Starcast: Amitabh Bachchan, Amjad Khan, Zeenat Aman, Ranjeet, Suresh Oberoi, Jeevan, Bindu, Padmini Kapila, Rakhee (Special Appearance) ...
Starcast:
Amitabh Bachchan, Amjad Khan, Zeenat Aman, Ranjeet, Suresh Oberoi, Jeevan,
Bindu, Padmini Kapila, Rakhee (Special Appearance)
Director:
Prakash Mehra
Music:
Kalyanji-Anandji
The
moment one mentions "Laawaris", the first thing that comes
to mind is the iconic chartbuster "Mere angane main" in
Bachchan's famous baritone, which was both popular and vilified for Bachchan's
act in the drag. Incidentally the female version sung by Alka Yagnik had
the young singer bagging the Filmfare nomination for best singer!
Released
on May 22, 1981, "Laawaris" was a superhit at the BO, with the
audience appreciating the songs, the gripping story, the Amitabh-Zeenat
chemistry and yes the Amitabh-Amjad chemistry as well. The duo had been seen as
father and son earlier in 1977 in "Parvarish". In
"Laawaris" both complemented each other very well in the emotional
scenes, Amjad as the guilt-ridden father (Ranvir Singh) and Amitabh as Heera,
the son angry over his father abandoning his mother when she told him of her
pregnancy.
The
Big B's mother, Vidya, was played by Rakhee, his heroine of many films, though
the two didn't share screen space in this one. That was reserved for
Mushir-Riyaz's "Shakti" where Rakhee agreed to play Amitabh's mother
because she didn't want to lose the opportunity of starring opposite thespian
Dilip Kumar.
Vidya
dies soon after childbirth. Her brother gives the new born to his driver, Gangu Ganpat (Shreeram Lagoo) to kill, but Ganpat a drunkard raises the
baby as his own. Thirty years later an angry Ganpat reveals the truth to Heera
when he refuses to give him liquor, resulting in Heera leaving. He joins
Mahendra Singh's (Ranjeet) factory as a worker and soon comes to blows with him
over the wages issue. He is transferred to a hill estate where he meets
Mahendra's father Ranvir who is leading a very unhappy life with his wife
Kamini (Bindu). In the meantime Heera also meets his childhood friend Mohini
(Zeenat) and their fall in love. The rest of the film deals with Ranvir finally
accepting Heera as his son.
Amitabh
owned every scene in "Laawaris" as he sang, danced, emoted, showed
anger and romanced Zeenat with effortless ease. Amjad was effective as the
brooding and guilt-ridden father with grey shades though not the main villain.
Ranjeet as the debauched half-brother who makes his girl friend (Padmini
Kapila) pregnant and abandons her a la Ranvir was his usual villainous
self.
Special
mention must be made about Suresh Oberoi who as Ram Singh left a mark as the
helpless brother out to avenge his sister's rape.
All
the songs composed by Kalyanji-Anandji from the soulful "Kabke
bhichhade hue", the teasing "Kahe paise pe itna" to the racy
"Apni to jaise taise" and the haunting and philosophical "Jiska koi nahin uska toh khuda
yaaron", were superhits and are still very popular even today. "Mere angane
main" remains a class apart.
"Laawaris"
was remade in Telugu in 1982 as "Naa Desam" with NT Rama Rao, Kaikala
Satyanarayana and Jayasudha and as "Panakkaran" in 1990 in Tamil starring
Rajinikanth, Vijayakumar and Gautami.
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