646f9e108c A police officer (Amitabh Bachchan) after the brutal murder of his family seeks some answers from life. Where he was suspended from duty, because of false story portrayed against him by traitors, when he decides to track down the killer of his family years ago, with the help of a street-wise knife sharpening girl (Jaya Bhaduri), and a Pathan (Pran). He was able to make out one of themunderworld don Teja and promise himself that he would not rest in peace until he takes revenge. A tough and honest police officer clashes with a crime boss who, unbeknownst to him, happens to be his parents&#39; murderer. I managed to watch this entire movie (TCM - 4 stars!) because I kept hoping that it would get better…but it never did. There is so much that&#39;s bad about this movie that I don&#39;t know where to begin!<br/><br/>The fight scenes: disjointed and senseless with terrible sound effects. The fight with Sher Khan at the beginning of the movie was really bad, no one got hurt but they both got filthy with oily dirt! It was more like adult men having a slap &amp; tickle!<br/><br/>The camera work: Moving camera work was jerky and made my brain hurt. The delivery truck barreling down the road was so contrived, like a bad &#39;Clutch Cargo&#39; cartoon! And when it runs into the school kids…SCTV did better on their worst days!<br/><br/>Weird camera shots, I remember the camera panning left and showing just the heads &amp; shoulders of people on the ground and a group standing on a ramshackle raised patio - only their legs and feet! Or was the point of the shot the ramshackleness of the construction? Strange quick shots of characters displaying unreadable expressions on their faces occur frequently…<br/><br/>The murder on the train? Some shifty-eyed thug butts out a cigarette on the guy&#39;s hand and he falls off the train (the only laugh I got all movie!)<br/><br/>The solo singing number by Mala - no idea what she was singing about! The subtitles didn&#39;t make any sense - she was obviously lamenting about something to do with love, but the tears on her face told me that! No subtitles would&#39;ve been better than what was displayed.<br/><br/>The lighting in the Inspector&#39;s &quot;apartment&quot; - really bad during a critical fight scene. The fight scene near the end when Vijay gets thrown off the bridge onto the tracks below…more slap &amp; tickle, but the fall from the bridge would&#39;ve killed him certainly.<br/><br/>Then out of seemingly nowhere deadly knives are thrown by Mala - who knew?!<br/><br/>Maybe I&#39;m spoiled (well…actually I&#39;m sure I&#39;m spoiled) but I&#39;ve watched a lot of foreign films over the years and I&#39;m more than willing to overlook minor errors - but this movie is just one big stew of nonsensical plot-chunks! 5 stars because of the dance numbers, the dance number with Sher Khan on the occasion of his birthday is a classic. &quot;Friendship is my Religion; my Friend is my Life!&quot;<br/><br/>((Interesting side note, the lead actor &#39;Vijay&#39; and the knife-girl &#39;Mala&#39; were married in real life after this movie and have remained married for 40 years)) Zanjeer is a film that entertains throughout. The cast did a good job in their own role. Amitabh Bachchan gave us an intense performance which his extreme discomfort and anger. Jaya Bachchan portrayed a shy,innocent and young girl well. Pran did wella loyal friend. The villains did their part. Although this was a serious movie, there were some lighter parts; I especially liked the part where Jaya Bachchan (Mala) learns words from that family and tries using it. In one scene, when Amitabh Bachchan (Vijay) was leaving she called him and said &quot;bye bye&quot;; he laughs and taps her with the police batonshe looks shyly at him - cute scene between them. A nice film which is worth a watch and is recommended.
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370 weeks ago