Deewaar (1975) : Movie Review

Deewaar
Deewaar

Starring Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Neetu Singh, Nirupa Roy and Parveen Babi

Deewaar

Music by R.D. Burman, lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi

Produced by Gulshan Rai, directed by Yash Chopra

Deewar is the heart touching story of an undying love between a mother and her sons, Ravi and Vijay.  The brothers are poles apart. One walks on the path of righteousness while the other is rough and tough, willing to do anything that would make his family happy. Vijay, having had no proper education, does an odd job of a coolie at the Bombay docks. Following certain events, he gets involved with the mafia and later becomes the kingpin himself. But fate has something else in store. Things go awry when Ravi becomes a police inspector and is handed over the responsibility of arresting Vijay and his accomplices. It is at this juncture when important familial ties are put to test.

Amitabh Bachchan is the elder brother Vijay, the angry young man, while Shashi Kapoor has played the role of the younger brother Ravi, who is a rather sprightly person. After watching the movie, anyone would agree that performances by both actors live up to the viewer’s expectations. Nirupa Roy plays the mother in distress, full with vivid emotions. The love interests of the two brothers are the beautiful Parveen Babi and the chirpy Neetu Singh, both at their best. Both couples, especially Amitabh Bachchan and Parveen Babi share great on screen chemistry.

Written by Salim-Javed, the film has some memorable scenes and dialogues. For instance, Vijay’s tattooed arm, (mera baap chor hai) has a powerful impact in places where it has been carefully shown. And also, that evergreen dialogue between the brothers where Vijay boasts of his wealth, and Ravi’s response to his brother’s swollen ego is the soft “mere paas maa hai”. Great comeback Ravi!  

Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola has rightly said that filmmaking “is a game you should play with all your cards, and all your dice, and whatever else you’ve got”. Deewaar is one of those movies that represent these lines perfectly. On seeing this film, the audience would surely realise the amount of hardwork and effort that has gone into making such an amazing movie.

Lookout for the emotionally charged performances and powerful dialogues!

Rating – ****