Deewaar

Year: 1975
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Nirupa Roy, Parveen Babi, Neetu Singh, Iftikhar
Director: Yash Chopra
Producer: Gulshan Rai
Music: RD Burman, Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
Story/Screenplay: Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar
Production Company: Trimurti Films

The visually iconic and historically important Deewaar (The Wall) is, at its core, a story of two brothers competing for the love of their mother. The entire film is a flashback of Sumitra (Nirupa Roy), which begins with the childhood of her sons Vijay and Ravi. The family is dishonored when the brothers’ father, a union messiah blackmailed by evil corporate monkeys, is lambasted as a false prophet and driven out of town. Vijay is attacked by disgruntled workers and is forever branded with a tattoo reading, “Mera baap jhoot hai,” my father is a liar. Sumitra is horrified and decides to move the family sans father to Mumbai, the city of dreams. They live in poverty while Sumitra sacrifices everything for the benefit of her sons.
Scarred by his memories of the old village, Vijay is broody even as a child, refusing to step into temples but working for the better future of his brother. Vijay grows up to become Angry Young Man Amitabh Bachchan, surprising no one. Vijay, initially still working class, impresses a bigwig in the Mumbai mobster scene and immediately starts making rolls of cash. He is an anti-hero, seen smoking lots of cigarettes, becoming more and more successful with his implied trade of illicit materials, and man-handling bad guys who dare mess with his sense of justice. He uses his newfound wealth to dote on both his mistress(Parveen Babi) and his mother.
Ravi, on the other hand, is enamored with authority and does very well in school, eventually morphing into Shashi Kapoor. Ravi’s love of rules limits his options before he finds work as a rather gun-happy policeman through his connection to the father of his carefree girlfriend (Neetu Singh). He insists happy endings are not a legitimate cause for morally ambiguous actions. He and Vijay inevitably clash when Ravi is assigned to the arrest of his brother. This family drama mostly manifests itself through the brothers’ competition for their mother, who is heartbroken when it becomes clear that she must choose between them. Deewaar is famous for its unique moral stance, its dialogues, and Amitabh’s fiery performance as Vijay. -Emily Dunning