Deewaar: They just don't make them like this anymore

I mean, I’m not one to rant about The Dismal State of Cinema Today, but this is such a classic. Yash Chopra just got it right. I keep trying to write this review, and instead going back and rewatching all those iconic scenes. (Also the Aruna Irani song.) Deewar is about right and wrong and the line in between, and what happens when that line is drawn through a family.

The filmmakers did kind of take the idea and run with it.

Ravi and Vijay are brothers who with their mother (Nirupa Roy) are forced into poverty in Mumbai, after their father leaves town in disgrace due to being blackmailed in a labor dispute. Vijay, the elder, works so that Ravi can be educated and despite their circumstances, they grow up into very different men. Ravi becomes a polite Shashi Kapoor, with a B.A., a police inspector job, and a nice girlfriend (Neetu Singh). Vijay is Amitabh Bachchan, a dock worker who is forced to pay protection money to a local gang. He grew up working on the street, defending his mother, and literally carrying the sins of his father tattooed on his skin, so it’s not hard to see why he seeks a more secure life. He moves into the more lucrative world of smuggling, and buys his mother a new house and all the comforts he can give her.

Religious discord in the family.
But do you see that Vijay's badge is number 786? Do you think there might be some religious symbolism going on? I think there might be some religious symbolism going on.

Vijay is focused on getting what he deserves, and taking power back from those who oppressed him. He buys the building that his mother labored at so many years ago, hoping to give it to her as a gift and erase the pains of the past. Ravi has been assigned to Mumbai to deal with the smugglers that Vijay works for, though, and confronts him, forcing their mother to choose between her sons.

And she chooses. The thing that makes the conflict so real, and so familial, is that neither brother is completely right or completely wrong, but they still can’t understand each other. Ravi doesn’t acknowledge the sacrifices of his brother, or what drove him to seek wealth and power. And Vijay is so concerned with showing up the demons from his past that he forgets what really matters, and what his mother really wants from her sons. The only thing they keep in common, Vijay says, is the footpath where they slept as children. It’s a great conversation, and even though I knew it was coming, “mere paas maa hai” still floored me. It’s just that good.

Vijay’s relationship with Anita (Parveen Babi) is what finally turns him around. She has an unspecified but troubled past, and they both seem to understand the other’s pain. They don’t reform each other but they do manage to redeem each other.

And Amitabh! God he’s fantastic. Whatever he does, deceiving smugglers, beating up gangs, begging God for his mother’s life, it’s all just so right.

Don't be like me and put off seeing this.