Movie Review: Zanjeer (1973)

"Yesterday, someone called me a beauty/ he complimented my hair/ he praised my eyes, too./ I threatened him with my knife, and he quickly called me 'sister.'" --Mala

One of these days, I'll review a film that doesn't have Amitabh in it. Today is not that day.

It's no secret that I have a thing for classic Bollywood in general, and Amitabh Bachchan in particular. This movie popped up often enough in my research into both topics that I felt like it was a must-see. After watching the film, I can see why it makes all those "best of" lists, as well as why it's the movie most popularly credited for turning Big B into a star. This is the film that cemented Amitabh's reputation as the "angry young man" of Indian cinema, and was also responsible for shifting the focus of Bollywood from pure romance stories to a grittier, more action-oriented aesthetic. Simply put, without this cult classic, there would be no Dhoom or Krrish.

The opening scene in Zanjeer occurs twenty years before the rest of the film. In this scene, the main character, Inspector Vijay Khanna (played henceforth by Amitabh Bachchan) is a little boy. He witnesses the horrific murder of both his parents at the hands of a man wearing a bracelet with a white horse charm on it. As a result of that traumatizing experience, Vijay has recurring nightmares of a white stallion. These nightmares continue into adulthood and clearly still impact Vijay's well being. This experience shapes Vijay into a tough, resilient man with a very rigid sense of honor and morality.

Complete with the requisite neigh-and-rear that every movie horse does.

As an adult, Vijay is a well-respected and honest police officer in a town full of corruption and violence. He is single-minded in his quest to eradicate crime, but he is kind, too. I don't want to give too much away (plus, summaries are boring), but through his work as a police officer, he comes in contact with Sher Khan (Pran) and the lovely, spirited Mala (Jaya Badhuri... now Jaya Bachchan), the other two principle characters in the film.

Sher Khan is really fun character. He is a criminal, and owns several lucrative, but highly illegal gambling dens. He also really loves to wear vests and has an incredible mustache. Because of the whole gambling den ownership thing, Vijay arrests him, and they have a tense moment in the interrogation room which leads to Sher Khan challenging Vijay to a fight. Since this is Bollywood, of course he accepts. Many elaborately-choreographed fake punches are exchanged, with the appropriate sound effects. Vijay fights admirably and wins Sher Khan's respect. As a result, Sher Khan decides to immediately quit the criminal life and become an auto mechanic. He also ends up basically becoming Vijay's best friend.

Yeah... as a general rule, suspended disbelief is your best friend when watching Bollywood. Shhh.... just accept it now.

Pran as Sher Khan

As the film carries on, it becomes clear that one man is behind most of the crime in town. Teja (Ajit Khan) is a delightfully terrifying villain. He is cold-blooded, cunning, and ruthless, a perfect foil for the honest Vijay. When Teja's gang causes a major accident that kills multiple people, they bribe Mala, a knife-sharpener who takes no crap from anyone, to stay quiet about what she's seen. Mala has a totally awesome song at around this point in the film, "Chakku Chhuriyan Tej Karalo," in which she basically confirms what a badass she is. The quote at the top of this review is from that song; you can watch the video here, but it unfortunately does not have subtitles :(.  I have a feeling that I will be using my Hindi quite a bit to translate song lyrics, once I get a bit more advanced!

Jaya Badhuri as Mala

Anyways, I digress. Mala gets in a fight with a customer who pretty much calls her a whore. Of course, she totally kicks his ass, and has to be pulled off him by the police. This is the first time that Vijay and Mala meet.  Vijay ends up taking pity on Mala and sending her to live with his adopted brother and his wife. They see each other quite often and gradually they begin to fall in love. I actually really appreciated how "slow burn" the romance was in this film; the majority of Bollywood films love to use the "love at first sight" approach, so it was cool to see a relationship develop differently. And obviously the two actors had some real life chemistry going on as well... seeing as they got married that same year.

See?

As the film progresses, we find out that Teja controls far more of the town than was thought initially. His influence is spread so wide that he is able to frame Vijay for a crime bad enough to send him to prison for six months. When he gets out, he has one thing on his mind, and that is revenge. He has spent that six months thinking of nothing but Teja and how he is going to make him pay. Mala has spent that six months pining for Vijay, learning the skills to be a good wife, and planning their future life together (as expressed in "Banake Kyun Bigada Re"). You can see how that might create some conflict between them.

Will Teja get his just desserts? Does that mysterious stranger have anything important to contribute to the plot? Will Vijay ever find out who killed his parents? Will he and Mala work out their problems, get married, and move to their dream house with the perfect curtains? I don't want to spoil everything for you, so you'll have to watch it yourself. You can buy it on Amazon here.

Amitabh Bachchan as Inspector Vijay Khanna

Overall, the song and dance numbers were okay. I am all right with that, because they are not the main focus or appeal of the movie. "Yari Hai Imaan Mera" is a cute song about friendship, sung to Vijay by Sher Khan. I liked that one second best.

The main criticism I have about my Zanjeer experience is the quality of the DVD itself.  It seems cheaply made, and I did not like the several minutes of commercials at the beginning that I had to sit through before getting to the actual movie menu. The subtitles, at least, were easy to turn on and reasonably well written. I appreciated the use of subtitles in the songs, because many DVDs, particularly of older movies, don't have them. For non-Hindi speakers, they are nice to have.

Vijay and Sher Khan in "Yari Hai Imaan Mera"

 In Hindi and Urdu, the word "zanjeer" (ज़ंजीर) means "shackles," or "chains." This theme presents itself in various ways throughout the film. All of the main characters experience it.  For example, Vijay is, at different times, "shackled" to his tragic past, his strong sense of morality, his desire for revenge, and (obvious spoiler) his growing love for Mala. Then, he is quite literally "shackled" and imprisoned. So, I give the film an A+ for effective use of metaphor. Really, I give it an A+ in most everything else, too. I loved this movie.

Zanjeer is more grounded than most of the Bollywood films I've seen, even from the same era. I connected with the characters and their struggles in ways I don't usually when watching films of this genre, and I found the themes to be universally relatable.  After all, we're all shackled by something, aren't we?

Ratings:

Dance Numbers: 3/5
Costar Chemistry: Aladin/Jasmine 2/5, Aladin/Genius 5/5
Entertainment Value: 3.5/5
SFX/Production Value: 4/5
Subtitle Accuracy: 3.5/5

Overall: 4/5 Disco Balls. Would recommend.