Honesty and Religion

You would not expect a film starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor, written by Salim-Javed with music from Laxmikant–Pyarelal to be such a dud. Bachchan and Kapoor paired off in some terrific films, Salim-Javed were considered the top two script writers in Bollywood in the 1970s and Laxmikant-Pyarelal were top of the class for their film composing. How did it all go so bad? Perhaps the fault lies with the director Desh Mukherjee who was a very well regarded set designer but this was his debut as director and he was to make only one more film 20 years later. The film failed at the box office and it was back to set designs for Desh. But the script is no beauty - it has numerous sub-plots that go nowhere and it is laden with enough religious overtones to convert you. In fact, by the end you begin to realize that the religious aspects were actually the point of the film. To be fair, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Christianity all get equal billing. As one character says in the final frame with men from all those religions holding hands, This is India. One only wishes. India today is full of religious antagonism - a theme that seems to be everywhere. Back in 1977 India was perhaps more hopeful.



Here is how religion can save you. Bachchan who plays a Muslim and Kapoor who is Hindi are sleeping in their beds when assassins come in to kill them. The pages of the Koran blowing in the breeze wakes up Bachchan right before the man strikes and the other killer stabs Kapoor in the chest but he fell asleep with the Gita on his chest. Later they have to run to a building with about 30 men with guns waiting for them - they say these will protect us and carry the two books to fend off bullets and it works. Finally, one of the women was given a crucifix by a little girl and as the man is about to kill them the sun shines on it and the reflection blinds him. That is how religion can save you.


It doesn't start off that way though. The duo are professional liars. Good ones and they hire themselves out as witnesses willing to take the oath and lie. It is an ok living. The film takes place among the lower working class - day laborers - which is fairly unusual for a Bollywood film. Showing real life for millions. There are no mansions of the rich in this. They both act as brothers to Shyamlee (Aparna Sen - a well respected actress in Parallel Cinema) who is blind and an aspiring singer (one sub-plot that gets forgotten). Kapoor is in love with Durga, a Tamil and laborer on construction sites (something you will see in Thailand with Burmese and Cambodian women hauling around bricks and cement). She is played by Rekha who was probably the most glamorous of all Bollywood actresses - usually attired in jewels, gorgeous saris and enough make up to fill a truck. It was a while before I realized who she was - much darker skin than normal. That is another sub-plot that really goes nowhere.



Bachchan gets hired by the great Helen to lie to her daughter that he is her father. She is an alcoholic and never dances in the film - a total dramatic role. That is so silly I had to blanch. And another sub-plot that kind of vanishes. There is a plot thread about an ex military Sikh named Balbir who has lost a leg - that really goes nowhere but is the highlight musical number. He is at a veteran charity meeting and when the politicians get up and give the usual blah blah speech about the sacrifices they made, he stands up and tells them to shut up, get off the stage and all the disabled veterans go up and do a musical number with instruments that materialize from nowhere and in which Balbir's leg comes off and he crawls across the floor to retrieve it. What else? Oh ya - Kabir (Sanjeev Kumar) who becomes a Christ figure in the film and forgives a man who has come to kill him. And the laborers who go on strike. Goes nowhere really.


There are some villains of course - the Holy Trinity - Prem Chopra, Om Shivpuri and Amrish Puri. Villains in hundreds of films between them and always welcome into my living room. They kill Kabir's father and frame Kabir. He happens to be engaged to the blind girl Shyamlee and guess who falsely testified at his trial not realizing who he was. Yup. Our boys. The final ten minutes of the film is fun when they go up against the bad guys armed with the Holy Books. But this is a real head scratcher of a bad film.