Deewaar ( The Wall) is a 1975 Indian Hindi-language action crime film directed by Yash Chopra, from a story by Salim–Javed. The film stars Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, and alongside an ensemble cast of Neetu Singh, Nirupa Roy, Parveen Babi, Iftekhar, Madan Puri, Satyen Kappu and Manmohan Krishna. The music was composed by R. D. Burman, while cinematography and editing were handled by Kay Gee Koregaonkar and T. R. Mangeshkar-Pran Mehra. In the film, two impoverished brothers struggle to survive in the slums of Mumbai and eventually find themselves on opposing sides of the law. The film's title signifies the wall that springs up between the two brothers, drawn apart by fate and circumstances in a time of socio-political turmoil.Virdi, Jyotika. "Deewaar: the fiction of film and the fact of politics. " Jump Cut, No. 38, June 1993: 26–32.
Deewaar was released worldwide on 24 January 1975 to critical acclaim and praise for its story, script, music cast performances (especially Bachchan, Kapoor and Roy). The film was commercially successful and is considered a ground-breaking cinematic masterpiece, with India Times ranking Deewaar amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films. It is also one of three Hindi-language films to be included on the list of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.
It is now considered a cult classic film and had a significant impact not only on Indian cinema but also on Indian society; its anti-establishment themes and Bachchan's anti-hero vigilante character resonated with audiences. Bachchan's character is often regarded as one of the most memorable onscreen character in Indian cinema, the movie cemented his image as the "Angry young man" of Hindi cinema. Forbes India included Bachchan's performance in the film on its list of "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema". The film also cemented the success of Salim–Javed, who went on to write more blockbuster films; their value skyrocketed and they were being paid as well as the leading actors of the time.
The film was later remade in Telugu as Magaadu (1976), in Tamil as Thee (1981), in Malayalam as Nathi Muthal Nathi Vare (1983), and in Cantonese as The Brothers (1979).
Deewaars influence also extends to world cinema, influencing films from Hong Kong and British cinema.
Plot
Anand Verma resides in a modest home with his wife Sumitra and their two young sons Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor). He is a principled and well-respected trade union leader, who leads struggling labourers on a strike as they are depending on him to better their lives with concessions from their owner Badri Prasad. However, Prasad retaliates by kidnapping Anand's family and forcing him to sign a contract giving away the labourers' rights, in order to save his family's lives. When the striking labourers learn about Anand's actions, they all curse him and thrash him nearly to death, unaware that Anand was blackmailed to do so. The labourers even persecute Anand's family, and some of them drunkenly capture Vijay and tattoo his left arm with the Hindi words "मेरा बाप चोर है” (English: ("My father is a thief"). Unable to bear the humiliation, Anand escapes from the town and decides to spend his remaining life aimlessly traveling in trains, abandoning his family for whom he had abandoned his principles and ideals. In desperation, Sumitra brings Vijay and Ravi to Mumbai and resorts to low-wage manual labour to raise her sons alone. Their home is on the footpath under a huge bridge that is home to millions of homeless poor people of the city.
As Vijay and Ravi grow up in the slums of Mumbai, Vijay has an acute awareness of his father's humiliation, for he has been victimized for his father's supposed misdeeds, and is reminded of his past by the ever-present tattoo on his arm. He also refuses to enter a temple, stating that he wishes to chart his own destiny and not beg for it from the deities. Vijay Verma starts out as a shoeshiner and later becomes a dockworker in his youth, sacrificing his own education in order to enable Ravi to study. On the other hand, Ravi is a perfect citizen and is unwavering in his commitment to law and righteousness. Although he is unable to obtain gainful employment, Ravi romances Veera, the daughter of DCP Narang, by whom he is sent for police training and soon earns the rank of Sub-Inspector. In the process of fighting for his rights, Vijay refuses to pay the weekly extortion to the henchmen of the shipyard owner Samant, who is also a crime boss. Vijay proceeds to thrash several of Samant's henchmen, causing his mother Sumitra to berate him. Vijay sarcastically asks her whether she expects him "also" to escape like a coward, implying that he criticises his father's actions, causing a perturbed Sumitra to slap Vijay and half-heartedly defend Anand. The news of Vijay’s beating of Samant’s men reaches Samant's rival, Mulk Raj Daavar, who hires Vijay to protect his smuggled gold bullion that has been thrice hijacked by Samant. Vijay sells the information to Samant to help him hijack the gold bullion, takes the money from Samant, then captures the gold bullion from his warehouse and hands it over to Daavar, who rewards Vijay with a huge sum of money, allowing him to purchase a palatial home for his family.
Meanwhile, DCP Narang provides Ravi his first assignment to apprehend and arrest some of the hardcore criminals and smugglers in Mumbai, which also include Daavar and Vijay. Ravi is shocked for having never associated his brother with criminal activities, and must now decide between apprehending Vijay and quitting the police force. Later, Ravi shoots an impoverished boy Chander in the leg non-fatally in an attempt to arrest him for committing theft, only to find out that Chander had stolen only some bread for his family. After admitting Chander to a hospital under police custody, a remorseful Ravi visits his home, offering his family some food and confessing his action, but Chander's enraged mother berates Ravi and accuses him of colluding with the state in protecting those who store goods in warehouses, and hunting down petty thieves trying to feed their starving families. However, Chander's father, who is a retired schoolteacher, forgives Ravi and justifies the shooting by stating that the stealing no matter of a lakh or of a penny is a crime, and that all criminals should be treated equally and it would lead to anarchy if all the poor and needy resort to the same life. After hearing both sides from Chander's parents, Ravi, who was initially reluctant to act against his own brother, is finally motivated to agree to take his case from DCP Narang.
