As if the whole nation was divided into two camps. As if Rustam and Sohraab were going to fight each other, as if the Quyamat had come to the earth. It was a ’abhutpurva’ match. The two maha-nayak of Hindi movies with equal acting prowess and fan following were going to prove their mettle. Not a single fight appeared before that carried this much weight.
Indian janata is yet to come to terms with the fact that no actor can ’kha/eat’ other actor, especially when they are say Dilip-Sanjeev, Amitabh-Sanjeev or Dilip-Amitabh but we are always comparing and want to give a clear cheat to someone where our emotional profile matches more.
Dilip-saab was always on the receiving end when it came to comparison. He was always the KING of acting, dialogs, emotional displays, dedicated acting. So whenever any actor used to perform at good levels in his movies (Mashal-Anil K; Vidhata: Sanjeev, Naya Daur: Ajit, Karma--Nasir) people used to say that ’woh actor ne Dilip ki chhutti kar di’. Indirectly what they meant? --> It is defeat of Dilip Kumar that other actor was also able to leave his mark on the film! In all those movies (Mashal, Vidhata, Naya Duar etc etc) Dilip had performed at superlative levels but still it was his defeat that other actors were also memorable.
Same thing started to happen with Amitabh in late 70s. Larger-than-life Angry young man image. Thousands of younguns on the road mimicking his hair-style, his dialog delivery and his way of riding bikes (Sikandar). People used to cry with him, laugh with him, fight along side him in the 2.5 hrs.
It was expected from this super-human to get bigger than the movie itself and display all-around excellence in every movie. ’Bachchan’ as masses on the street called this 6 feet 3 inch actor ruled single-handedly, from urban, semi urban places to rural-semi-ruler or whatever places. Every Indian knew his name. His popularity is still unmatched with heroes like Shahrukh, Aamir etc having urban appeal.
Power of name ’Bachchan’ was so much that When Shakti released Dilip Kumar had become an underdog and everybody would declare victory for Dilip even if he managed to survive in front of this giant charismatic super-star.
Dilip and Amitabh :: Together they cover the BEST the Indian cinema has to offer. Supreme acting talents, actual performance and extra-ordinary mass-appeal. They have similarities (dialog delivery and voice flexibility being their main strength, natural sense of camera angle) and also differences (Dilip being methodical, one movie at a time, practicing scenes in front of mirror to death; Amitabh less predictable, more natural and genius in approach, equal hard-work). Dilip more assertive in some ways, Amitabh in other ways. Dilip also had a hero-personality, Bachchan redefined the personality of the hero !!!!!
The biggest similarity they have and what sets them apart from the rest of the greats is how they ’listen and react’ to other person even when camera on to them.
Now do you realize what would happen when they stand in front of each other: BHUKAMP! Divide line for the nation (fans) and a promise of fierce battle. A powerful movie that was also named ’Shakti’.
What was the outcome: Well, on a broad level :: Disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, the movie was a treat to watch them together but the lack of balance of the roles was too much to cover for. The movie in design was written for the father and not for his son. Dilip’s character had much more exposure and natural sympathy.
If you count, his dialogs were at least 10 times more than Amitabh, his scenes at least 3 times more than Amitabh with 80% dialogs going to Dilip when they come in front of each other. Dilip getting all the sarcastic and what we call in Marathi (Bochare) dialogs. So naturally it would appear as Dilip Kumar won the battle....? Wait !! That didn’t happen..why not? Listening abilities and response to other actor made Amitabh a genius in my opinion. Similarly, when Amitabh had sarcastic dialogs Dilip-saab survived due to this thing only.
Dilip Kumar was excellent as usual ::Use of voice modulation, camera angle, thoughtfulness, Self control was all Dilip of yore. Apart from that he took the dialog delivery to a different level all-together! Dialogs like ’Kya tum itane gaye gujare ho ke tumhe aise jagah naukari nahi mil sakati jaha be-imani ke dhande na hote ho’ are delivered with amazing caustic tongue! I didn’t like two things: His repetitions, scratching forehead in every movie -- his trademark action and also he started Rakhi’s death-scene exactly the same way he started Ganga-Jamuna Vaijayanti Mala’s death-scene, also his ’Na’ is there too. The great actor like him should avoid obvious repetitions. Well, these are Daag on chandrama, remaining all is beautiful display of great acting, Something I haven’t seen in any Hollywood movie.
Amitabh BACHCHAN: My Man!! Boss yeh adami great hain. First thing he accepted this movie despite all the possible sympathy for Dilip-saab. Performed in it despite 70% story giving Dilip the edge. Prepared for this movie like a student giving an exam and came out as ’100% KHARA SONA’. This movie gave me immense happiness that the person I adore is 100% pure genius with a touch of magic. Without a dialog he takes death-scene to satawan asaman with Dilip complimenting him VERY well. The way they look at each other is from different world, platonic indeed. His ’Kaunasa Humla’ gets engraved on your heart for rest of the life. Also his scenes with Rakhi are ’kamal’. ’.Woh wahan usake kamare main, woh jaane usaka kaam jane’ ! :)
So who won the battle: No-one. It will go down a Dilip Kumar’s movie due to simple fact I mentioned above. Despite equal performances by Dilip (at times Amitabh giving a bit more natural and unpredictable performance than Dilip) and Amitabh the story+screenplay was 70% in favor of Dilip and only 30% to Amitabh. Dilip loves his son and it appears several times in the movie but Amitabh claims that he loved his father at the end but it never shows up in the movie and this is story-writers’ fault. Unnecessary repeated dialog by Amitabh ’Saale main tuzhe maar dalunga’ make you feel that it would be used against his after Dalip Tahil’s murder. Too easy and unavoidable in otherwise excellent movie.
A brief about the movie Above average songs: Maangi thi ek Duwa, Humane Sanam ko Khat Likha, jaane kaise kab kaha by R.D Okie Dokie sort. The direction excellent but camera angles favor more to Dilip than Amitabh. Overall a good effort which can’t hide the fact that the story-line is flawed.
Rakhi: Well done. She doesn’t allow two greats to sandwich her. She shows her existence with controlled display. Guess, director gets some credit for that. Her mis-pronunciations are kept to minimum (exposed badly in Karan-Arjun: Heavy tongue due to overdose of alcohol?).
Amrish Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda (JK) are as usual up to the mark. Rest of the cast has done justice to what they were offered.
Smita Patil comes across as a misfit to the commercial cinema and also appears a little bland and cold in this movie. A great ctress but not he