Starcast: Sunil Dutt, Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Rakhee Gulzar, Parveen Babi, Bindiya Goswami, Kulbhushan Kh...
Starcast: Sunil Dutt, Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Rakhee Gulzar, Parveen Babi, Bindiya Goswami, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Mazhar Khan, Johnny Walker, MacMohan
Direction: Ramesh Sippy
Music: Rahul Dev Burman
The first thing that strikes you about Shaan is its
credit titles. A scantily clad PYT grooving to Usha Uthup's "Doston se pyar kiya
dushmano se badla liya" takes you straight to the beginning of any Bond film.
That sets the tone for Shaan which was much ahead of its time and is perhaps
one of the reasons why it turned out to be an average performer at the
box-office when it was first released as the audience having sky-high
expectations from Sippy after Sholay could not digest what they were
finally served. This was also the very reason it did extremely well
during re-runs and re-reruns, helping Shaan to achieve cult status
over the years.
Shaan was basically a rehashed urban take on Sholay
with Kulbhushan as the bald and beautiful Shakaal, a suave polished version of
Gabbar Singh inspired from the character of Bond villain Blofeld. Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan play brothers up to their conman
tricks, which included walking on water, joined in their dubious business by
Renu (Bindiya Goswami), Sunita (Parveen Babi) and Uncle (Johnny Walker).
Released on December 12, 1980, Shaan was a roller
coaster ride, thoroughly enjoyed by the old and young alike and today one
wonders why on earth didn't it do well initially. It also featured a
rather hilarious scene towards the climax when Amitabh's Vijay
fights and kills a crocodile.
The most expensive film made in India till
then, Shaan revolved round the murder of top cop Shiv (Sunil Dutt)
whose two brothers Vijay (Amitabh) and Ravi (Shashi) team up with ace marksman
Rakesh (Shatrughan Sinha) to take revenge from Shakaal the man behind the
deaths of Shiv and Rakesh's wife Roma (Padmini Kapila). Matters come to
a head when Shakaal gets Sheetal (Rakhee Gulzar), Shiv's widow abducted
and brought to his island.
The one-film old Mazhar Khan shot to fame as the
handicapped Abdul who helps Vijay and Ravi in their mission by supplying them
with some crucial evidence for which he pays for with his life.
Director Ramesh Sippy was hellbent on signing the
same cast of Sholay keen to replicate Sholay's success. Date issues put a
spanner in the works. Sunil Dutt ended up doing the role offered to Sanjeev
Kumar, Bindiya took on Hema Malini's role and Shashi Kapoor replaced
Dharmendra.
The other highlights were cinematography by S M Anwar and the melodious tracks composed
by R D Burman. "Yamma yamma", "Naam Abdul hai mera" and "Jaanu meri jaan" were
some of the last songs sung by Mohammed Rafi before his sudden death.
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