Shakti

About the film

Shakti (transl. Strength) is a 1982 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film, directed by Ramesh Sippy, written by the Salim–Javed duo, and produced by Mushir-Riaz. It stars Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhee Gulzar, Smita Patil, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Amrish Puri. Shakti was notable for being the first and only film to feature veteran actors Kumar and Bachchan together on screen. Considered to be one of the greatest films in the history of Indian cinema, it went on to win four Filmfare Awards, for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, and Best Actor for Kumar. It was inspired by the Tamil film Thangappathakkam.

The film was the 9th highest grossing Hindi film of 1983. Kumar and Bachchan were both nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor, which Kumar won. Talking about Bachchan's performance, Sippy said, "I don't think anyone else could’ve played the role the way Mr. Bachchan did. He had to play a hurt and wounded son."

Plot

Retired Commissioner of Police Ashwini Kumar (Dilip Kumar) is at the railway station to receive his teenage grandson Ravi, who has just returned after completing his B.A. exams. On being asked by his grandfather about his future plans, Ravi promptly replies that he wants to become a police officer and serve his country, just like his grandfather. Kumar tells him that the journey of being a police officer is fraught with many arduous challenges, and Ravi should reconsider his decision. Kumar starts by explaining his own life story in a flashback.

Kumar had a happy family consisting of him, Sheetal, Ravi's grandmother, and son Vijay, Ravi's father. In the course of purging the city of crime, Ashwini takes up cudgels against a dreaded gangster named J.K. Verma. He arrests a key henchman of J.K. named Yashwant in order to decimate J.K.'s supremacy. However, J.K. takes matters into his own hands and abducts Vijay. J.K. calls up Ashwini and tries to strike a deal: Yashwant's freedom in lieu of Vijay's life. Ashwini, a virtuous cop, tells J.K. on the phone that even if his only son is killed in the process, he will not betray the law. Unbeknownst to Ashwini, however, the conversation is being tape recorded. When Vijay listens to his father's voice on the tape recorder, he is shocked and pained to hear his father's words and his lackadaisical attitude towards his own flesh and blood.

With no help forthcoming, Vijay takes it upon himself to escape his abductors. Whilst the entire gang is searching for Vijay, K.D. Narang, another goon in J.K.'s gang, finds Vijay but pities the helpless child and helps him escape to safety. The police trace J.K.'s hideout, but find that Vijay is missing. Vijay manages to escape and reaches home safely, but Vijay slowly and surely distances himself from his father. Narang and J.K. become sworn enemies after J.K. discovers that Narang was behind Vijay's escape.

Production

The role of Vijay was initially to be played by Raj Babbar and he took an advance, but after Amitabh Bachchan showed interest in the role, Babbar was dropped. Rakhee Gulzar has stated that people warned her that portraying Bachchan's mother would ruin her career, but she did not care as she was delighted at the prospect of acting with Dilip Kumar who portrayed her character's husband.

Awards

Both Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan were nominated for the Best Actor award, but it was Dilip Kumar who eventually won it Bachchan had a total of three nominations in the category that year.

The film was critically acclaimed and won many accolades, which are listed below:

Soundtrack

The song "Jane Kaise Kab Kahan" is an evergreen hit.

Vocals were supplied by Kishore Kumar (for Bachchan), Lata Mangeshkar (for Patil) and Mahendra Kapoor (for Dilip Kumar).

Box office

As per Bollywood Hungama, Shakti's liftime collection was ₹ 8 crore.

Key details