Sunday, July 11, 2010

Majboor (released in 1974) - starring Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, and Farida Jalal

Majboor was a movie, released in 1974, that shows the fate of a man, who gets stuck in a web of his own making and is now making frantic efforts to extricate himself from that web. Majboor means 'Somebody who is being forced into a course of action'. The movie was a fairly decent hit, with some good performance by the leading man, the superstar Amitabh Bachchan. The movie was directed by Ravi Tandon, and produced by Premji. The movie had some good music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and the story of the movie was written by the hit pair of Javed Akhtar-Salim Khan (who had written many other leading movie stories as well). The stars of the movie, included, besides Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, Madan Puri, Rehman and Farida Jalal.
The movie is apparently based on an earlier American movie called Zigzag (released in 1970), based on the same subject (that of an innocent man framing himself to collect money that his family will need, since he believes that he is on his death bed, but then gets cured and now wants his freedom back).



So, Amitabh Bachchan leads a simple life as a travel agent, with his mother, his brother and his wheelchair bound sister (Farida Jalal) depending on him for the running of the family. And then, it seems that the gods have frowned down on him, and he starts suffering headaches, which leads to the diagnosis of an incurable brain tumor. But, what worried him apart from death is the fact that since he is the sole bread winner of the family, what will happen after his death ? Who will take care of him family ? This makes him even more desperate.
And in this desperation, he strikes upon an idea. One of his clients dies, and the brother of the dead man offers a reward of Rs. 5 lakhs for the finding of the murderer. And Rs. 5 lakh is a huge amount. Ravi (Amitabh) plays a game in which he will be blamed for the murder, and his family will get the Rs. 5 lakh. Everything goes according to plan, and he is caught and sentenced to death for the murder. And then, something else happens. While in jail, he suffers a major attack, and is taken to hospital where his tumor is cured; now he wants his life back, but he has already plotted his one role in the murder and is a sentenced criminal. How does he get his life back, and get the sentence reversed ? It's a taut tale, fast moving, also starring the beautiful Parveen Babi.

Majboor (released in 1974) - starring Amitabh Bachchan, Parveen Babi, Pran, and Farida Jalal