Why the wall is still insurmountable 49 years later
A confession: Try as I did, I wasn’t able to avoid getting into the listicle trap for a third post in a row. Whatever research I did showed a list of elements, and so then there was little I could do to avoid listing out those elements in the context of my topic. Needless to say it helped put the construct of my post in a far more structured manner than I would have otherwise been able to. Because the topic I had chosen was so vast, and so close to my heart, that it ran the risk of going all over the place. I hope you will forgive my repeat transgression, because I think today’s post will be as much of an eye-opener for you as it was for me.
Last week Deewaar entered its golden jubilee year – it released on January 24, 1975. For a movie as iconic as it has been, I have never watched it in a cinema hall. Even as recently as last year I missed it when it was screened in a select few cinema halls – I forget what the occasion was for the re-screening. But back when it was first released, I was too young to know it had released, too young to pester my parents to take me to watch it (I remember doing it for Amar Akbar Anthony and Ram Balram), and probably too young to have formed a lifelong fanboy association with the biggest star the Hindi film industry has known. Mr. Bachchan and the movie were also too big to be broadcast in the Sunday evening slot on Doordarshan. A good 4 years after Deewaar’s release, Ganpati came to the rescue.
For the benefit of my younger readers, let me explain a phenomenon that Gen Xers will relate to. In the days when entertainment options and avenues were on strict ration, Ganpati celebrations in multi-apartment housing societies turned into open air cultural centres. Every evening of the 10 day festival would have some cultural event - a homegrown play or performance, a live orchestra playing the latest songs, some noteworthy plays and of course, some movies being screened. The worth of a housing society or a neighbourhood was decided by how culturally rich the Ganpati celebrations were. Societies that only screened movies were looked down upon as corrupting the youth and having no moral values. My neighbouring housing society fell into the ‘looked down upon’ category.
My fandom for Mr. Bachchan has made me do things which have been out of character for me even from a very young age. I shamelessly piled myself onto a ‘friend’ with whom I only had a cursory hi-hello kind of equation, with whom I made sure I didn’t share the school bus seat because he was boring, but whose balcony in my neighbouring society offered the best view of the screen that was put up in his society’s compound. Which worked perfectly for selfish me to get my first viewing of Deewaar! And what an experience it was.
Over the years I have watched the movie umpteen number of times, as recently three days ago for the purposes of this post. Reams of print has been published – offline as well as online – analysing the movie in every which way. From the obvious coronation of Mr. Bachchan as the angry-young-man, the movie’s dialogues, its sociocultural impact, trivia about it, the quasi-religious undertones, the boldness in its depiction of women – especially Parveen Babi’s character (or rather the lack of it, as conservatives would say), the political overtones of socialism, unemployment, corruption, etc etc. And I am pretty sure that many, and more, of these themes will be revisited when the movie celebrates its 50th anniversary this time next year. So I decided to give myself a headstart by bringing in its golden jubilee year, rather than celebrating it with everyone next year.
What follows is my attempt at being a little different (or ‘hatke’ as filmy folk say) in writing about a movie about which so much has already been written. For that I will fall back to the writing of the movie by classifying it in a word that, unfortunately, is so loosely used in today’s times that it has lost its true stature.
That word is EPIC.
In the modern era - modern by Gen X parameters - besides Deewaar, per me the only other movie that classifies as an epic is The Godfather. The latter, however, was an adaptation of a book and so the credit goes to the source material. The script of Deewaar, on the other hand, is an original work – the handiwork of Indian cinema’s bestest ever writers. Trying to lens Deewaar purely on the merits of its writing that put it on par to an epic for me led me to decoding what constitutes an epic in literary terms – lest I too am accused of abusing the word.
As per a few research papers that I came across, there seems to be a consensus on the key elements that constitute an epic. Knowingly or unknowingly the ace writer duo of Salim-Javed have nailed it. I would like to believe that the epic-ness of Deewaar happened unknowingly – because like no one can decide to make a viral video by design, or start a painting by deciding to paint a classic, I don’t think any writer can sit down to write an epic. I think epics happen. I think epic is a title that readers, not authors, confer upon a literary work. It’s astounding that Salim-Javed have tick marked all the elements that constitute an epic – bar none. Over its run time of 2 hours 43 minutes, Salim-Javed take us on a step-by-step unfolding of an epic – ably lifted by Yash Chopra’s fabulous direction, crackling performances by the lead cast, and some really memorable dialogues that are now part of our social fabric.
