Deewar (1975) :
Movie Review -
I have seen Deewar a dozen times maybe, but never in that sense of reviewing patterns-the one-take viewing, I mean. Recently, I had a chance to watch it at the 80 Years Celebration of Big B at PVR, and I knew that this was the right time and the right kind of experience that could help me review this film. However, I had to leave the screening halfway, but I had decided that I would complete it at home on one fine Sunday. Today was the day. I won't talk about the story, the acting, or other mainstream review aspects because you all know the story, the performances, and almost everything about Deewar by now. What different things can I add? Nothing. Let's just celebrate those moments instead.
Deewar may have a different impact on every viewer, but let me elaborate on my views, and I hope most of them will match yours. So, Deewar came out in the same year as Sholay, which made it lose a huge fanbase amongst B and C mass audiences. Sholay, of course, deserved it, but Deewar definitely deserves more than what it got. It was not the internet era, or else it might have spread like a fire. Anyways, I look at Deewar as the wall that stood between critical and commercial cinema that also had a social conscience. Hollywood had the universally acclaimed "The Godfather" in the same decade, but tell me, did that film ever teach you anything about goodness or spiritual penance? Yes, we know that the hero is wrong, but how many of you actually hate him or want him dead? What does his death teach you? Nothing. Here, Deewar does it.
James Cagney played a similar maa-ka-laadla criminal in White Heat (1949) and died remembering his mother. Amitabh Bachchan may have similarities with that character, but the other aspects of Deewar-i.e., Shashi Kapoor being a cop, the villain played by Madan Puri, Nirupa Roy's never-at-wrong mother, and the socio-political changes our nation was going through then-were not copied from any Hollywood film. Deewar is so original and utterly influential there. The entire 70s decade was about mainstream commercial films taking over the box office. While Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, and Manoj Kumar were busy doing their kinds of commercial cinema, some maverick brains like Shyam Bengal, Satyajit Ray, and Mrinal Sen were busy making "new wave cinema." So it wasn't like we were investing just in "money spinners." The audience did have a choice, but it had a low appeal, which is very natural not just in India but in any corner of the world. Deewar somewhat broke that wall between socially powerful cinema and commercial potboilers.
Manoj Kumar had started doing it much earlier, and even Dev Anand had his own ideology in the 60s, but the 70s were the perfect time for a film like Deewar. Salim-Javed's iconic pair delivered an iconic piece of writing that will be remembered for years, even after their departure and that of other team members. How many memorable scenes and dialogues we have-one just cannot count them all. That iconic Mera Baap Chor Hai, Vijay's self-respecting attitude while taking money for boot polishing, Ravi's hunger while standing on the school's gate and Vijay and his mother watching him from underneath the bridge, the next moment he decides to give up his education and dreams for his brother's future, and you know their ideologies are going to collide in the future, the temple scene when Priest tells Sumitra Devi not to force religious faith on Vijay, and somewhere, you know he's going to come here someday in future, then Vijay's iconic blue shirt look as a porter, his fight against the goons that iconic dialogue on Keys and Waiting, soon her gets big buddy and yet does not forget to tell the boss that "Me Aaj bhi feke hue paise nahi uthata," and soon after he gets rich, Ravi becomes a Police (such a fantastic line-up of events), and so many more in the second half. Deewar is not just a film but a textbook on pure red Hindi cinema with a true blue mass hero. This just doesn't get better than this. You may have to look for 10,000 or more classics all over the globe, and still you won't find a mixture like this.
Hollywood shifted to the new wave of cinema after the late 50s - this was the end of the Golden Age for them - because they knew they had established almost every genre, theme, sub-genre, and concept that anyone could have had 50 years later. They shifted for the race of the 21st century, but Indian cinema was still digging for contemporary classics, at least with big films. Thankfully, we had major classics being made after a certain small gap of 1 or 2 years continuously, but a classic that could be remembered for decades needed to come more often. We missed that in the 60s, but the 70s gave us hope. Actually, the 70s decade fulfilled that dream for us, where we got the cinema that audiences wanted to see and wanted to take forward for the next generation. Deewar was one such film.
Amitabh Bachchan's rise was not just about megastardom; it was about the legacy of an actor too. Babi says, yaha tum se jyada handsome koi nahi tha." I was like, she is saying the exact thing. How handsome he looked in that suit, with his hair over his ears and big collar attire! Shashi Kapoor's filmography may have many other great films, but the shortest dialogue he ever uttered, "Mere paas Maa Hai," would always be on the cover page. I don't care what world cinema had, but I know that they didn't have an actress to play a mother's role like Nirupa Roy did. "Tu itna Amir nahi hua ki apni Maa ko kharid sake". If you didn't clap here, slap yourself now. Billa No. 786 has been used in many films, but never like Deewar. The usual romance between Neetu Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor was as sweet as Rasgulla, while Parveen Babi played a girl from the lost era of Hollywood (the 40s). Deewar may not have the same box office numbers as Sholay (sorry for repeating this sentence), but I am sure it must be setting a fire (pardon the quick translation for Sholay) in the hearts of true movie buffs. If the entire decade has to be defined to someone who asks about the changing phase of cinema along with audiences, then show him our "Wall of Fame," where "Deewar" is hooked forever.
RATING - 8/10*
