Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Randhir Kapoor, Tina Munim, Prem Chopra, Dr. Shreeram Lagoo, Radhika Bartake Why Pukar needs to be re...
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Randhir Kapoor, Tina Munim, Prem Chopra, Dr. Shreeram Lagoo, Radhika Bartake
Why Pukar needs to be re-visited 40 years after its release on November 18, 1983, is for its superb music by Rahul Dev Burman. He and producer-director Ramesh Behl made a formidable jodi right from The Train (1970) to Indrajeet (1991) delivering hit after hit as far as the music was concerned. Even in Pukar, songs like Bachke Rehna Re Baba and Samundar mein nahake are still popular and remixed for today’s generation. Not to forget another gem- Jaane Jigar duniya mein. The surprising part was that Pancham sang all the songs for Amitabh while Kishore da sang only two duets for Randhir Kapoor. The spat between Kishore Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan during that time may be the reason behind this anomaly.
The film flopped and failed to get the BO jiggling
though a lot was expected from Ranesh Behl- RD Burman- Amitabh Bachchan-
Randhir Kapoor combination after the super hit Kasme Vaade (1978). The film
which was started in 1979 took 4 years in the making and was based on the
liberation of Goa from the Portuguese. Amitabh as Ramdas alias Ronnie played a
slightly negative role as he sees his father getting shot by a fellow Indian
Purandare played by Dr. Shreeram Lagu without knowing the actual reason. He
sides with the Portuguese against the Indian patriots but in the end, when he
learns the truth he changes sides and helps Shekhar (Randhir Kapoor) in the
quest to liberate Goa from the Portuguese.
1983 was not a very successful year for Mr.
Bachchan. His Nastik had tanked badly followed by Pukar. But he had something
to cheer about by way of his “extended” guest appearance in Andhaa Kanoon and
finally in December his mega-hit Coolie.
Producer-director Ramesh Behl too did not have any
success after Kasme Vaade- Pukar, Jawaani, Apne Apne, and Jaane Jaan (Nikamma) all
flopped despite excellent music in all of them. He couldn’t live to see the
release of his last production Indrajeet.
Despite the pairing of Amitabh-Zeenat (as Julie) and Randhir-Tina (as Usha), Pukar is remembered solely for its music as the Goa liberation had already been tackled in another flop film in 1981, Armaan, which incidentally too had excellent music by Bappi Lahiri!
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