3/5 Stars
'Trishul' is a
film, about how a war waged by a son against his illegitimate father, turns
into a business rivalry and a bitter family drama.
Vijay Kumar
(Amitabh Bachchan) is the illegitimate son of a rich construction tycoon Raj
Kumar Gupta (Sanjeev Kumar) and his lover Shanti (Waheeda Rehman) whom he gives
up to marry a wealthy heiress. Raj, who starts out as an engineer in a
construction company, ends up as R K Gupta, its owner, after the marriage. Raj
is not aware of his son, who is looked after by his mother all along and after
her death, comes to Delhi to take revenge on the Gupta family. R K Gupta’s son
Shekhar (Shashi Kapoor) and daughter Babli (Poonam Dhillon) have grown up to
become independent individuals and get influenced by Vijay to revolt against
their father. What follows is a tale of one-upmanship, lies, deceit, hatred,
rebellion and eventual redemption.
Sanjeev Kumar
effortlessly plays the tied-down son, helpless lover, workaholic businessman
and the irresponsible father. Although his role could have been more
substantial, he does give it his everything. He may not be the archetypical
leading hero in the film, but the story revolves around his rivalry with
Amitabh Bachchan’s character and the actor lives up to his reputation. Waheeda
Rehman, who plays Sanjeev Kumar’s lover and Amitabh Bachchan’s mother, Shanti,
has a very short role in the film. She plays the demure girl brilliantly and
does well in the portions where she struggles to make ends meet in order to
bring up her son. Shashi Kapoor is at his effervescent best, playing the
sprightly, rich, flirtatious yet a sincere young man. He brings a lot of life
to this essentially dramatic film. Amitabh Bachchan puts in one of his
career-best performances in this film. Be it in the dramatic conversational
scenes, the romantic ones, the emotional sequences or the action stunts,
Bachchan excels and how! The scene where Amitabh Bachchan (Vijay Kumar) meets
Sanjeev Kumar (R.K.Gupta) for the first time is excellently written and
impeccably performed by the two geniuses. Hema Malini, besides looking
stunning, does fine in her limited role of a rich businessman’s daughter. The
chemistry between Shashi Kapoor and Hema Malini is absolutely electrifying.
Rakhee Gulzar is fine as Geeta. Her role, especially her chemistry with Amitabh
Bachchan, could have been explored further though. One wonders why Yash Chopra
asked her to mouth certain lines in the English language, when she couldn’t get
the diction right. A few lines hardly make a difference, but it does put the
viewer off. A young Sachin Pilgaonkar
sparkles in a supporting role, where he is cast opposite the lovely Poonam
Dhillon. Once again a Yash Chopra film has women playing independent and strong
characters. It was interesting to see women play modern characters, and not the
stereotypical ones where they’re shown submissive. Prem Chopra as the evil
Balwant Rai is at his villainous best and gives us yet another memorable
performance.
Firstly, the writing (Salim Khan and Javed
Akhtar) is brilliant. The writers infuse the perfect combination of romance,
drama, action and suspense in the film. The dialogues too, are not filmy per se. For some reason, the story
and the dialogues of the film seem very real. The screenplay was found wanting
at various junctures in the film.
The editing (B. Mangeshkar) is good for
most of the duration of the film. There are a few misplaced shots with improper
angles but you can put it down to the lack of technology (as it is, such
discrepancies were prevalent in most films made during that time). Another
noteworthy scene in the film is the one where Amitabh beats up the bad guy
Madhav Singh illegally taking over R K Gupta’s land. The fight sequence
(impeccable directed by Shetty) was hard-hitting and had a few light moments
too, towards the end, guaranteeing wholesome entertainment.
The songs could have been shot better. The
choreography falls flat at times and fails to infuse the kind of energy that is
associated with Yash Chopra films. The music by Khayyam is superb. However,
none of the songs have lasted the test of time. The numbers are hummable, but
only while you watch the film. They aren’t memorable. ‘Mohabbat Bade Kaam Ki
Cheez Hai’ was the best song in the film.
Coming to the direction, Yash Chopra once
again extracts near-flawless performances from his cast. The film must have
been a risqué one, during the time that it was made in, but Chopra brings his
own edge to the table. The romantic sequences, especially, have been brilliant
conceived and shot. The action sequences in the climax of the film do end up
looking comical; however, they do nothing to spoil the charm of the film.
Not just does it
boast of an interesting story, but also riveting dialogues and flawless
performances by the cast, notably Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi
Kapoor. Thought the film
may not be the most perfect, technically, it does entertain you for a good 2
hour 45 minutes. A story well told, and way ahead of its time. (First Posted In MSN)
Shivom Oza
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