Deewaar (1975 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Deewaar, or Deewar (Hindi: दीवार, Urdu: دیوار), is a classic Indian movie, directed by Indian director Yash Chopra. The movie built upon the angry young persona of Amitabh Bachchan. The movie followed Zanjeer another path breaking movie for Amitabh Bachchan. The movie came in a time when the lofty heights of freedom movements were dashed by stark reality of corruption that had steeped into the society. The movie is remembered for its catchy dialogues(Salim-Javed) and breath-taking performances by the lead actor Amitabh Bachchan who was ably supported by Shashi Kapoor, playing the role of his younger brother.

Indiatimes Movies ranks the movie amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.[1]

[edit] Story

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.

His brother Ravi, on the other hand, receives an education as the elder brother sacrifices his education so that the at least one of them can get education becomes an upright police officer.

Ravi romances Veera (Neetu Singh), the daughter of a senior police officer. Vijay has an affair with Anita(Parveen Babi), a woman he meets at a bar. When Anita gets pregnant Vijay decides to abandon his life in the underworld, not wanting to pass onto his son the humiliation he received because of his father. But it is too late. Ravi decides to arrest Vijay, notwithstanding their family relation. Their mother sides with the law-abiding son even though the decision pains her greatly. The two brothers clash. Vijay dies in the encounter and Ravi is presented a police gallantry award by the State.

There were several stereotype breaking characters in Deewar such as bar dancer Anita (Parveen Babi) with whom Vijay has pre-premarital sex. This was considered taboo at the time. Babi smoldered on the screen while Nirupa Roy, in a role earmarked for Vijayantimala, gave a knockout performance.

But Deewar clearly belongs to Amitabh Bachchan. Gloriously rebellious, frightfully lonely and amazingly intense, his eyes seem to burn down everyone who crosses his path.Shashi Kapoor’s role was to be done by Navin Nishchal, but he did not want to do the second lead.

The highlight of the movie are the dialogs of the main protagonists. Over a period of three decades countless variations and spoofs later "Mere Paas Maan Hai" is a chapter in Indian movie history by itself. The pre climax "Aaj Khush to bahut hoge tum", or the "Bhai tum sign karogey ya nahi", the reply to that "Jao pehle us aadmi ka sign leke aao jisne mere haath mein ye likha" ("Mera baap chor hai" tattoo, )

[edit] Awards

Filmfare (1975)

• Best Film - Gulshan Rai - Producer
• Best Director - Yash Chopra
• Best actor in supporting role - Shashi Kapoor
• Best Story Writer - Salim Khan & Javed Akhtar
• Best Dialogue Writer - Salim Khan & Javed Akhtar
• Best Screenplay Writer - Salim Khan & Javed Akhtar
• Best Sound Recordist - M.A. Shaikh

[edit] Miscellanea

• Amitabh Bachchan lost the Filmfare Best Actor award to Sanjeev Kumar(Aandhi) that year.
• This film was remade in Tamil as Thee (1980) starring Rajnikanth, Suman and Shripriya.
• This film was remade in Telugu as Magadu starring NTR and Ramakrishna.
• In 2004 a film with the same title Deewaar was released, again starring Bachchan in the lead. The film was not a remake.
• Shashi Kapoor who played Amitabh Bachchan's younger brother in the film is actually four years older than Bachchan. (Similar to the way Roger Moore who is 3 years older than Sean Connery looks younger)
• The screenplay of the movie is considered to be a classic and was part of the curriculum in FTII Pune
• The original script did not have any provision for songs , the producer who did not want to deviate from the norm requested for songs to be added stating Picture Bahut sookhi hogi (The narrative will be very dry) to which the script writing duo quipped picture ka naam gili deewar rakh dijiye, (Call the movie Wet Wall).

[edit] Credits

• Director: Yash Chopra
• Producer: Gulshan Rai (Trimurti Films)
• Writers: Salim-Javed
• Art Director: Desh Mukherjee
• Chief Asst. Director: Ramesh Talwar
• Editor: Pran Mehra
• Lyrics: Sahir Ludhiyanvi

[edit] Cast

• Vijay Verma: Amitabh Bachchan

Vijay Verma as a kid: Master Alankar

• Ravi Verma: Shashi Kapoor

Ravi Verma as a kid: Master Raju

• Suchitra Devi Verma (Mother): Nirupa Roy
• Anand Verma (Father): Satyen Kappu
• Anita: Parveen Babi
• Veera Narang: Neetu Singh
• Daavar: Iftekar
• Saamanth: Madan Puri

[edit] External links

"Deewar" at the Internet Movie Database