Sunday, 12 December 2021

SHAAN 1980

My mind goes back to 1980.
Sholay was five years young and Shaan was to release on 12th December.
Advance Bookings opened on Monday 8th December .
Main theatre was Rahul 70mm.
I was at the theatre at 7am .
I was 25 or 26th in the line and needless to say that there were many black market touts ahead of me.
Some who slept at the theatre itself.
Advance Bookings were to open at 10 but we're preponed to 9.30 am.
After great difficulty I got tickets for Saturday 13 th.
I wasn't disappointed and with confirmed tickets at hand decided to try my luck at low key theatre in outskirts.
Finally got tickets at Excelsior for Friday .. Booked them and saw Shaan twice in the first two days.
( Followed it with two more times before the first week ended ).
With Shaan Ramesh Sippy returned to the big screen with the big action adventure.  Written by Salim-Javed, the story is an action thriller laced with comedy in the first half and with many of the film elements seemingly inspired by a hotchpotch of James Bond films in the second half. The film starts of with a Bondesque opening title sequence for instance.
Doston Se Pyaar Kiya ..with terrific background by the wizard R.D.Burman himself.
Shiv kumar (Sunil Dutt) is a straight cop who gets an action-packed intro courtesy his star status. he saves some hostages by lobbing a grenade and blowing up a water tank. All in a day's work for this happy family man who is married to Sheetal (Raakhee.).
He has two roguish brothers, Vijay 
( Amitabh ) and Ravi ( Shashi Kapoor), and their many transgressions in the film's initial stages constitute the most entertaining portions of the movie.
fleecing money from corrupt officials and small time crooks. First, they outwit an unwitting Hotel owner Younus Parvez..they then join hands with a Uncle and Niece team ( Renu (Bindiya Goswami) and Chacha (Johnny Walker ) who outwit them by selling them a stolen car ( a well enacted comic caper ).
They are joined by Sunita (Parveen Babi) who steals a queens necklace while posing as a singer crooning ..Pyaar Karne Waale Pyaar Karte Hain Shaan se..
As destiny ( script) has it Inspector Shiv Kumar is transferred to the city and catches them red handed .
and puts them in jail.
His wife Sheetal (Rakhee Gulzar) shares the same values although she has a soft spot for Shiv’s two brothers and is altogether more forgiving than her husband. However, once the brothers are released from jail they make a vow to ‘go straight’ and move in with Shiv and Sheetal in their house in Mumbai.
While Vijay and Ravi have been in jail, Shiv has been making inroads into the criminal empire of a villain known only as Shakaal (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) and his efforts are starting to seriously impact on criminal business. Shakaal sends an assassin Rakesh (Shatrughan Sinha) after Shiv and his family, but after two attempts on Shiv’s life fail, Shakaal ups the ante and sends his henchman Jagmohan (Mac Mohan) instead. After one of the best kidnap attempts I’ve seen onscreen, Jagmohan manages to spirit Shiv to the island hideaway while leaving everyone else totally baffled as to Shiv’s whereabouts.
(The Dog chase is also very well choreographed).
Shakaal’s Den is absolutely wonderful and mixes many of the best elements from various other villain hideouts including James Bond films. It’s located on an island some 300km off the coast of India but in reality was filmed on the island of Steep Holm near the UK. The Den is shown to have  long corridors with rough-hewn rock for walls but fancy modern automatic doors and nifty surveillance cameras. This main cabin room is with a rotating circular table and a retractable floor, underneath which lurks a man-eating crocodile. This allows Shakaal to indulge in a form of roulette to dispose of unsatisfactory employees or anyone else he doesn’t like. Meanwhile sharks (and the odd oversized goldfish) can be seen swimming past the green tinted windows for extra menace. Adding to the ambience in a large audience hall is a massive golden statue of an eagle, and Shakaal has a throne strategically placed underneath for those moments when you just have to be seen to be the head villain! And of course there are plenty of panels with flashing lights and hidden switches– everything your discerning villain could require for world domination
Shakaal has his own distinctive look too combining his bald head with black or white military style tunics featuring his ‘S’ logo prominently displayed. His henchmen all wear identical smart white suits, and later on his henchwomen are attired in silver miniskirts and fetching black blouson style shirts – always good to see a properly style-conscious villain!
(If Gabbar was Rustic, Shakhaal was Mystical).
With Shakhaal disposing Shiv Kumar the film shifts to revenge gear .
Vijay and Ravi now want Shakal's bald scalp and they are aided by Rakesh (Shatrughan Sinha), a sharp shooter who has his own axe to grind with Shakaal and by Abdul (Mazhar Khan) a freewheeling informer who feeds them free information about Shakaal.
Addition of Rakesh halfway into the film is a masterstroke, adding uncertainty to the second half and also an opportunity for another good car chase and action scenes.
It all leads to the final showdown on Shakaal's island and inside his gadget-filled den of vice after the leads have disguised themselves and sing Yamma Yamma with Helen. Many punch-ups later, Vijay knows exactly what buttons to press on Shakaal's control panel to finish the villain's tyranny and the island is blown up just as the key players take off in a Helicopter.
Shaan didn't fare well in the first outing ..this on analysis can be too many characters and too many stars. Also, their individual tracks run parallel and are often not interwoven into one narrative. What results is a collection of vignettes revolving around each major character or star. And also a collection of multistarrer cliches -- not once but twice an actress is tied up for ransom rendering the hero helpless in the hands of the villain.
Another point was it's constant comparison to Sholay although both are of diffrent genres even if the soul is similar.
The film was re-released twice and subsequently now declared a cult film of sorts.
G P Sippy spares no expense to provide the film a patina of grandeur. Ramesh Sippy directs the action sequences with characteristic flair .
Music and Background score by R.D.Burman is top class.Pyar karnewale is a peppy club number as is the underutilised Usha Uthup's Doston se. Janoo meri jaan is a catchy multistar love song so typical of the 1970s and 1980s and Yamma yamma is one of the better climax songs from the heroes-in-disguise-in-the-villain's-den genre.   
Hit yarn spinners Salim-Javed's script surprisingly throws up no memorable dialogue -- not even for the villain. To have the villain respond to the accusation that he knows 'kaafi kuch' with a line like 'Kaafi nahin, sab kuch' is all too predictable. 
They use up their imagination conjuring up novel fight situations for the characters -- like dunking a man, car included, in water. In the climax, Amitabh fights a crocodile while Shashi and Shatru share a gas chamber with gas-masked villains.
Shatrughan Sinha gets the " Agar Kisi Ne Hilne ki Koshish Ki" moment.
Shaan is worth watching. I love every minute of Shaan and recommend viewing for a great all-round entertainer again and again
(For the record I have seen it on the big screen 21 times ) the last being in 2005.






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