Zanjeer

Zanjeer (1973)

ज़ंजीर

The origin of the angry young man.

A tough and honest police officer clashes with a crime boss who, unbeknownst to him, happens to be his parents' murderer.

Date of release
1973-05-11
TMDB
6.9 / 10 (31)
Runtime
2h 26m
Genres
Action
Director
Prakash Mehra

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 3 · Nominations: 5. Including: Filmfare Award for Best Story; Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay; Filmfare Award for Best Editing

Zanjeer (transl. Shackles) is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language action crime film directed and produced by Prakash Mehra and written by Salim–Javed. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Pran, Ajit Khan, Om Prakash and Bindu. The music was composed by Kalyanji-Anandji, while cinematography and editing were handled by N. Satyen and R. Mahadik.

Production

The story and script were written by Salim Khan. After completing the script, Khan shared the credit with Javed Akhtar as the screenwriting duo Salim–Javed. Zanjeer was written as a crime film with violent action sequences, and the main character Vijay was conceived as a hard-hitting, 'angry with the system' young man.

Eventually, the role went to a newcomer, Amitabh Bachchan. Salim-Javed were responsible for discovering and casting Bachchan, who at the time was a "failed newcomer." By the age of 30, had twelve flops and only two hits (as a lead in Bombay to Goa and supporting role in Anand). According to Javed Akhtar, they "saw his talent, which most makers didn’t.

For the female lead, Mumtaz was initially offered the role, but she was engaged at the time, and opted out, choosing marriage over career. Jaya Bhaduri, who was engaged to Bachchan at the time, immediately agreed to take the role for the sake of her future husband. For the film's promotion, the posters of Zanjeer initially did not have the names of Salim-Javed on them.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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