Review of Zanjeer (1973) by Martin A — 14 Feb 2009
Man, how times have changed. This was the first big break-out role for Amitabh Bachchan, so I was keen to see it. It's a pretty good actioner, and Bachchan is good in it, though I think it'll take him a couple more movies before he really finds his feet.
What fascinated me in watching this was the musical numbers, particularly the first one with Jaya Badhuri. She's the only one dancing! These days you get a musical number in a Bollywood picture and everybody, even the legless newspaper vendor breaks in to spontaneous, precisely choreographed dance.
In this, usually it's just the lead of that song dancing, frequently with onlookers just hanging out and watching them. Oddly enough while this is arguably more realistic, it took me out of the action somewhat.
Still, great film, definitely one to be seen by Bollywood completists as it marks such a transition between the older films and what we see today.
This review of Zanjeer (1973) was written by Martin A on 14 Feb 2009.
Zanjeer has generally received positive reviews.
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