Analysis of a Failure : Imaan Dharam

Analysis of a Failure.

Imaan Dharam

After Sholay in August 1975

there was a hiatus of almost a year and half before Imaan Dharam came in January 1977.

The film was announced right after Majboor by Producer Premji and in a way was a most awaited film as it was their next after Deewar and Sholay.Amitabh had consolidated this position in 1976 with Hera pheri, Adalat, Do Anjaane  and Kabhi Kabhi. Add to that Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha and Imaan Dharam was expected to be a blockbuster.

Ace Art director Desh Mukherjee debuted as a director.

Ahmed (Amitabh Bachchan)and Mohan (Shashi Kapoor) form the principal cog in this story of two con men who make a living by testifying falsely in petty court cases.

They have a foster sister Shyamlee ( Aparna Sen) who is blind.

She has a sympathetic Sanjeev Kumar as Kabir who wishes to accept her as she is.

Kabir's father is a black Marketeer and anti-national and on his sons insistence is ready bro surrender which his partners (galaxy of negative role veterans) Amrish Puri, Prem Chopra, Sudhir , M.Shetty and McMohan cannot digest and get him murdered and his son Kabir is arrested for the same (?). The two false witness Ahmed and Mohan testify that they are eye witness and Kabir is sentenced.

However soon later they realise that he is the paramour of their foster sister.

They then reform and the predictable plot moves to find the real murderer.

The players in this drama head to a common destination where the heroes and the villains settle the issue once for all. As always, the police arrives when it is all over with ‘Inspector’ Jagdish Raj bringing the curtain down.

There are sub plots like there is a Sikh major Balbir Singh (Utpal Dutt), not to forget Barkat Chacha (Gajanan Jagirdar) and Govind Anna (Shreeram Lagoo), who is head of the construction workers whose daughter Rekha has a love angle with Mohan.

We also have Jenny ( Helen) who hires Ahmed to act as her daughter's father.

Ahmed comes to Jenny’s rescue and adopts her child. Now Jenny has a dark past and obviously she must exit the story line. So she is administered a spurious drug, promoted by Kabir’s fathers company. The characters seem to run into each other. Like Shetty, who first attempts to rape the blind Shyamlee, then murders Jamuna Das, and gives away all the secrets in a dying statement. 

Amitabh and Helens relationship kind off reminds one of the Amitabh Parveen relationship in Deewar. ( Infact Parveen was the first choice at launch but she later opted out and the role was given to Helen on Salim's insistence).

Sometimes, even a fabulous cast fails to carry a film. An enviable line-up, assembled with the aim to reap riches at the box office, comes a cropper after initial promise. That it peters into a tame and predictable climax, where the heroine flexes her muscle power ala her man, is a let down. The mediocre plot loses direction in the second half when the director looks to get over the agony.

All religions are promoted in the film and soon later in 1977 came another landmark film with Religious Integration..Amar Akbar Anthony.

Imaan Dharam did not have the finesse of a Prime Salim Javed script.. it carried the consept of secularism too far. Their trademark fluidity was missing and was replaced by exaggeration.

The film opened to packed houses but the euphoria fizzled out in less than a fortnight.

This was a setback to the charismatic duo who issued a full page advertisement in Screen..

"Imaan Dharam is an answer for all Criticism'.

Strange but true.

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Some trivia and image input from Biography " Written by Salim Javed " by Diptakirti Chaudhuri