Shakti (1982)

Having heard & knowing of Shakti (Power) for such a long time as the first and only movie featuring two great bollywood legends Dilip Kumar & Amitabh Bachchan, i knew i had to check it out. I finally got the chance to see it, and it definitely did not disappoint, the movie is similar to Deewar in some aspects but i think i prefer Shakti more. The film was awarded the 1983 Filmfare best movie of the year award

Inspector Ashwini Kumar is an extremely hardworking man who takes his job very seriously, he has a wife Sheetal ( Raakhee) and a son Vijay(Amitabh Bachchan). One day he arrests a notorious and highly wanted criminal Yashwant (Goga Kapoor), J.K Verma (Amrish Puri) who is Yashwants partner in crime is unhappy about this and plots to kidnap Ashwini's son Vijay threatening only to release him if his dad agrees to release yashwant in return



Ashwini refuses to release Yashwant even when J.K Verma threatens to kill his son. His wife thinks he's crazy for doing this, but for Ashwini work and family should not and do not intersect. Vijay manages to escape from J.K Verma's den, and his parents are delighted to have him back, but he remains cold towards his dad, as he feels his dad chose his job over him, this creates a wall between him and his dad

Vijay grows up to be a lonely unemployed young man with this chip on his shoulder. One day he meets Roma (Smita Patil) and the two fall in love over time, Vijay also finds solace in his relationship with her. Vijay who had been jobless for a long time, finally gets a job at a hotel run by K.D. Narang (Kulbushan Kharbanda) a smuggler. Ashwini is unhappy about Vijay's employer being a smuggler and gives him an ultimatum to either leave the job or leave the house, Vijay refuses to leave his job and moves out of the family home


Vijay gets involved in K.D Narang's work, and when his dad who is on a quest to arrest him for his dodgy work disrupts J.K Verma's business, J.K plots to murder Ashwinwi


Will J.k succeed in his attempts? Will Vijay and his father ever be reconciled with one another?

Shakti is a very nice drama which gives a great insight on the psychology of relationships, this movie is quite similar to Deewar in some ways as in both movies the choice of family over occupation arises, however Shakti takes this even further with an added dimension on the psychology of relationships. For example Vijay becomes cold due to his fathers decision to choose his job over him, his father loves him dearly but his inabbility to express this is the major strain in their relationship and then the mother who is caught between her husband and son also trying to negotiate and mediate between these relationships. If you're into the psychology of relationships, Shakti is a great study in this.

The dialogues are superb and the performances are great all around and at times when Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan had heated conversations/confrontations, I could almost feel the testosterone boiling over the screen but Raakhee usually steps in and cools things down.

No one outdid each other here, both were great and Raakhee bridges the gap appropriately (as the poster at the top of this post even suggests). A very young and cute Anil Kapoor also makes a cameo appearance

The film, also like Deewar only had 3 songs composed by the legend that is R.D. Burman all the songs are beautiful and fitted nicely into the plot but my favorite has to be 'Jaane kaise kab' which captures the Amitabh & Smita pairing in a very sensual and erotic mood, especially in the last 40 secs in the clip below, the fire in the background adds to the intensity




Total Score: 8/10 ( a powerful and highly engaging drama)

Shakti is available in 17 parts with English Subtitles on Youtube