Director: Umesh Mehra Starcast: Nutan, Mithun Chakraborty, Madhuri Dixit, Shakti Kapoor, Suresh Oberoi, Pallavi Joshi, Sharat Saxena &...
Director: Umesh Mehra
Starcast: Nutan, Mithun Chakraborty, Madhuri Dixit,
Shakti Kapoor, Suresh Oberoi, Pallavi Joshi, Sharat Saxena & Amrish Puri
Music: Annu Malik
Widely believed to be an inspired version of the Hollywood film Scarface
, Mujrim was a big-budget film by the reputed Eagle Films and directed
by Umesh Mehra. Starring their favourite Mithun Chakraborty in the main lead
opposite the then-rising star Madhuri Dixit, Mujrim was a resounding hit and
according to a reliable source of yours truly, it was the biggest success of
Umesh Mehra. The film was dubbed in Bengali for the Bengal audience and it
was a big hit as well. The film is still notable for its excellent
Indianization of the original plot, riveting performances, and the perfect
balance between action, drama, and lighter moments.
Storyline: Shankar (Mithun) belongs to a lower middle-class Bengali-speaking family. He was sent to a juvenile home as a child for killing
his own uncle who was planning to sell his mother Yashoda (Nutan). He is given
ten years of punishment for that and when he comes back he finds out that his
mother and sister (Pallavi Joshi) are living in extreme poverty. With some help from his friend Chandan (Shakti Kapoor), he tries to make an honest living but fails to do so as he is considered a criminal, a “mujrim” by the so-called civic society. Desperate to give a good life to his family, he joins
Malik (Sharat Saxena) an underworld don which irks his principled mother and
she vows to sever all ties with him. Slowly, he becomes Malik’s successor after
his death and marries Malik’s daughter Sonia (Madhuri Dixit). The rest of the
film is about Shankar’s journey from a juvenile delinquent to an underworld
kingpin and what he gains and loses in this journey.
Direction and Other Technical Departments: Umesh Mehra was one of the most talented and
technically sound directors of the 1980s and one of his greatest facets was
his innate ability to adapt well-known foreign films by suitably Indianizing them and not copying them blindly Mujrim is no exception. Just like a few of his
previous films such as Hamare Tumhare (1979) and Ashanti (1982) he has just
taken the skeletal storyline of Scarface and executed it with all the
commercial ingredients and Indian sensibilities. He was also a master of
innovatively handling different timelines in his films. However, he could have easily done away with a few crude scenes
involving Shakti Kapoor, Kunika,, Tej Sapru and Madhuri Dixit which do not gel
with the overall look and template of the film. The cinematography is
slick, full credit goes to S.Pappu for that. Art Direction by Rajaram
Kharade is another positive aspect of the film. He has masterfully created the
sets of a slum area or a prison very well. Mohan Baggad needs special mention for
choreographing the action sequences so brilliantly. There is a shootout scene between the smugglers and cops in a dark basement which has been shot
extremely well.
Performances: Mithun Chakraborty as Shankar Bose is just amazing, to
say the least. Right from his first scene, he conveys sorrow, compassion, anger, and disgust through his eyes and mesmerizes the audience with his performance.
He has several interesting get-ups in the film and has looked good in all
of them. Needless to say he shows his confidence in the dance and action
sequences, a big reason why the film was a hit. Madhuri Dixit oozes confidence
as the snobbish turned-docile Sonia, she has done justice to her changing
character graph quite well. Suresh Oberoi is excellent as the well-meaning but
tough cop Gokhale. Shakti Kapoor blends comedy with emotions really well.
Every audience watching the film will relate to the unswerving loyalty of
Chandan’s character. Amrish Puri looks menacing and acts well as the main
baddie Khan. Sharat Saxena in a complex role is again first rate. However, the
strongest performance in the film comes from the veteran Nutan as Yashoda. She
gives an excellent performance as a mother with strong moral values and in a
few scenes, her facial expressions and dialogue delivery are exemplary.
Music : The film is certainly not a musical and songs are according to the mood
of the film. But, two songs really stand out. The well-composed Naiyo
Jeena Tere Bina (Mohd.Aziz, Sadhana Sargam) and Mujrim na Kehna, brilliantly
written by Indeevar and sung by Mohd
Aziz. The other songs are Daata Pyar De, a Vande Mataram-inspired devotional
number beautifully sung by Sadhana Sargam and Raat ke Barah Baje, an energetic
number sung by Amit Kumar, Alka Yagnik, and Annu Malik which was a huge hit back
then. Though a rip-off, Boom Boom Laka Laka sung by Mohd Aziz and Annu Malik
has the 80s feel all over it and is enjoyable. Kukudoo Ku is an ordinary
number sung by Dilraj Kaur.
Overall, Mujrim is a predictable but well-made actioner with high-octane emotions which still carries a lot of entertainment value for almost all kinds of audience who love commercial cinema. This convict surely has all the qualities to capture the attention of the masses.
By Ayushmaan Mitra
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