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Missing you Pamchamda

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Evolution of a Legend - Part -1

Anand”,”Abhim

This is an analysis of Leading Actors of the Hindi film in pre-Amitabh Bachchan era and what Amitabh Bachchan brought into the industry.

If we start with the arrivals of the first three superstars ( if we do not consider Ashok Kumar) of the Hindi film industry , Dev Anand , Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor all of who started in the late 40s , we basically remember what they brought in with them –

Dev Anand brought in Style ,fashion and portrayed role of happy-go-lucky flamboyant loveable characters with the assistance of great music. We cannot forget him in “Kaala Pani”,”Paying Guest”, “Tere Ghar Ke Samne”, “Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai”, “Taxi driver” etc. Although later he gave a commendable performance in “Guide” , he mainly focused on care-free happy-go-lucky roles.

Raj Kapoor brought in serious topics into movies – although similar kind of movies had already arrived with Ashok Kumar like “Achhyut Kanya”, “Kismat” etc , Raj Kapoor started directing the movies.His movies had a different form of story telling , very elegant romance and drama. All his movies, be it “Shree 420″,”Anari”,”Aag” ,”Aah",” Mera Naam Joker” etc all had strong and different portrayal of romance. And of course songs were so integral part of the romance. However, he was not very disciplined and always reached very late on the sets.  

Dilip Kumar , the strongest ACTOR of the three, brought in pathos , under-playing character and sophistication. Most of the roles he enacted were played with subtlety , “therao” and so my underpaying. Although he had music , but it was secondary to his acting ability. He could easily mold himself to a villager in films like “Naya Daur” or “Ganga Januma” with proper accent and gestures, royals in “Kohinoor” and “Mughul-E-Azam” , fun in “Ram-aur-Shyam” and intense dramas like “Devdas”, “Aadmi” etc.

After them, there came the next generation of actors – Rajendra Kumar, Manoj Kumar,Sunil Dutt, Dharmendra , Raj Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Sashi Kapoor, Jeetendra from mid-fifties to mid-sixties.

Each of these actors played mainly played light hearted romantic roles in their own styles.

Sunil Dutt was intense and angry (the first angry young man) , who can forget “Mother India”, “Mujhe Jeene Do”,”Insaan Jaag Utha”.

Rajendra Kumar was mainly romantic lead and very dramatic. However , no one can deny his performance in “Gora Aur Kala”.

Manoj Kumar , although did couple of romantic movies like “Patthar Ke Sanam” focused mainly on patriotic movies starting from “Saheed”.

Dharmendra , was mainly a mixture of romance and intensity – “Patthar ke Phool” , “Anupama”, “Satyakam” were fabulous.

Raj Kumar was all dialogues and style – “Waqt”, “Heer Ranjha” , “Neel Kamal”.

Shashi Kapoor , started with a very off-the-path role in “Dharmputra” , did some good romantic movies like “Sharmilee”,”Jab Jab Phool Khile”.

Shammi Kapoor and Jeetendra(called Jumping Jack) initiated dancing ( if we can call them) , with great style and some good music. Who can forget “Caravan” , “Farz” and later Himmatwala,Mawali of Jeetendra . Simliarly Shammi Kapoor gave us huge musical blockbuster like “Teesri Manzil”,”Di Deke Dekho”,”Junglee”.”Janwar” etc.

Next evolved Rajesh Khanna , the so called 1st superstar of Hindi Film Industry with fanatic fanfare and 3 years of all blockbuster movies. He came with style , melodrama and some great great music.He tried with some successful subtle performances with “Anand” , “Amar Prem” , “Aavishkaar”, etc , but he started getting monotonous. His discipline was questionable and he never reaches the sets in time.Also, the sudden success got to his head and he misused it.  

What we know less about these actors are :-

a>    Discipline

b>    Professionalism

c>     Method acting ( Dilip Kumar stands out)

d>    Compete commitment

e>    Use of Voice

f>     Use of singing ability and lip syncing ( Dev Anand was perfect in lip- syncing)

g>    Dance

Amitabh Bachchan came with all of these.

Amitabh Bachchan started in 1969 with “Saat Hindustani” , had only 1 hit movie (thanks to Rajesh Khanna) called Anand and a stray of simultaneous flops till “Zanjeer” (his 13th film) and “Abhimaan” (14th Film) both in 1973 , we see 2 sides of his acting skills – intense, angry no-nonsense in Zanjeer and an intense role in Abhimaan.

However, we should understand how Amitabh Bachchan arrived.

Not going very far into his background, we know that he is the son of legendary Hindi poet Dr Harivash Rai Bachchan and Teji Bachchan who came from noble family.

His upbringing was a mix of intellectualism and fighting attitude.

He worked for a company in Kolkata for a couple of years and came to Mumbai to be in films.

When he started working in films , he did a film called Pyar Ki Kahani in 1971. There was a scene in the movie where he was to kill the veteran actor Shri OmPrakash ji. After the killing shot , Om Prakashji told the unit that he very surprisingly saw in him British way of method acting and said to all that Amitabh would go very far.

Simliarly, Pran ji also recommended him to film writers Salim-Javed (who wrote films like Andaaz,Hathi Mere Sathi,Zanjeer,Deewar,Sholay,Kala Patther,Trishul,Shakti,Arjun,Mr India,Naam etc) the writer duo ,who went to see him in film Bombay-to-Goa and selected him watching an action scene in the movie.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the legendary film-maker cast him in Guddi (Jaya’s first film – a women oriented movie) saw his talent , removed him from Guddi and cast him with a very powerful role in Anand. Although , Rajesh Khanna took away all the accolades in the movie, Amitabh was recognised and he received his first filmfare award for best supporting actor role. Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Amitabh worked in classics like “ Anand”,”Abhimaan”,”Mili”,”Namak Haram”,”Chupke Chupke”,”Jurmana”,”Bemisaal”,”Alaap”.

During his struggling days, Amitabh had no money and hence, started working even as junior-artist. Sashi Kapoor in those days was acting in a Merchant-Ivory production film called Shakespearwala. Amitabh , to earn his living participated in a crowd sequence( a funeral scene) ,where Sashi Kapoor saw him , called him out and said that such roles were not for him – he should wait and he will get good roles. Sashi Kapoor even edited the scene where Amitabh was present , so that no one even had a glimpse of him.

So even when Amitabh was giving flops one after the other , his talent got noticed.