Enter The Angry Young Man!!. Review on Zanjeer

Introduction

After a string of six to seven flops Amitabh Bachchan was reckoned to be a sure shot poison pill for any movie at the box office in the 1970s. Things changed dramatically in 1973 when Amitabh went through an image change and Prakash Mehra unleashed the new angry young man with Zanjeer.

The Plot

The story is a run of the mill revenge story. Amitabh as a kid sees his parents murdered by a person wearing a distinct bracelet. On growing up he becomes a cop who simply hates criminals.

Somewhere down the line Amitabh gets suspended from his job through the machinations of his parents killer Ajit. That puts Amitabh in hot pursuit of Ajit for revenging both his parents as well as himself.

In his pursuit he gets help from a Knife Sharpner (Jaya Bachchan) and Pran.

So check out this movie to find out whether Amitabh is able to avenge his parents?

Critical Summary

In the early 70s Indian movies were all about romance and of historical movies. In that age Zanjeer came as a fresh breath of air.

Amitabh in the lead role plays the role of a honest cop to the perfection. He exhibits humane qualities of excessive anger and accompanying migraine pains brilliantly. The scenes of his with Ajit have really come out well in this movie.

Ajit on the other hand is the cold blooded criminal, who would not hesitate to kill anybody. His cold and calculated potrayal of a don is also excellent.

Also as the female lead, Jaya Bachchan (Bhaduri in those days) plays the role of a loud mouthed street smart person. The Amitabh-Jaya chemistry is very visible here.

Prakash Mehra went against all advice to cast Amitabh in the lead role and in the process gave a smash hit and a turn to Amitabh's career that has taken him now to dizzying hieghts.

Also Amitabh's association with the name Vijay begins with this movie :)

Songs

The music of Zanjeer had a couple of big hit songs and the rest of the songs were passable. So that acted as a major plus for the movie.

Yaari hai imaan mera: The friendship song that is sung amongst all friends' get-togethers. The song is very vibrant and Pran has shown some of his dancing skills. A major hit song.

Deewane hai Deewano ko: A melodious song. Another hit in the music album.

Summary

Zanjeer was a pathbreaker of it's time in Hindi movies and also the turnaround story for Big B (Amitabh Bachchan). This Prakash Mehra offering has lost some sheen as compared to some of the other movies of the same genre which have come recently.

But even then the movie gets a strong 3 star rating.