Deewaar

Deewaar -- The Wall

MAIN CAST

Nirupa Roy -- Mother

Amitabh Bachchan -- Vijay
Shashi Kapoor -- Ravi

BRIEF PLOT OVERVIEW
Anandbabu is a laborer and orator who leads the common folk against the tyrrany of a wealthy businessman. Anandbabu leads the workers on strike, so the businessman retaliates by kidnapping Anand's beloved wife, Sumitra, and their two songs, Vijay and Ravi. Anand is forced to sign a contract that strips the workers of even more of their rights, and he eventually leaves the village, haunted by shame. His seemingly selfish actions also effect the lives of his family, and the words, "My father is a thief," are forcibly tattooed on the young Vijay's arm. Sumitra takes her sons away from the village and raises them the best she can with her meager earnings. Ravi goes to school while Vijay works odd jobs, and the two eventually grow up and follow completely different paths, though they are both motivated by their mother's love.

FILM -- 5/5

This is a 70s film, so I won't whine too much about the clothes (except for that awful white bowtie Amitabh wears when he meets Anita, UGH!), nor will I bitch about how bad the lip-syncing is. Instead, I'll rave about the script: OOOO, THE DIALOGUE! It's tough to write long monologues without making them tacky and melodramatic, and while Deewaar does include a slight bit of melodrama, it never detracts from the power of the writing. There's a lot of symbolism in Deewaar that is perfectly framed; one of my favorite images is that of Sumitra standing at a fork in the road as her two sons walk away from her in different directions. Another thing that really surprised me about Deewaar is the fighting. Most Bollywood movies have really cheesey, obviously fake action scenes, even in more modern cinema, but this is not the case in Deewaar. I was beyond impressed with Vijay's first fight with Peter and his goons; unlike most Bollywood heroes, Vijay does not perform physically impossible martial arts moves, nor does he bend steel with his bare hands or escape completely unscathed. He ducks, runs, kicks, and punches in a way that any healthy young man could, and he actually--gasp!--gets beat up himself. Maybe it's a sign of how unrealistic action scenes tend to be, but I was beside myself when Vijay was visibly winded after the fight. Major kudos go out to Yash Chopra and team for these realistic fight scenes!

CHARACTERS -- 5/5

With a cast like this, you know great acting is a given, but I have to rave anyway. This was my introduction to Shashi Kapoor; his slightly-nasal tenor voice was really off-putting at first, but I fell in love with him in a New York minute. His Ravi is sweet, darling, and more than little naive, yet he is also a very believable character. Ravi may not be as complex as Vijay, but he is just as engaging. Speaking of Vijay: holy freaking crap, Amitabh Bachchan is incredible in this movie! If Deewaar is the film that made me take note of Shashi Kapoor, it's also the film that reignited my love for Big B. His Vijay is just as smart as Ravi, but more towards craftiness than bookishness; just as handsome, but with deep, brooding eyes rather than bright, sparkling ones; just as devoted to his mother, though their means of reaching out to her are different. If Shashi Kapoor is the lawful good paladin who fights against all odds piety and perserverence, Amitabh Bachchan is the true neutral rogue who sidesteps those odds to reach the same end**. In short, they are a dream team. Ravi's relationship with Vira is as pure and innocent as he is, and Vijay's love affair with Anita is really earthy and honest. I was especially fond of Parveen Babi; she's "chubby" by modern American standards, and she proves that you don't have to be a stick figure to be sexy^^. And Nirupa Roy...oh, Nirupa Roy! Such an outwardly reserved performance, but she's oh so powerful! I loved her. Normally I'd dissect the supporting cast, but let's be honest: the core cast is so damn incredible and engrossing that the supporting cast could be composed entirely of rabies-infected monkeys, and I wouldn't bat an eyelash.

SOUNDTRACK -- 5/5

What Deewaar's soundtrack lacks in excellence, it more than makes up for in sheer fun. I'd write a review of it, but honestly? Who cares! Technically, these songs shouldn't even be in the film; they were only included at executives' insistence that a Bollywood film without music wouldn't sell. I like the songs, but the movie could function without them, and that's fine by me. And have I mentioned the cast? Who cares what the songs sound like when they're coming out of the mouths of such great actors?!

OVERALL -- 5/5

"I'm going to hate this movie," I sighed to myself as I popped the DVD in to my disc drive. "It's just too overrated. There's no way this movie can be as good as everybody says it is." Oh, but it IS. I can't think of enough words to describe it, but for starters, "incredible," "timeless," "masterpiece," and "holy freaking SHIT awesome" come to mind. Deewaar reminds me of The Godfather in that it is obviously old, but never outdated. It's available for less than $5 from half a dozen websites, and if you watch it as much as I do, it'll earn that $5 back in a matter of days. Unless you absolutely cannot stand the cosmetic flaws 70s films suffer as a result of low budgets (you shallow creature, you), you have have have have have to see Deewaar. It is that amazing.

TOTAL SCORE -- 20/20 (perfect)

A COUPLE OF SIDENOTES:

Do NOT buy the Eros version of this film. My copy of Deewaar was distributed by Eros, and it was absolute garbage. The packaging is super-flimsy and makes it almost impossible to remove or replace the actual DVD. The quality is not optimized, so the sound is much more shrill than it is on nicer copies. It wouldn't even play on my DVD player--it made my DVD player make AWFUL noises--so I had to play it on my computer. Then, about halfway through the film (right after the intermission), the film "cut in half." It acted like it was two separate titles, and I couldn't get any English subtitles on the film. Thankfully, YouTube pulled through and I was able to write this review. I'll be buying a brand new copy of Deewaar that ISN'T distributed by Eros ASAP, and I suggest you do the same.

Also, I swore I would never do this, but I have to: a wee bit of picspam.

"My father is a thief."

I effin' love this scene.

This is probably just the Big B fangirl in me coming out.

Woooo! Best song on the soundtrack!

** I used to be a Dungeon Master. You may verbally abuse me for my dorky, sordid past now.

^^ I probably don't have a right to say this, as I'm really petite, but what the Hell ever, I loved it.