Over the next few paragraphs I will take you through the elements that make an epic and juxtapose them with scenes/situations in the movie. (I am assuming that all my readers have watched Deewaar as I am not going take the pains of setting any contexts or elaborating which actor plays which character. Those who haven’t watched it yet, I can only pity you.)
Read on …
An epic starts ‘medias res’ – Latin for ‘in the middle of things’. This means that the story starts in the thick of the action, and flashes back to provide necessary background. Deewaar starts with Ravi Verma being felicitated and quickly flashes back to the union struggle of Anandbabu when the two brothers are just school going kids.
An epic is told by a third-person omniscient narrator, meaning they can see everything that occurs in the epic’s universe, including the thoughts and actions of all the characters. In the case of Deewaar, the entire movie is like a narration (not literally) of a story through the eyes of Sumitradevi.
The setting of an epic is on a vast scale. No half or small measures for an epic. Right from the get go, Deewaar gives us a feel of a drama about to unfold on a grand scale. Ravi’s felicitation ceremony, Anandbabu’s taking on of the powerful coal mafia bosses, Sumitradevi choosing to migrate to Mumbai with an opening shot of the vast Marine Drive promenade, Vijay working as a mere coolie on the massive docks, and ultimately lording over the city that once lorded over him – everything about Deewaar is on a scale that tells the viewer that they are witnessing an epic.
The plot of an epic revolves around a hero's journey, filled with quests and battles. What else is Deewaar but the story of one man – Vijay Verma – who is subjected to a lifelong trauma in the form of a tattoo on his forearm, who sees his father deserting them as an act of cowardice that he (Vijay) would never repeat, his battle with what’s right and what’s wrong, his internal turmoil of having taken one path at the cost of losing out on the love and support of his family.
The epic hero completes what everyone else only attempts. Deewaar exemplifies this element on more than one occasion. Even as a kid, it is Vijay who takes matters in his own hands by hurling a rock at the construction site supervisor; refuses to take money that is thrown on the ground by Jaichand. As a grown-up he takes on Samant’s goons by refusing to pay the hafta. He alone decides the plan and the execution of his first big assignment rejecting any help from Davar. Takes the risk of possibly losing his life only so that Davar’s crony, Darpan, can infiltrate Samant’s gang. All these are examples of what sets Vijay apart not just from the rest of Davar’s gang where the likes of Jaichand are only seen talking while letting others do their bidding, but also as an individual with a deep sense of self-worth irrespective of his social and financial standing.
An epic involves supernatural &/or otherworldly forces that help cheat death. Nowhere is this more evident than the ubiquitous billa number 786 that Vijay always has in the jacket pocket close to his heart. It is this talisman that protects him on several occasions from his close shaves with death.
An epic also has the protagonist making a dramatic plea for the deities help – for supernatural intervention. This is depicted in the temple scene where Vijay fervently pleads with God to bring back his mother from the clutches of death. In fact, Vijay’s total submission to God actually begins a scene earlier when he tells Anita that his mother always told him, ‘Jab saare raste bandh ho jaaye toh ek hi raasta hota hai.’ And that he feels compelled to try out that road as well. (‘Aaj uss par bhi chal kar dekhte hai.’) And lo behold, the mother fully recovers and is hale and hearty by the next morning!
Epics are narrated in a language that is slightly elevated from the everyday. They use a high, formal style of language, full of dramatic and descriptive phrases. This helps to highlight the importance and epic nature of the events and characters. Besides the more famous dialogues that every self-respecting Gen Xer knows by-heart, Deewaar is littered with several throwaway lines that are actually quite deep in their meaning. Several examples abound throughout the movie, some of which I recount below:
‘Agar leader ki sahi waqt par maut ho jaye toh woh zyada amar ho jaata hain. Uska zyada zinda rehna hi uskey liye uski maut hain.’
‘Maine tamam shartey manzoor ki hain …main tum logon ko bech ke aa raha hoon.’
‘Dekh lena kuch dino mein log sab kuch bhool jayenge … woh tumhe maaf kar denge … tumhari phir wohi izzat hogi jo pehle thi.’
