urdu: زنجیر, translated as "Shackles"), is a 1973 Hindi film directed and produced by Prakash Mehra; starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Pran, Ajit and Bindu. The movie changed the trend from romantic films to action films and pioneered Amitabh's new image of a brooding but explosive person who fights back when cornered. He was now known as "The Angry Young Man." The film became a "super-hit", collecting 6 crores at the box office.[1]

Plot summary

The film opens on Diwali with the death of young Vijay Khanna's parents, done by a man of unknown identity with a white horse on his charm bracelet, "zanjeer". Because of this traumatic event, Vijay has recurring nightmares of a white stallion. Fast forward 20 years, and Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) is now an inspector, an honest police officer in a town where few are just. He receives complaints about a local Indian Muslim man, Sher Khan (Pran), who is running gambling dens. When he calls Khan in for questioning, Khan's superiority complex chafes against Khanna's police authority, as he scolds the officer, telling him he only orders him around due to the uniform he wears. Vijay takes him up on his challenge, and meets him in street clothes to fight him. At fight's end, Sher Khan not only closes his gambling dens, but has gained respect for Vijay. He becomes an auto mechanic, and reforms his ways.

Various dealings of the underworld continue unabated throughout the town, all tracing back to gang leader Teja (Ajit). A mysterious caller continually phones Inspector Khanna to inform him exactly when a crime is about to take place, but hangs up before Khanna can extract any more information out of him. When a traffic accident perpetrated by gang members leaves several children dead, a witness, a street performer named Mala (Jaya Bhaduri), is bribed by Teja's men to keep quiet. When she is questioned by Vijay, he becomes enraged at her denying she knows anything, and, to sway her differently, takes her into the morgue to view the mangled bodies of the children. She has a change of heart, and comes clean, asking that the bribe be donated to an orphanage. She identifies the man behind the traffic accident.

Once it is known that Mala has broken her word, Teja's men come after her. She is chased through the night, narrowly escaping across the train tracks, and coming to Inspector Khanna's house, desperate for shelter. He lets her in, allows her to stay, and the two discover that they are both orphans, and discuss the fears associated with living alone. Khanna kindly takes her to his brother and sister-in-law, and, under the sister-in-law's tutelage, Mala begins to learn how to keep house, as well as English, and other refineries.

Eventually, Vijay is framed for bribery, stripped of his title and position as inspector, and jailed for 6 months on false charges, trapped by Teja. When he is released from jail, he plans to take revenge. Mala, by this time, has developed from a frightened stranger seeking his help to a romantic interest for him. She begs him, to seal their relationship, that he must stop being so vengeful. He agrees, but soon must come to terms with such a promise when he meets, in a Christian cemetery, the informant who had called him in the past when he was an inspector. The man, De Silva (Om Prakash), a Mangalorean Catholic, appears half-insane, holding onto an empty bottle. He says that on Christmas several years before, his three sons drank poisoned moonshine, and died from it. Until the killer is found, he will continue to wander with the bottle. When local criminals mocked him and called him crazy, he vowed to get back at them as he could: by phoning the inspector when a crime was about to happen.

After hearing this news, Vijay becomes depressed, torn between his desire to help the grieving De Silva, and his need to keep his promise to Mala that he would not take any more revenge on the lowlifes of the town. Eventually, along with a concerted effort by Sher Khan to cheer up Vijay, Mala relents, vowing she will not try to control him, and says he must do what is right.

The trail of tainted moonshine leads back to Teja and his men. Upon finally cornering the crook on Diwali, fireworks bursting overhead, Vijay also finds out that the person who murdered his parents, 20 years before, on the same night, is Teja, recognisable by the zanjeer on his wrist. Sher Khan helps him to fight Teja and his men, and take justice into their own hands, until the police arrive. When the hapless police inspector is held at gunpoint by Teja, Vijay manages to drop to retrieve a pistol from the ground, and shoots him dead, his body falling into the swimming pool.

Cast

Actor/Actress Character/Role Notes
Amitabh Bachchan Insp. Vijay Khanna
Jaya Bhaduri Mala
Pran Sher Khan
Om Prakash De Silva
Ajit Seth Dharam Dayal Teja
Bindu Mona
Iftekhar Police Commissioner Singh as Iftikhar
Keshto Mukherjee Gangu as Kesto Mukherji
Randhir Lala Ashok Sherkhan's friend - Usurer
M. Rajan Ranjeet Vijay's father
Purnima[disambiguation needed] Sumitra Vijay's mother
Nandita Thakur Shanti Bhabhi
Satyendra Kapoor Police Inspector as Satyen Kappoo
Ashalata Wabgaonkar Police Inspector's wife Vijay's stepmother (as Asha Lata)
Yunus Parvez Constable
Ram Sethi Constable
Gulshan Bawra Street Singer Song Deewane Hain
Sanjana Street Dancer Song Deewane Hain
Amrit Pal Man offered 'Sher Khan'
money to kill
as Amrit Paul
Bhushan Tiwari Smuggler, Teja's man as Bhooshan Tiwari
Javed Khan Smuggler, Teja's man as Khan
Ranvir Raj Smuggler, Teja's man as Ranbir
Krishan Dhawan Smuggler, Teja's man as Dhawan
Mac Mohan Man caught in Teja's
liquor warehouse
as Mack Mohan
D. K. Sapru Patil as Sapru
Ram Mohan Kabir
Goga Kapoor Goga as Goga

Crew

Soundtrack

Song Title Singers Time
Bana Ke Kyon Bigada Re Lata Mangeshkar 3:25
Chakku Chhuriyan Tej Kara Lo Asha Bhosle 3:45
Deewane Hai Deewanon Ko Mohammed Rafi,Lata Mangeshkar 4:35
Dil Jalon Ka Dil Jala Ke Asha Bhosle 3:55
Yari Hai Imaan Mera Manna Dey 6:20

Awards and nominations

Sequels and remakes

In 2013, a remake of this film was made with the same name. Zanjeer features Ram Charan Teja as Vijay, Priyanka Chopra as Mala, Arjun Rampal as Sher Khan, Prakash Raj as Teja, Mahi Gill as Mona. Priyanka Chopra contracted the film for 9 crore indian rupee turning her the highest paid indian actress[3].

References

  1. ^ http://www.boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=179&catName=MTk3Mw==
  2. ^ 1st Filmfare Awards 1953
  3. ^ "Priyanka becomes highest paid Indian Actress". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 17 April 2012.