Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Majboor’ celebrated its December 6. The film had released in 1974. On its anniversary month, Film analyst and author Dilip Thakur talks about the film at legnth. The film was directed by Raveena Tandon‘s father Ravi Tandon. Thakur says, “After Zanjeer (1973), Majboorwas the second collaboration between Salim-Javed and Amitabh Bachchan.It was followed by Deewar (1975). Salim-Javed gave three different characters to Amitabh Bachchan. Majboor’s concept was rumoured to be based on an American movie. The concept was that the hero of the story (Amitabh Bachchan) is very close to his widowed mother, handicapped sister and younger brother and is determined to look after them. But he is diagnosed with a brain tumour and the doctors tell him that he would not be able to survive for more than 6-8 months.”
Thakur further says, “To explain this health condition to the public, director Ravi Tandon filmed close-ups of Amitabh Bachchan in such a way that he starts sweating from his forehead and grabs his head tightly. The Indian audience at that time was unaware of the brain disorder but it was presented to be palatable.”
Dilip also reveals what made the film and its concept a hit at that time. “Amitabh Bachchan discovers that the only way to earn quick money to support his family after his death is to take up the responsibility for a murder which would get him five lakh rupees. 5 lakhs was a huge amount fifty years ago. He gets the money, goes to jail, gets himself operated and comes to know that he has recovered from the illness. Now what? It comes down to him trying to help the police find the real murderer. This concept turned out to be a hit at that time. Film critics at that time had said that Majboor’s climax was inspired by the climax of the American movie Old Sweat. There’s a red car in both the films’ climax. How the hero proves that he is not the real murderer and helps the police find the real murderer is also there in both films.”
The film was written by Salim-Javed and Thakur revealed that the writer duo had narrated the script of Majboor to Ramesh Sippy when the director wanted to start his next film after Seeta Aur Geeta. “But G.P. Sippy wanted to make a bigger film and started working on Sholay. Then Salim-Javed narrated the story to producer Premji. Premji was once Dilip Kumar’s secretary. The script of Majboor went to Ravi Tandon and he handled it in his own way,” says Dilip.
‘Majboor’ also starred Pran. “Actor Pran’s entry in the film comes in the second half but the actor walked away with a lot of mileage. Premji had his doubts about introducing an important character of Pran in the second half of the film. But how to introduce Pran? Salim-Javed gave him a situation of a song called Michael Daaru Pee Ke Danga Karta Hai. In the film, Michael aka Pran has a peculiar way of holding his hands in front of his eyes and looking. That style was of Ravi Tandon who used to look at things like that. That song turned out to be a major hit,” he explains further.
Majboor was Amitabh Bachchan and Parveen Babi’s first film together. The pair did many movies together later on. Majboor was remade in Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati and other languages in the next ten years of the film’s release. Majboor was a musical hit. It’s a different concept film of Salim-Javed and Amitabh Bachchan combo.
Thakur further says, “To explain this health condition to the public, director Ravi Tandon filmed close-ups of Amitabh Bachchan in such a way that he starts sweating from his forehead and grabs his head tightly. The Indian audience at that time was unaware of the brain disorder but it was presented to be palatable.”
Dilip also reveals what made the film and its concept a hit at that time. “Amitabh Bachchan discovers that the only way to earn quick money to support his family after his death is to take up the responsibility for a murder which would get him five lakh rupees. 5 lakhs was a huge amount fifty years ago. He gets the money, goes to jail, gets himself operated and comes to know that he has recovered from the illness. Now what? It comes down to him trying to help the police find the real murderer. This concept turned out to be a hit at that time. Film critics at that time had said that Majboor’s climax was inspired by the climax of the American movie Old Sweat. There’s a red car in both the films’ climax. How the hero proves that he is not the real murderer and helps the police find the real murderer is also there in both films.”
The film was written by Salim-Javed and Thakur revealed that the writer duo had narrated the script of Majboor to Ramesh Sippy when the director wanted to start his next film after Seeta Aur Geeta. “But G.P. Sippy wanted to make a bigger film and started working on Sholay. Then Salim-Javed narrated the story to producer Premji. Premji was once Dilip Kumar’s secretary. The script of Majboor went to Ravi Tandon and he handled it in his own way,” says Dilip.
‘Majboor’ also starred Pran. “Actor Pran’s entry in the film comes in the second half but the actor walked away with a lot of mileage. Premji had his doubts about introducing an important character of Pran in the second half of the film. But how to introduce Pran? Salim-Javed gave him a situation of a song called Michael Daaru Pee Ke Danga Karta Hai. In the film, Michael aka Pran has a peculiar way of holding his hands in front of his eyes and looking. That style was of Ravi Tandon who used to look at things like that. That song turned out to be a major hit,” he explains further.
Majboor was Amitabh Bachchan and Parveen Babi’s first film together. The pair did many movies together later on. Majboor was remade in Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati and other languages in the next ten years of the film’s release. Majboor was a musical hit. It’s a different concept film of Salim-Javed and Amitabh Bachchan combo.