When Ravi investigates that Vijay has acquired wealth overnight by crime, he confronts Vijay and orders him to surrender himself to the police. However, Vijay refuses to do so, citing all the injustice caused to him and his family. Nevertheless, Ravi decides to leave the house purchased by him and go to live in his police quarters. Sumitra too is disgusted with Vijay and chooses to live with Ravi, even refusing to accept Vijay's gift of the high-rise apartment where she had once worked as a manual labourer. Ravi then completes his task assigned by DCP Narang and arrests many henchmen from the gangs of Samant, Davaar and Vijay (including Daavar himself), causing a feud to develop between Vijay and Ravi. Vijay enters into a sexual relationship with Anita, a prostitute whom he meets at a bar. Around the same time, Anand's dead body is discovered inside a train and his funeral is performed by Vijay. Anita advises Vijay to erase the tattoo on his arm through plastic surgery, but Vijay states that doing so cannot erase the words on the tattoo from his heart and soul. Meanwhile, Sumitra falls severely ill and Vijay is also unable to visit her at the hospital due to the police appointed by Ravi to arrest him. A furious Vijay enters the temple for the first time, and confronts the deity for punishing him at the cost of his faithful mother. As a result, Sumitra miraculously recovers from her illness, much to Ravi and Veera's happiness.
Later, Vijay learns that Anita is pregnant with his child and decides to abandon his life in the underworld, so that he can marry Anita, surrender himself to the police and seek forgiveness from Sumitra and Ravi, not wanting their unborn son to be scarred the way he was. He also calls Sumitra and asks her to arrive at the temple to give him blessings. Despite this, things take a drastic turn when Samant and his remaining henchmen arrive and thrash Anita severely in revenge. After an emotional moment, Anita dies in the arms of Vijay, who retaliates by brutally murdering Samant and his remaining henchmen, thus branding himself a criminal forever. Ravi learns about the deaths of Samant and his henchmen, and when the two brothers meet for a final clash at the crime scene, Ravi pleads with Vijay to stop running and surrender himself, and ends up shooting him in the arm and heart fatally. After getting hit by the gunshot, a gravely injured and dying Vijay uses a car to escape from Ravi and crashes it into the wall of the temple, where he reunites with Sumitra and pleads forgiveness. Vijay then dies in Sumitra's arms, leaving her extremely shattered, just as Ravi arrives at the temple and is completely distraught over shooting Vijay. The film ends with a scene of DCP Narang and the police, awarding Ravi Verma, along with Veera and Sumitra for his successful pursuit of justice, though Ravi is still filled with remorse for killing his older brother.
Cast
Shashi Kapoor as Sub Inspector Ravi Verma, younger son of Anand and Sumitra, Vijay's younger brother Raju Shrestha as Young Ravi Verma Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Verma, elder son of Anand and Sumitra, Ravi's elder brother Alankar Joshi as Young Vijay Verma Neetu Singh as Veera Narang Nirupa Roy as Sumitra Verma, wife of Anand, mother of Vijay and Ravi Parveen Babi as Anita Iftekhar as Mulk Raj Daavar Madan Puri as Samant Satyen Kappu as Anand Verma, Sumitra's Husband, father of Vijay and Ravi Manmohan Krishna as DCP Narang, Veera's father. A. K. Hangal as a teacher Kamal Kapoor as Badri Prasad Sudhir as Jaichand, Vijay and Daavar's associate. Jagdish Raj as Jaggi Yunus Parvez as Rahim Chacha D. K. Sapru as Mr. Agarwal, building owner. Aruna Irani as item number in a cameo appearance in "Koi Mar Jaye".
Production
Story and screenplay The film's screenplay, story and dialogues were written by Salim–Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar). The main inspiration for the plot was the film Gunga Jumna (1961), starring Dilip Kumar, which had a similar premise of two brothers on opposing sides of the law, with the elder criminal brother as the main character. Deewaar is thus considered to be a spiritual successor to Gunga Jumna. Salim–Javed credited Gunga Jumna as well as Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957) as the main inspirations for Deewaar, which they described as a "more urban, much more contemporary" take on their themes; while Mother India and Gunga Jumna took place in a rural context, Salim–Javed reinterpreted their themes in a contemporary urban context with Deewaar.
Amitabh Bachchan's character, Vijay, was loosely inspired by the real-life Mumbai underworld gangster Haji Mastan. Vijay's story arc in the film parallels that of Mastan's life, such as the rise from a humble dockyard porter to a powerful smuggler, and Mastan's rivalry with smuggler Sukkur Narayan Bakhia is similar to Vijay's rivalry with Samant (Madan Puri).