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.

Roti Kapda Aur Makaan (1974) starring Manoj Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, and Zeenat Aman

The struggle to remain good and maintain high morals when facing adverse situations in life can be a hard struggle; after all, there are a number of movies depicting how a criminal rose up in life because of poverty are a large number. Manoj Kumar has made a number of movies on the concept of patriotism, or on the struggle in life between the good and the bad, with this movie being an integral part of his collection. The name 'Roti Kapda aur Makaan' delineates this struggle, with the words literally translating into the following - Food, Clothes and House (Shelter), depicting the necessities of life.
The movie was a very successful movie, having struck a chord in the audience about the struggle to make ends meet and the moral problems that get associated with such struggles, becoming the most successful movie of 1974. The movie was made (produced and directed) by Manoj Kumar, and like many of his other movies, was a multi-starrer, starring Shashi Kapoor, Zeenat Aman, Amitabh Bachchan, Moushmi Chatterjee, besides Manoj Kumar in the lead role.
Some of the songs of the movie were very successful, such as "Hay Hay Yeh Majboori", "Main Na Bhoolunga", etc. The music for the movie was by Laxmikant-Pyarelal (earning him a Filmfare Award Nomination, and winning the Best Lyrics award for Santosh Anand).



The movie is about the head of a family, Bharat (Manoj Kumar) who takes on the responsibility for his family after the retirement of his father. He has 2 younger brothers Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) and Deepak (Dheeraj Kumar), as well as a sister Champa, who is eligible to get married. However, he is not so successful, not able to find work despite having a good education. The only earning he has is through a job as a singer, but it does not pay that much; this makes his girlfriend Sheetal (Zeenat Aman) extremely frustrated, and she starts working as a secretary to a rich businessman Mohan Babu (Shashi Kapoor), who starts falling in love with her; she is seemingly more interested in his wealth.
Bharat in the meantime is going through more struggles; his efforts to become a builder end in failure when the Government takes over his building site and leaves him with grave financial problems. Sheetal also gets engaged to her boss, and then Bharat's father dies. Even when a suitor is found for his sister Champa, Bharat is unable to get the required amount of money for the marriage. What does Bharat do ? How does he resist the temptation to get into crime ?

Hero - The story of a criminal turned hero (1983)

Hero released in the year 1983, turned its male protagonist (Jackie Shroff) into an overnight star. Jackie had already made his debut (a rather unsuccessful one) in the film Swami Dada under the guidance of Dev Anand. But it needed maverick director Subhash Ghai’s Midas touch to catapult Shroff to the big league of fame and popularity.

In Hero, Ghai takes the time-tested track of star-struck lovers and makes a simple yet heart-warming story of a criminal turning over a new leaf under the influence of love. The movie’s main strength is its outstanding music courtesy Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Ghai’s sensitive handling of the love story. Of course the entire cast also does a commendable job. In the film Jaikishen, or Jackie Dada, as he is called in the film, is a criminal with a heart of gold. He has old scores to settle with the area’s Thakur and his son, a police officer. Pasha (the ever reliable Amrish Puri), a notorious criminal, has been imprisoned by the IG Police, Shrikanth Mathur (Shammi Kapoor). The evil Pasha swears to avenge himself and sends his favourite henchman, Jackie Dada to do this for him. The plan is to abduct Mathur's beloved daughter Radha (Meenakshi Sheshadri) and then bargain for Pasha’s release with the cops.



Jackie takes on the identity of a cop and under the pretext of saving Radha from the local goons abducts her. As fate would have it, the inevitable happens and the two opposites fall in love. Soon Radha comes to learn about Jackie’s true identity but instead of giving up on him, she chooses to repose her faith in this relationship. Determined to make an honest man out of Jackie, she convinces him to surrender o the cops. Jackie by this time is also convinced of his errant ways and is determined to do the right thing. He surrenders to the cops who imprison him for two years. Radha, finds a confidante in her brother Damodar (Sanjeev Kumar) and tells him all about her love for Jackie. In his bid to help Radha, Damodar asks his friend Johnny to pretend to be in love with Radha, thinking this would deter their father from getting her married off before Jaikishen is out of prison. Meanwhile, Jackie completes his term and starts working in a garage, in his bid to lead a life of honesty. But Shrikanth is not convinced of his honest intentions. In another twist, Damodar discovers that Johnny is a drug dealer. Around the same time, Pasha gets out of jail and kidnaps Radha to punish both Shrikanth and Jaikishen. Whether Jackie is able to save his true love and whether Shrikant finally accepts Jackie constitutes the climax of the film.

Songs and lyrics from the movie Hero:

1. Tu mera jaanu hai tu mera dilbar hai (link)

2. Pyar Karne Wale (link)

3. O Baby sing a song (link)

4. Nindiya se jagi bahar (link)

5. Lambi Judai (link)