Deewaar (1975 film)

Deewaar (1975 film), a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

from wikipedia

Deewaar, or Deewar (Hindi: दीवार, Urdu: دیوار, English: The Wall), is a 1975 Indian drama directed by Yash Chopra, written by Salim-Javed, and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor. Reflective of "the tumultuous politics of the early 70s" in India, Deewar tells the story of two impoverished brothers who, after their family is betrayed by the misplaced idealism of their father, struggle to survive on the streets of Mumbai.[1]
Deewaar was a ground-breaking work. It was one of a few films which established Bachchan as the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema[2][3] and Parveen Babi as the "new Bollywood woman" [4] whose character Anita is "a liberated working girl, smoking, drinking and sleeping with her lover, defying every Hindi film heroine rule."[5][6] This movie cemented the success of the writing duo Salim-Javed, who went on to write many more blockbuster films, and made them one of the most memorable writers in Hindi cinema. It is said that after the success of this film, the value of film writers skyrocketed, thanks to Salim-Javed, and they soon were being paid as high as some of the actors at the time.[7][dead link]
Deewaar received the Filmfare Best Movie Award of 1975 in addition to six other Filmfare Awards and was a "superhit" at the box office, ranking as the 4th highest grossing Bollywood film of 1975.[8] Indiatimes ranks Deewaar amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.[9]
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.

Details
The film opens with the strong leadership of trade unionist, Anand Verma (Satyen Kappu), who works hard to enhance the lives of struggling laborers. He lives in a modest home with his wife, Sumitra Devi (Nirupa Roy), and their two young sons, Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor). Anand, however, is blackmailed by a corrupt businessman who threatens to kill his family if Anand does not cease his activities. Forced into compliance, Anand is thus attacked by the very same laborers who once supported him. His family is also persecuted by the angry workers who brand young Vijay's arm with the words: "Mera baap chor hai" in Hindi translated into "My Father Is A Thief." Anand then runs away forcing his wife and two children into destitute poverty. Not knowing what else to do, Sumitra Devi brings her children to Mumbai and struggles as a day laborer to care for her now homeless boys.
Vijay, the elder brother, grows up with an acute awareness of his father's failure 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. He also sacrifices his own education so his brother Ravi can study. Ravi is an excellent student and grows up to become an upright police officer. He is also dating Veera (Neetu Singh), the daughter of a senior police officer.On the Commissioner's suggestion, Ravi applies for employment with the police, and is sent for training. Several months later, he is accepted by the police, and has a rank of Sub-Inspector. Vijay, on the other hand, becomes involved with Anita (Parveen Babi), a woman whom he meets at a bar. When Anita becomes pregnant, Vijay decides to abandon his life in the underworld, marry her, and confess his sins. He also hopes to seek forgiveness from his mother and brother.When Ravi returns home, he finds that Vijay has become a businessman overnight, has accumulated wealth, and a palatial home. When Ravi finds out that Vijay has acquired wealth by crime, he decides to move out along with his mom.One of his first assignments is to be apprehend and arrest some of Bombay's hardcore criminals and smugglers which includes his brother, Vijay - much to his shock, as he had never associated his very own brother of having any criminal background. Ravi must now decide to proceed on with apprehending Vijay, or quit from the police force. However, when Anita is brutally murdered by rival members of the underworld, Vijay loses all sense of rational behavior and brutally murders his rivals in revenge for Anita's death, leading him to be branded a criminal forever. Their mother, who had sided with Ravi despite the fact that Vijay was her favorite, is tormented by Vijay's decisions and rejects him. When the two brothers meet for a final clash, however, it is Vijay who dies in his mother's arms seeking forgiveness and Ravi who is awarded for pursuing justice.
[edit]Cast

Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Verma (the elder brother)
Shashi Kapoor as Ravi Verma (the younger brother)
Nirupa Roy as Sumitra Devi, Vijay & Ravi's Mother
Neetu Singh as Leena Narang
Satyendra Kapoor as Anand Verma, Vijay & Ravi's Father
Parveen Babi as Anita
Manmohan Krishna as DCP Narang
Madan Puri as Samant
Iftekhar as Mulk Raj Dhabaria
Sudhir as Jaichand
Jagdish Raj as Jaggi
Raj Kishore as Darpan
Yunus Parvez as Rahim Chacha, Head porter
Mohan Sherry as Peter's Henchman
Alankar Joshi as Young Vijay Verma
Raju Shrestha as Young Ravi Verma
Rajan Verma as Lachhu
A. K. Hangal as Chander's Father
Dulari as Chander's Mother
D. K. Sapru as Mr. Agarwal
Kamal Kapoor as Anand Verma's Employer