Gehri Chaal review :
Like Parwana (1971), Gehri Chaal had Amitabh Bachchan in an anti-hero role with the plot revolving around him and the actual hero-heroine played by Jeetendra and Hema Malini largely restricted to songs and dance. By the way, this was the only film Amitabh and Jeetu did together and probably, the only one where Hema played Bachchan's sister.
The film starts with suicide of a bank chairman whose son (Amitabh) gets embroiled in a web of crime after knowing that his father had embezzled twenty lac rupees from his workplace. An anonymous syndicate helmed by a disguised villain (with Satyen Kappu voiceover) blackmails Bachchan to commit crimes even to the extent of involving him in a heist which is unfortunately witnessed by his sister Hema. Later, Amitabh's friend Jeetu comes to stay with them but no one knows that he is actually a jewel thief. Catching the fancy of a sexy socialite (Bindu) at a party, Jeetendra tries to sell his illegal diamonds to her even as Hema recognises the lady to be one of the robbers she saw on the day of the heist. The plot thickens..
Gehri Chaal is a fast paced thriller with adequate twists and turns to keep its viewers engaged throughout its two hour thirty minutes of run time. Barring the Hema- Jeetu love angle, the narrative is crisp and racy. The surprise package is Bindu playing the vamp to perfection. She has exposed a lot in this film and done full justice to her meaty role of a sexy seductress. As for the identity of the main villain, the film reveals it much earlier than expected. Ideally, that should've been done just before the climax for better impact. Also, the villain is easily identifiable so there is no great shock value for the audience when Jeetu makes the disclosure to Amitabh.
This was Big B's immediate release after the blockbuster Zanjeer (1973) and though he wasn't really the hero here, Gehri Chaal relied completely on his pivotal character and expectedly, Bachchan delivered yet another super fine performance. The simmering intensity of the character which leads to his ocassional outbursts is truly a delight to watch. The film is highly recommended to his fans who may have not seen some of his earlier films like this one!!
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
