Shakti is one of my favorite Hindi films of all time. I am a huge Amitabh fan and great admirer of his talent, but had never held Dilip Kumar (or for that matter, anyone else) in the same league. Just heard tales from my parents and other elders what a great actor he was. But after seeing Shakti, to this day I cannot make up my mind as to which of the two was better.
The movie starts off with a boyish looking Anil Kapoor (I think it was his first movie) visiting his mother (Smita Patil) and Grandfather (Dilip Kumar). He expresses his desire to join the police service, which prompts Dilip Kumar to narrate his own life story as an example of how difficult this line of profession could be. The movie then goes into flashback mode.
Dilip Kumar is a dynamic police officer, whose young son is kidnapped by the goons headed by Amrish Puri. When Puri asks for his demands to be met before he can release the boy, Dilip Kumar refuses plainly on grounds of principle. But his son who is still in captivity, on hearing this, believes that his father doesn’t love him as much as he cares about his own job and prestige. He manages to escape, but the becomes the basis of his relationship with his father and leads to conflicts throughout the film.
The movie then immediately moves forward in time, with the boy now shown to be a grown up Amitabh Bachchan. He is an intense, brooding young guy, who loves his mom (Rakhee) more than anything else. He does love his dad too, but cannot express himself, neither can his dad reciprocate the feelings. The complexity of this relationship is very well portrayed in a scene where Amitabh himself bad mouths his dad, but cannot tolerate a single word against him from another person and ends up slapping the guy.
A bad relationship turns worse due to incidents that both father and son get into purely by accident. Amitabh turns more and more rebellious because his dad doesn’t bail him out in these situations. He seeks his mother for help, but her love for her son is matched in equal measure by her sense of righteousness and devotion to her husband. His only solace comes from Smita Patil, a hotel singer whom he befriends and eventually marries. But the going gets too traumatic for him, forcing him to willfully take up a career in crime. He eventually ends up getting shot by his own dad.
Shakti is not a movie to watch if you are looking for light-hearted fare or mushy romances. This is a very intense and dark movie, but one that never looses touch with reality. An excellent story is taken to even greater heights by the performances of the two titans, Amitabh and Dilip Kumar. The rest of the cast, especially Rakhee and Smita Patil are also superb. Songs are very good too. Look out for ’Hamne Sanam Ko Khat Likha’ and ’Jaane Kaise Kab Kahan’.
And finally, even though the movie never tries to preach at any point, it does impart a very important lesson - that honesty and principled living are the keys to good living. Hope you all see the movie if you haven’t and enjoy it as much as I did.