Monday, September 22, 2008

Amar Akbar Anthony Revisited


One of my favorite AB movies is ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’. It’s as masala as a Bollywood movie of the 70s could get!

It’s the story of an ex-convict who must flee his mob boss, leaving his family to fend for themselves. His wife goes blind and he abandons his three sons at a park. They are found and raised separately, the eldest by a Hindu policeman, the youngest by a Muslim tailor, and the middle son by a Catholic priest. The Hindu-raised son (Vinod Khanna) grows up to become a policeman; the Muslim-raised son (Rishi Kapoor) becomes a tailor-cum-singer; and the Catholic-raised son (AB) becomes a happy-go-lucky local goon. Years later, they meet again at a hospital where they are all donating blood to the same woman. Following this reunion, they find their respective lady loves and their lives become entangled in a series of hilarious coincidences & furious action sequences interspersed with songs. In the end, the blinded mother recovers her sight, the evil mob boss is punished, and the family is re-united.

Can you get more masala than this?

My favorite scene in the movie is the fight scene between AB & Vinod Khanna inside a hut. Everyone thinks AB, being the goon that he is, would be beating Vinod Khanna to a pulp, but the latter comes out with AB hung over his shoulder.

All the actors have done a marvelous job in the movie. I loved AB’s portrayal of a Catholic hooligan & Rishi Kapoor for his charm & affability.

I like all the songs in the movie but my favorites are ‘Humko Tumse Ho Gaya Hai Pyar Kya Karen’, which is a happy love song that puts a smile on my face every time I hear it, ‘My name is Anthony Gonsalves’, a peppy fun song, and the title song where the three brother are trying to rescue their lady loves from the clutches of the evil Robert.....Kickass!!

I have seen the movie countless times – the latest being this past weekend – and love it every time I watch it. Hats off to AB & Manmohan Desai, who is as instrumental in the making of Amitabh Bachchan as Yash Raj are to the making of Shahrukh Khan.

2 comments:

Nirav said...

I have been a huge fan of the movie. I think it was the first instance in Hindi cinema where the lead actor (that too played by AB) keeps getting beaten up all the time, and still pulls off the role with aplomb.

It took me a long long time to learn the dialogue that AB rattles off before the My Name is Anthony Gonzalves song. As a kid, that was my fav scene!

Btw, its blasphemy to compare AB with SRK in any form or fashion!

Scarlett said...

I did not compare the two. I said Manmohan Desai was as instrumental in the making of Amitach Bachchan as Yash Raj have been to the making of SRK. This is no way compares them as actors...it is simply a parallel between their situations. BTW...I do like SRK as well. Not necessarily for his acting but for his grit & determination, which has helped an ordinary guy from Delhi become such a huge phenomenon in India. And like him or not, you cannot deny that he IS a huge phenomenon.