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Zanjeer (1973 film)

Zanjeer (जंजीर; transl. Shackles) is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language action crime film directed and produced by Prakash Mehra from a screenplay written by Salim–Javed. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Pran, Ajit Khan and Bindu. At a time when India was suffering from exceptional corruption and low economic growth and the common man was left with frustration and anger over the system, Zanjeer began shifting Hindi cinema in a violent and aggressive direction. The film also ended the struggling period for Bachchan, which turned him into a rising star. It was a blockbuster success domestically in India and overseas in the Soviet Union.

Zanjeer was the first of many collaborations between Salim–Javed and Bachchan. Ever since Zanjeer, Salim–Javed wrote many of their subsequent scripts with Bachchan for the lead role and insisted on him being cast for their later films, including blockbusters such as Deewaar (1975) and Sholay (1975), establishing Bachchan as a superstar. In addition to being a turning point for Bachchan's career and Hindi cinema, Zanjeer was also a turning point for South Indian cinema, with Bachchan's acting inspiring Tamil actor Rajinikanth. Zanjeer remains an important film in the history of Indian cinema and is regarded as a classic today.

Plot

In Diwali, a young Vijay Khanna witnesses the murder of his parents committed by a man of unknown identity with a white horse on his charm bracelet Zanjeer. Due to this traumatic event, Vijay has recurring nightmares of a white stallion. Even as a child, Vijay stays socially awkward from the other kids and believes himself to be alone. 20 years later, Vijay has become an Inspector in a town where few are honest. Vijay receives complaints about a local man named Sher Khan, who is running gambling dens. When Vijay calls Khan in for questioning, Khan's superiority complex chafes against Vijay's police authority as he scolds the officer, telling him he only orders him around due to his uniform.

Vijay takes him up on his challenge, and meets him in street clothes to fight him. After the fight, Sher Khan not only closes his gambling dens, but has gained respect for Vijay. Sher Khan becomes an auto mechanic and reforms his ways. Various dealings of the crime syndicate continue unabated throughout the town, which traces back to a crime boss named Teja. A mysterious caller continually phones Vijay to inform him exactly when a crime is about to take place, but hangs up before Vijay can extract any more information out of him. When a traffic accident perpetrated by gang members leaves several children dead, a street performer named Mala becomes the witness where she is bribed by Teja's men to keep quiet.

Mala is questioned by Vijay, who becomes enraged at her and to sway her differently, takes her into the morgue to view the mangled bodies of the children. Mala has a change of heart and comes clean, asking that that the money be donated to an orphanage. Mala identifies the man behind the traffic accident. After learning that Mala has broken her word, Teja's men chases after her through the night. Mala arrives at Vijay's house, desperate for shelter and Vijay allows her to stay. The two discover that they are orphans and discuss the fears associated with living alone. Vijay kindly takes her to his brother and sister-in-law. Under the sister-in-law's tutelage, Mala begins to learn how to keep the house clean as well as learn English.

Eventually, Teja frames Vijay for bribery, who is later imprisoned for 6 months on false charges. After getting released from prison, Vijay plans to exact revenge, but Mala, who developed feelings for Vijay, begs him to stop being so vengeful. Vijay reluctantly agrees, but soon must come to terms with such a promise. In a Christian cemetery, Vijay encounters the informant who had called him in the past when he was an inspector. The informer named De Silva appears half-insane, holding onto an empty bottle. De Silva tells that several years before on Christmas, his three sons drank poisoned moonshine and died from it. Until the killer is found, De Silva will continue to wander with the bottle. When local criminals mocked him, De Silva vowed to get back at them by calling the inspector when a crime was about to happen.

After hearing this news, Vijay becomes depressed. Along with a concerted effort by Sher Khan to cheer up Vijay, Mala relents and vows that she will not try to control him and tells him to do what is right. The trail of tainted moonshine leads back to Teja and his men. Upon finally cornering Teja on Diwali, fireworks bursting overhead, Vijay also finds out that the person who murdered his parents is Teja after Vijay recognized the Zanjeer on his wrist. Sher Khan helps him to fight Teja and his men, where Vijay takes justice into their own hands until the police arrive. When the hapless Inspector is held at gunpoint by Teja, Vijay manages to retrieve a dropped pistol from the ground and shoots Teja, who falls dead into the swimming pool.

