Deewaar

(1975)

The movie tells the story of two brothers, Vijay and Ravi Verma, who follow different career paths: Vijay is a smuggler and Ravi the policeman who is asked to hunt Vijay down. Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor) are the sons of a trade unionist, Anand Verma(Satyen Kappu), who was defeated and disgraced by the management of his firm using his family as bait.

Unable to bear the public disgrace father deserts the family, and the sons are
raised by their mother(Nirupa Roy)who brings them to Bombay City, who suffers the trials and tribulations of a poor single mother. Vijay Verma, the elder brother, grows up with an acute awareness of his father's humiliation and is victimized for his father's supposed misdeeds. In the process of fighting for his rights Vijay, who starts out as a boot polisher and becomes a dockyard worker in his youth, becomes a smuggler and a leading figure of the underworld.

His brother Ravi, on the other hand, receives an education as the elder brother sacrifices his education so that the at least one of them can get education becomes an upright police officer.

Ravi romances Veera (Neetu Singh), the daughter of a senior police officer. Vijay has an affair with Anita(Parveen Babi), a woman he meets at a bar. When Anita gets pregnant Vijay decides to abandon his life in the underworld, not wanting to pass onto his son the humiliation he received because of his father. But it is too late. Ravi decides to arrest Vijay, notwithstanding their family relation. Their mother sides with the law-abiding son even though the decision pains her greatly. The two brothers clash. Vijay dies in the encounter and Ravi is presented a police gallantry award by the State.

There were several stereotype breaking characters in Deewar such as bar dancer Anita (Parveen Babi) with whom Vijay has pre-premarital sex. This was considered taboo at the time. Babi smoldered on the screen while Nirupa Roy, in a role earmarked for Vijayantimala, gave a knockout performance.

But Deewar clearly belongs to Amitabh Bachchan. Gloriously rebellious, frightfully lonely and amazingly intense, his eyes seem to burn down everyone who crosses his path.Shashi Kapoor's role was to be done by Navin Nishchal, but he did not want to do the second lead.

The highlight of the movie are the dialogs of the main protagonists. Over a period of three decades countless variations and spoofs later "Mere Paas Maan Hai" is a chapter in Indian movie history by itself. The pre climax "Aaj Khush to bahut hoge tum", or the "Bhai tum sign karogey ya nahi", the reply to that "Jao pehle us aadmi ka sign leke aao jisne mere haath mein ye likha" ("Mera baap chor hai" tattoo, )