Zanjeer

<p>On , a young Vijay Khanna witnesses the murder of his parents committed by a man of unknown identity with a white horse on his charm bracelet . Due to this traumatic event, Vijay has recurring nightmares of a white . Even as a child, Vijay stays socially awkward from other kids and believes himself to be alone. 20 years later, Vijay has become an in a town, where few are honest. Vijay receives complaints about a local man named Sher Khan, who is running gambling dens. When Vijay calls Khan in for questioning, Khan’s superiority complex chafes against Vijay’s police authority as he scolds the officer, telling him he only orders him around due to his uniform. Vijay takes him up on his challenge, and meets him in street clothes to fight him. After the fight, Sher Khan not only closes his gambling dens, but has gained respect for Vijay. Sher Khan becomes an and reforms his ways. Various dealings of the continue unabated throughout the town, which traces back to Teja, a crime boss. A mysterious caller continuously calls Vijay to inform him when a crime is about to take place, but hangs up before Vijay can extract any more information from him. When a traffic accident perpetrated by gang members leaves several children dead, a street performer named Mala becomes the witness, where she is bribed by Teja’s men to keep quiet. Mala is questioned by Vijay, who becomes enraged at her and to sway her differently, takes her into the to view the mangled bodies of the children. Mala has a change of heart and asks the money to be donated to an . Mala identifies the man behind the traffic accident. After learning that Mala has broken her word, Teja’s men chases after her through the night. Mala arrives at Vijay’s house, desperate for shelter and Vijay allows her to stay. The two discover that they are orphans and discuss the fears associated with living alone. Vijay kindly takes her to his brother and sister-in-law. Under the sister-in-law’s tutelage, Mala begins to learn how to keep the house clean as well as learn . Eventually, Teja frames Vijay for bribery, who is later imprisoned for 6 months on false charges. After getting released from prison, Vijay plans to exact revenge, but Mala, who developed feelings for Vijay, begs him to stop being so vengeful. Vijay reluctantly agrees, but soon must come to terms with such a promise. In a , Vijay encounters the informant who had called him in the past when he was an inspector. The informer named D’Silva appears half-insane, holding onto an empty bottle. D’Silva tells that several years before on , his three sons drank poisoned and died from it. Until the killer is found, D’Silva will continue to wander with the bottle. When local criminals mocked him, D’Silva vowed to get back at them by calling the inspector when a crime was about to happen. After hearing this news, Vijay becomes depressed. Along with a concerted effort by Sher Khan to cheer up Vijay, Mala relents and vows that she will not try to control him and tells him to do what is right. The trail of tainted moonshine leads back to Teja. Upon finally cornering Teja on Diwali, bursting overhead, Vijay finds out that the person who murdered his parents is Teja after Vijay recognized the on his wrist. Sher Khan helps him to fight Teja and his men, where Vijay takes justice into their own hands until the police arrive. When the helpless Inspector is held at gunpoint by Teja, Vijay manages to retrieve a dropped pistol from the ground and shoots Teja, who falls dead into the swimming pool. The story and script were written by , who also conceived the “angry young man” persona of Vijay, played by Amitabh Bachchan. After completing the script, Khan shared the credit with as the screenwriting duo . was written as a with violent action sequences, and the main character Vijay was conceived as a hard-hitting, ‘angry with the system’ young man. At a time when was dominated by with “romantic hero” leads, saw the script as potentially groundbreaking and came on board as the film’s director. However, they were struggling to find an actor for the lead “angry young man” role, which was turned down by a number of actors due to it going against their “romantic hero” image; at the time, the industry was dominated by the and similar “romantic hero” actors. The role of the lead was first offered to many leading men of the time, including , Rajesh Khanna, , and , but they turned down the offer. Eventually, it went to a newcomer, and established his career. Salim-Javed were responsible for discovering and casting Bachchan. At the time, Bachchan was a “failed newcomer” who, by the age of 30, had twelve flops and only two hits (as a lead in and supporting role in ). According to Javed Akhtar, they “saw his talent, which most makers didn’t. He was exceptional, a genius actor who was in films that weren’t good.” According to Bachchan, Salim-Javed were close to Rajesh Khanna and could’ve convinced him to play the role, but they instead opted for the unknown Bachchan. According to Salim Khan, they “strongly felt that Amitabh was the ideal casting for “. Bachchan stated “Salim-Javed saw a fight sequence in where I was chewing gum throughout the fight as an indicator that I would be the right choice for .” Salim Khan was responsible for introducing Bachchan to Mehra. For the female lead, was initially offered the role, but she was engaged at the time, and opted out, choosing marriage over career. Jaya Bhaduri, who was engaged to Bachchan at the time, immediately agreed to take the role for the sake of her future husband. For the film’s promotion, the posters of initially did not have the names of Salim-Javed on them. Salim-Javed hired a man with a jeep to drive around and paint “Salim-Javed” in font on all the posters from to . However, the man was sometimes drunk, which led to him painting “Salim-Javed” on the wrong places, such as Pran’s face or Bachchan’s hands, for some posters. The music was composed by and the lyrics were written by , with the exception of ‘Yaari Hai Imaan Mera’, which was penned by . With a total domestic Indian of 6 in , including a of 3 crore, the film was declared a “Super Hit” according to . This was equivalent to a domestic gross of 7.75 million in 1973, or US$55 million ( 282 crore) in 2016. It was also an at the , where it drew an audience of 37.3 million viewers in . Its overseas gross in the amounted to 9.325 million ( 14.58 million, 11.46 crore), equivalent to US$56 million ( 282 crore) in 2016. Worldwide, the film grossed a total of 17.46 crore ($22.33 million). Adjusted for inflation, its worldwide gross is equivalent to 564 crore ($84 million) in 2016. : (Simultaneously shot in Hindi and Telugu)</p>