Cast

Production

The story and script were written by Salim Khan, who also conceived the "angry young man" persona of Vijay, played by Amitabh Bachchan. After completing the script, Khan shared the credit with Javed Akhtar as the screenwriting duo Salim–Javed. Zanjeer was written as a crime film with violent action sequences, and the main character Vijay was conceived as a hard-hitting, 'angry with the system' young man. At a time when Hindi cinema was dominated by romance films with "romantic hero" leads, Prakash Mehra saw the script as potentially groundbreaking and came on board as the film's director. However, they were struggling to find an actor for the lead "angry young man" role, which was turned down by a number of actors due to it going against their "romantic hero" image; at the time, the industry was dominated by the "King of Romance" Rajesh Khanna and similar "romantic hero" actors. The role of the lead was first offered to many leading men of the time, including Raaj Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar, but they turned down the offer. Eventually, it went to a newcomer, Amitabh Bachchan and established his career.

Salim-Javed were responsible for discovering and casting Bachchan. At the time, Bachchan was a "failed newcomer" who, by the age of 30, had twelve flops and only two hits (as a lead in Bombay to Goa and supporting role in Anand). According to Javed Akhtar, they "saw his talent, which most makers didn’t. He was exceptional, a genius actor who was in films that weren’t good." According to Bachchan, Salim-Javed were close to Rajesh Khanna and could've convinced him to play the role, but they instead opted for the unknown Bachchan. According to Salim Khan, they "strongly felt that Amitabh was the ideal casting for Zanjeer". Bachchan stated "Salim-Javed saw a fight sequence in Bombay to Goa where I was chewing gum throughout the fight as an indicator that I would be the right choice for Zanjeer.” Salim Khan was responsible for introducing Bachchan to Mehra.

For the female lead, Mumtaz was initially offered the role, but she was engaged at the time, and opted out, choosing marriage over career. Jaya Bhaduri, who was engaged to Bachchan at the time, immediately agreed to take the role for the sake of her future husband. For the film's promotion, the posters of Zanjeer initially did not have the names of Salim-Javed on them. Salim-Javed hired a man with a jeep to drive around and paint "Salim-Javed" in stencil font on all the Zanjeer posters from Juhu to Opera House. However, the man was sometimes drunk, which led to him painting "Salim-Javed" on the wrong places, such as Pran's face or Bachchan's hands, for some posters.

Crew

Director: Prakash Mehra
Writer: Salim–Javed (Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar)
Producer: Prakash Mehra, Babboo Mehra
Production Company: Prakash Mehra Productions
Editor: Ramchandra Mahadik (as R.D. Mahadik)
Art Director: J. J. Bhende
Cinematographer: N. Satyen
Stunts: Ravi Khanna, Virendra Kumar
Costume and Wardrobe: Vasant Mahajan, Shankar Jadhav
Choreographer: Satyanarayan
Music Director: Kalyanji Anandji
Lyricist: Gulshan Bawra, Prakash Mehra (Dil jalon ka dil jala ke)
Playback Singers: Asha Bhosle, Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Kalyanji Anandji and the lyrics were written by Prakash Mehra, with the exception of 'Yaari Hai Imaan Mera', which was penned by Gulshan Bawra.

Box office

With a total domestic Indian gross revenue of ₹6 crore in 1973, including a nett collection of ₹ 3 crore, the film was declared a "Super Hit" according to Box Office India. This was equivalent to a domestic gross of US$7.75 million in 1973, or US$53 million (₹ 282 crore) in 2016.

It was also an overseas blockbuster at the Soviet box office, where it drew an audience of 37.3 million viewers in 1980. Its overseas gross in the Soviet Union amounted to 9.325 million Rbls (US$14.58 million, ₹ 11.46 crore), equivalent to US$54 million (₹ 282 crore) in 2016.

Worldwide, the film grossed a total of ₹17.46 crore ($22.33 million). Adjusted for inflation, its worldwide gross is equivalent to ₹564 crore ($84 million) in 2016.