Manmohan Desai’s three Aces of Entertainment- Amar Akbar Anthony . It was a non-stop nonsense. But nonsense never made so much of entertainment sense. The super successful formula of lost and found, mastered by Manmohan Desai, became more popular after the success of this movie.
You don’t need to search for any logic in this movie. In fact you will hardly find time to think as the film gallops with one event after another and the film races towards the climax without the audience realising that it is almost 3 hours since the movie started. It has been a quarter of a century since this movie was released, but even today it is amongst the best entertainers.
The film has a predictable and old as the hills storyline, but it has been stuffed with all the right elements to entertain the people. Director Manmohan Desai surely knew the pulse of the audience and gave them what they wanted and some more.
Kishenlal’s (Pran) world is turned upside down on a rainy night. He is running from police, his wife meets with an accident and loses her eyesight and all his three sons get separated while he is trying to escape the police as well as Robert’s (Jeevan)henchmen.
The three sons are adopted by people of three different religions and grow up to become Amar (Vinod Khanna) an inspector, Akbar (Rishi Kapoor) a qawalli singer and Anthony (Amitabh Bachchan), a tapori who sells liquor.
The three brothers cross each other’s path regularly in the next few reels till the climax. While Anthony is friendly with Akbar, he has his tiffs with Inspector Amar, who wants to know about Robert and suspects Anthony to have hidden him. Kishenlal had become a big smuggler with the gold biscuits he had found in the car when he was running away from police on that fateful night.
After much fun, thrills and excitement with non-stop nonsense the three brothers unite in the climax and so do their parents, to complete the family. The three brothers also have their respective girlfriends in tow - Shabana, Neetu and Parveen.
3 hours of non-stop spectacle ! Amar Akbar Anthony had an engrossing screenplay which moved the film at fast pace without a dull moment. It was a total dhamaal film.
Highlights:
The entire film was full of highlights. It was one of it’s kind of movie when it was released wayback in 1977. It went on to become super hit at box office.
The opening sequences happen so fast when all 3 brothers are separated. It was well written, well directed and well edited portion.
The most unforgettable scene was when Amitabh, in drunken state, stands in front of the mirror and applies dettol and band-aid on his reflection. It was simply brilliant ! No other actor could have done it in better way.
The dialogue ’Aisa to aadmi life mein do-ich time bhaagta hai. Olympic ka race ho ya phir police ka case ho’ was very popular because of the style in which it was said by Amitabh .
The fight sequence between Amitabh and Vinod Khanna was also a major highlight. The scene before that fight, where Amitabh tries to avoid Vinod and distract him by referring about Andy Roberts is also very funny.
The Qawalli parda hai parda made the audience dance in the aisles. Rishi Kapoor’s performance in the song was superb. Watch out for Mukri arriving with his daughters clad in burkha.
Amitabh emerging from the huge Easter egg and singing My name is Anthony Gonsalves was outrageous. He is sure to bring a smile on your face in this song.
The climax when three brothers come in disguise as a band-master, tailor and a priest is one of the best and unforgettable climax. The entire climax scene is so funny and engrossing, that you’d like to watch it again and again just for that scene. The song Anhonee ko honee kar de is also well picturized.
The song ’Humko tumse ho gaya hai pyar’ picturized on the three pairs is a unique song in more ways than one. It is the only song in the history of Indian cinema where Lata, Rafi, Kishore and Mukesh came together to render a song. Moreover all the three antras of the song were structured differently and picturized differently.
The scene stealer in this mad caper was undoubtedly the superstar of that era Amitabh Bachchan. He made the character of Anthony immortal with his style, dialogues and overall performance. Vinod Khanna as the upright police officer, was the perfect foil to Amitabh’s mad antics . His scenes with Amitabh were a treat to watch. Specially the fight between the two of them in the bast. Note how Amitabh is being bashed up by Vinod and then when he falls in front of the Cross, he requests the Christ that we have always shared everything 50-50, why don’t you join me for 50-50 partnership now?
Rishi Kapoor had most of the songs and he excelled in them. Specially the qawalli ’parda hai parda’. He even had good comedy scenes with Amitabh and Mukri. The Rishi- Neetu pair looked good on screen. Parveen Babi got the maximum footage amongst the 3 heroines. As Jenny, she was delicious and
wonderful. Parveen Babi added glamour to this masala entertainer which had the right proportion of everything required to make a successful entertainer. In fact many people consider AAA to be a text book on how to make an entertainer.Shabana Azmi had very little to do while Neetu Singh was charming as always. Pran, Jeevan, Nirupa Roy and Ranjeet played their parts with perfection. Even characters like Tayab Ali (Mukri) and Jebisco who played Parveen’s bodyguard were popular with the masses.
Amitabh Bachchan won the Filmfare award for best actor for his role.
Musically, AAA was a winner. It fetched Laxmikant-Pyarelal the Filmfare award for best music in a year full of competition. Parda hai parda, My name is Anthony Gonsalves, Anhonee ko honee karde, Humko tumse ho gaya hai pyar, Tayab Ali pyar ka dushman were instant hits while the qawalli ’Shirdiwale saibaba’ evoked religious sentiments. The song which appears during the title credits, Ye sach hai koi kahani nahi, was well written by Anand Bakshi and rendered by Mohd. Rafi. During this song the three brothers are shown as donating blood to their mother, all unaware of their relation with each other. It was innovative.
So addicted Manmohan Desai got to this lost and found formula that all his subsequent movies were based on the same theme, with Amitabh being the common factor in all ! As mentioned already, do not try to search for any logic in this movie. One can simply go on writing about this potboiler and it’s crazy scenes. But it would be best to see the movie and find out what you liked the most. Simply enjoy it and you’ll love it.
Amar Akbar Anthony will always remain an evergreen masala entertainer !