A father-son relationship is special and different from the other relationships in both the scope and nature of the relationship. It’s a relationship built on the edifice of mutual hopes and aspirations, aims and ambitions and bounded by awe and respect on one hand and hopes and ambitions on the other.
Every son looks up to his father with awe and respect and hopes to replicate in word and deed the example of his own father. The father is the first role model the son ever had and hence the faith and belief in him is complete and innocent. None is more unfortunate than the father who fails to keep his respect intact for than we have a son disillusioned, a father devastated and a home destroyed.
Equally, a father looks at a son as one who would carry forward his legacy, as someone who will realise those dreams and ambitions, which he could not …. One who will take his hand and proclaim to the world that he could have done a lot more than he could but could not due to reasons far beyond his powers. Nothing is more devastating than the sight of a father who carries in his heart the grief of a son lost due to death or any other reason.
What then, if the father and son are forced to move on lines, wherein destiny has nothing but confrontation for them and nothing else?
Unlike Hollywood, wherein a father-son relationship has been the plot behind many interesting classics, very few films in India have tried their hands at tacking this love-hate relationship. Shakti (1982) is one of the few films that have tackled this aspect of life beautifully.
Shakti is the story of a father and a son caught in a cesspool of duty to the family and duty to the community, commitment to family and commitment to duty and above all the expression of love to a son and to an ideal.
It boasts of one of the greatest coups of Indian Cinema. For the first and last time, we have the greatest actors of Indian Cinema – Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan pitted against each other. One – the King of Tragedy; other the Angry young Man. One – The Emperor of Acting; other the Big B. The end result is a movie that stands heads and shoulders above all, in terms of performance quality. Where Amitabh scores with flamboyance, Dilip scores with understatement…. Where Amitabh performs with intensity, Dilip performs with depth and maturity. Both of them complement each other completely in terms of loyalty and integrity to the character, making the confrontation all the more worthwhile. The matching of minds and understanding of each other’s requirements of both space and silence has been perfected to an art and it’s no surprise that both the actors appear to be in compete harmony with each other – something only possible with those actors who are comfortable with their art to a point of perfection and not insecure about their potential. It’s unfortunate that no other director ever had the guts to match these two perfect actors ever again on screen.
Dilip Kumar as Ashwini Kumar towers over all with a performance that fetched him his 8th Filmfare Best Actor Award (the highest number of Best Actor Awards in Hindi Cinema). The role of a father who has fallen in the eyes of his son, the role of a man whose redemption lies in his standing in the way of his own son’s aspirations and who is forced to save the very person who killed his wife is not an easy one to perform. Dilip, the thespian proves why he is still considered as the greatest actor to ever perform on the Indian screen with a performance too scintillating to even comment. Although he stands out in each and every scene, among his best scenes are the ones in which he tries out to reason out the reasons behind his losing his son to his adversaries, the climax (Amitabh’s death scene) and the funeral scene. Each and every scene of this actor conveys the truth of the expression “ Still waters run deep”. Throughout, he is like an ocean waiting for a tsunami to be unleashed.
Amitabh Bachchan as the son (Vijay) shakes you out of your slumber. The anger and agony of a son, who has lost faith in his father is so powerfully conveyed that you cannot but marvel at the man behind the performance. Although, he scores in every scene, few of his outstanding scenes are the one where he’s trying to explain the reason behind his displeasure to his wife, the funeral scene and the final death scene. No lesser actor could have brought into broad relief the feeling of disenchantment as portrayed by this great actor. Right from the opening scene, where he kicks a can purposelessly on the streets, you know you are confronted not with a person but a boiling volcano with the tip intact.
Raakhee as the mother caught behind the father and son gives one of the best performances in her life. In a role that threatened to be destroyed or atleast marginalized due to two super-actors, Raakhee surprisingly not only manages to hold her own in front of both the thespians but also actually impresses with a performance as restrained as any and as eloquent as any. Her most memorable scene is the one, where she tries to convince both son and husband of the futility of their antagonistic actions. Unfortunately it took a long time for Indian Cinema to recognize the talented actress that Raakhee is and still she has hardly been utilized to her maximum potential.
Smita Patil as Vijay’s wife is commendable. Although, the director has failed to do justice to her calibre and employed her in a more subdued fashion, Smita is the perfect counterfoil to Amitabh’s intensity. Her restrained performance ensures that she is noted in a galaxy of actors, however the heart pines for more.
Amrish Puri and Kulbhushan Kharbanda give competent performances. Anil Kapoor and Ashok Kumar also stand up in their cameo roles.
Salim-Javed come up trumps with yet another classic to their name. Although, the film may lack the intensity of Deewar, the success of Sholay or the depth of Trishul, what stands out in this movie is maturity. No other movie of recent times has displayed the same level of maturity in their scenes as Shakti.
Ramesh Sippy impresses yet again with this beautiful movie on a father and a son. It was no mean task to manage a film with two towering personalities but to his credit, Ramesh has done a great job. In fact, this film has proved that Sholay was no flash in the pan and the director knows how to make a film worth its name in gold.
On a more cautious note, R D Burman disappoints. Although the film has a few hummable numbers, there is nothing to do justice to his calibre and his name. This is not to state that the music is bad but then with a talent like R D and a past record of hits like his, I refuse to accept any mediocre compositions from him.
In short, a movie for all who want to see a titanic explosion of performances on screen
-
- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.