The other day I was flipping TV channels as is my wont. It was not surprising to be able to watch two
of Amitabh Bachchan’s classics –Deewaar and Kaala Patthar (both directed by the
legendary Yash Chopra) on two different channels. It was also not surprising to
know that Bachchan went by the name Vijay in both movies. A quick Google search
revealed that Amitabh’s character went by the name Vijay in more than 20
movies. This brought to my mind the question as to which was the best Vijay? Not
in terms of portrayal but in terms of character.
While I cannot claim to have seen all the movies in which
the superstar was named Vijay, I am choosing four that I feel are relevant.
They are Deewaar, Trishul, Shakti and Kala Patthar.Deewaar for reinforcing the persona of the angry young man
created by Salim –Javed in Zanjeer, Trishul for a standout performance, Shakti for
being pitted against another legend Dilip Kumar and Kaala Patthar for reasons
that I shall spell out later.
There are obvious similarities in the Vijay of Deewaar and
Shakti. In both movies, he is taking on
the system. Indeed in both these movies his professional career as a criminal is shaped by his personal angst. In Deewaar,
his father a respected union leader barters away the rights of the workers that
he represents in order to save the life of his family held hostage by the
factory owner. His unfortunate father
unable to face himself or the wrath of the workers whom he is forced to betray
runs away and Vijay in turn has to live with the mortification of a tattoo in his arm which declares that his father is a thief.An act by irritated workers.
This in turn fuels anger in Vijay’s mind against his father
and is one of the driving forces for him turning smuggler. In Shakti his father
Dilip Kumar refuses to release a smuggler as ransom when Vijay is kidnapped by
Amrish Puri. Vijay nevertheless manages to escape but he develops a deep
contempt for the law to which his father is wedded to as well as is never able
to get over the feeling of betrayal as by his father. This again impels him to turn criminal.
Now the father in Deewaar deserves sympathy for being caught
between the devil and the deep sea but not censure. Clearly Vijay was wrong.
The father in Shakti is worthy of the highest admiration for putting duty
before family. While the son’s anger is understandable there is absolutely no
case for becoming a criminal.
In Trishul, Vijay is clearly on stronger ground. A child
born out of wedlock he is brought up by his troubled mother as she is deserted
by her lover Sanjeev Kumar in favour of
a rich girl. Vijay clearly seeks revenge for his mother’s suffering by trying
to destroy his father’s business empire.While there are shades of grey to his character
like when he tries to disrupt the romance of his step brother Shashi Kapoor
(named Ravi , what else ?) with a ravishing Sheetal ( Hema Malini), he redeems himself
by returning his father’s property and by finally winning over his entire
family including his father to his side.
While all the three were powerful characterizations, two of
them Deewaar and Shakti had one thing in common: The fight was primarily
with the environment and this was born pout of personal angst. And a false
sense of grouse against the father. Trishul of course was more a case of a son seeking
justice for his late mother. And revenge for his own illegitimacy.
This is where I believe that the Vijay of Kaala Patthar
stands out . Consider the circumstances. He is the captain of a ship caught in a
storm and instead of doing his duty by putting the lives of passengers before
his own, he opts for personal safety by fleeing the scene. He is disgraced,
and dismissed from service. What is more his own parents ask him leave the
house. Enough grounds to embitter a man
and cause him to turn criminal. This is where the twist in the character comes
in. Far from turning against the world
he acknowledges his own weakness and is ashamed of it. He hides in a remote
village and works as a coal mine worker in near sub human conditions. The workers
there face death every day in the course of their duty. He is drawn to their cause and has run ins on
their behalf with the mine owner played by a really nasty Prem Chopra.
Along the way he finds love in Raakhee . Finally redemption comes when he rescues
workers trapped in the coal mine which is being flooded. He has the option of remaining
safely on the ground but much against the advice of all, he goes down into the
mine to rescue the miners. He finally
succeeds in regaining respect in his own eyes and the icing on the cake is being welcomed warmly by his parents when he
comes back to safety.
Truly the story of a man’s triumph over himself. Can anything
be more heroic ? or positive ?