‘Tere patthar maarne se kuch nahi hoga bete.’
‘Log kehte hain zamana badal gaya … shayad badal gaya ho … maine toh sirf hafta lene waale badalte dekhe hain.’
‘Yeh duniya ek third class ka dibba hai … main baith jaata, tum khade rehte.’
‘Lagta hai bojh hamare kismat mein likha hai maa … mere kandhe se hutt kar tumhare dil pe aa gaya.’
‘Zyada paisa aaye toh neend nahi aati, neend aaye toh zyaada paisa nahi aata.’
‘Main jab dushmani mol leta hoon toh saste-mehenge ki parvaah nahi karta.’
‘Badey kanoon waley ho toh jaao unko goli maro jinhonay apne godaamo mein anaaj bhar rakha hain.’
‘Sapne bhi samundar ki lehron ki tarah haqeeqat ki chattanon se takra kar toot jaate hain.’
‘Inn ragon mein baap ke khoon ke saath saath, kuch maa ka doodh hai … kuch bhai ka paseena.’
‘Main Arjun nahi hoon.’
It is powerful lines like these that are as relevant, if not more, in the modern context as they were back in 1975. Another important point to note is that for a movie which is about gangsters and that too set in a city like Mumbai, the language and the vocabulary of the characters is not pedestrian. There is not a single character who spouts the famed ‘bambaiya Hindi’. There is a sense of ‘adab’ in the verbal exchanges between all characters.
An epic always presents moral ideals. At its core, Deewaar is about good vs evil, right vs wrong, love vs hate, enmity vs forgiveness. Just one powerful scene in the movie brings out this core in all its resplendence – the scene in which Ravi asks Vijay to sign the confessional paper. When Vijay recounts all the traumas that they have collectively gone through and tries to place the blame for his actions on a whole bunch of ‘others’, it is their mother who counters all those instances by showing Vijay how morally wrong he is in thinking the way he does. And in an act of supreme defiance takes the side of righteousness to leave Vijay’s lavish house for Ravi’s ‘kiraye ka quarter’.
To summarise, developing an epic is like building a cathedral: it takes careful planning and loads of creativity. 49 years later there isn’t a movie that comes even close to being as complete a script as Deewaar is. It remains the insurmountable peak that no one has been able to top. Probably never will. Some peaks are best left unconquered.
Be braver. Be kinder.
A post about one epic deserves a review of another, more recent one. I haven’t done a detailed study of Killers Of The Flower Moon as per the elements that constitute an epic, but something tells me that it can qualify as one. Another sign of an epic movie - when just one trailer is not enough to capture its scale.
There are movies that you just know are going to be epic from the first frame itself. Killers Of The Flower Moon is one such movie. It has you in a grip from the get go and doesn’t let up for the next 3.26 hrs - to a point where you feel the intermission is an unwelcome break. Based on true events that happened in Osage County, Killers Of The Flower Moon is a masterpiece from a master. Trying to recap the storyline in a short review would be doing injustice to the movie. But suffice to say that this one is a cinch for at least 5, if not more, Oscars. Scorsese is in his element, bringing out opposing expressions and emotions from his stellar cast. So we have DeNiro who is ‘kindly menacing’, DiCaprio who is ‘ruthlessly vulnerable’; Lily Gladstone who is ‘lovingly and endearingly strong’. The background score by the late Robbie Robertson is chilling, filling up and amping up the on-screen happenings to have you in permanent goosebumps mode. And all of this is taken to the next level by some cutting edge cinematography and editing. This is one flawless movie that should not be missed on the big screen. You’ll carry it with you long after you leave the theatre.
Killers Of The Flower Moon | Apple TV+
Hi Shantanu , have not been able to catch up on your articles ! This one on ‘Deewar’ is a delightful read ! I was able to recollect the aura of the film reading this and to top the experience I spent time with Salim uncle ie Salim of the famed Salim - Javed duo earlier yesterday ! He spoke about a documentary that Farhan Akhtar is making ; it is aptly named ‘Angry young man’ and is about Salim - Javed !! I think we will all love it and it will resonate with us !
And I’m upset that ANBA didn’t make it. Hahahahahahahaha!
The line though that turns the movie is “to kya sub chor bun jaayein”….moral clarity.