Genre of Gangster and mob films has always fascinated us. Mob films have been made by Hollywood for as long as one remembers.Recently I watched Marlon Brando taking on his bosses in ‘On the Waterfront.’ This film directed by Elia Kazan was released in 1954. However it was Marlon Brando who became the ultimate Don with his portrayal as Don Corleone in the unforgettable ‘The Godfather.’ The Godfather stunned the world when it was released in 1972 and it became a cult film. It was followed by a successful sequel and then 2 more sequels.The Godfather series is something to be kept with you on DVD’s and to be watched every couple of years. I do this.
When I had seen the film in a theatre in Lucknow, I could not understand a word that Brando uttered as he seemed to have marbles in his mouth. Yet, the movie left an amazing impact as it was violent and hard hitting. The killing of Sonny Corleone at a toll booth with hundreds of bullets piercing his body was a kind of scene we had never seen before. It was an ‘A’ movie but cinema halls in Lucknow were lax in implementing these rules.For us 'boys' the page 26 of the book by Mario Puzo had already become popular with a descriptive capturing of Sonny Corleone's tryst with the bridesmaid of his sister at the latter wedding. In the film, the scene was there but not as hot as the page 26 description of the book. What was hot in the movie at that time was a lovely topless scene of the Italian beauty Simonetta Stefanelli who gets married to Michael Corleone. This role was played by Hema Malini in 'Dharmatama' but we had to be content with her pretty face and Feroze Khan singing 'Tere chehre pe kya jadoo hai' in the deserts of Afghanistan.
Dharmatma was plagiarized from the Godfather as Feroze Khan had not taken any permission from Francis Ford Coppola to re-make the film in hindi. Dharmatma did well and Feroze Khan reaped in good profits in 1970’s. The film gave a new lease of life to ageing Prem Nath who played the role of Dharmatama. Feroze Khan played the role of both Sonny and Michael and actually made a decent gangster movie. Many years later Feroze Khan went on to make the glossy ‘Dayavan’ which was a re-make of ‘Nayakan’ by Kamal Hasan. It was based on the life of underworld don Vardharajan Mudaliar. Vinod Khan as Dayavan was impressive and Madhuri Dixit was a newcomer and did the erotic kissing scenes with Vinod Khanna the like of which had not been seen on our screens till then.
Dharmatma was plagiarized from the Godfather as Feroze Khan had not taken any permission from Francis Ford Coppola to re-make the film in hindi. Dharmatma did well and Feroze Khan reaped in good profits in 1970’s. The film gave a new lease of life to ageing Prem Nath who played the role of Dharmatama. Feroze Khan played the role of both Sonny and Michael and actually made a decent gangster movie. Many years later Feroze Khan went on to make the glossy ‘Dayavan’ which was a re-make of ‘Nayakan’ by Kamal Hasan. It was based on the life of underworld don Vardharajan Mudaliar. Vinod Khan as Dayavan was impressive and Madhuri Dixit was a newcomer and did the erotic kissing scenes with Vinod Khanna the like of which had not been seen on our screens till then.
I loved Dayavan when I saw the movie in 1988 but only till I saw ‘Nayakan’ at IFFI at New Delhi in January 1989. Nayakan blew me away. I had not seen such powerful performance by any actor as was by Kamalhasan in the movie. I still rate that performance of Kamalhasan as the best I have ever seen. Directed by Mani Ratnam, this movie was a big hit in South India and Kamal Hasan received the national best actor award. Time magazine rated it amongst the top 100 movies ever made. Those who have not watched Nayakan, must do so as soon as possible.
The biggest beneficiary of 'The Godfather' was the young actor playing the role of younger son of Don Corleone. Al Pacino became a superstar overnight. His portrayal of a young innocent army officer who later fills the shoes of Don gave him critical as well as audience acclaim. Similar role was played by Abhishek Bachchan in Sarkar and Sarkar II. Ramu (Ram Gopal Varma) actually bought the rights of Godfather to make Sarkar in 2008 and cast Amitabh in it. The film was well received by audience but part II did not fare well.
Al Pacino also acted in another famous gangster film called ‘Scarface’ in 1983 on which I thought our own ‘Agneepath’ was based. Scarface itself was a remake of 1932 film of the same name. People were quite shocked by the excessive violence and graphic language when the movie was released but the film is now considered a classic. Amitabh Bachchan got a National award for Agneepath which had been directed by the young whizkid Mukul S Anand, though the spectators had given the movie a thumbs down and AB had to re-dub the film as his modulated voice was rejected by the audience. Agneepath was re-made recently with Hritik Roshan and Sunjay Dutt . It grossed over 100 crores.
The 1987 hollywood film 'The Untouchables' directed by Brian de Palma remains one of my favourite mafia films. It had a mouth watering cast of Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert de Niro , Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith. The film was about the prohibition era gangster Al Capone who is considered to be the biggest American gangster of all time. The movie deals with the crack team formed to arrest Al Capone.
The biggest beneficiary of 'The Godfather' was the young actor playing the role of younger son of Don Corleone. Al Pacino became a superstar overnight. His portrayal of a young innocent army officer who later fills the shoes of Don gave him critical as well as audience acclaim. Similar role was played by Abhishek Bachchan in Sarkar and Sarkar II. Ramu (Ram Gopal Varma) actually bought the rights of Godfather to make Sarkar in 2008 and cast Amitabh in it. The film was well received by audience but part II did not fare well.
Al Pacino also acted in another famous gangster film called ‘Scarface’ in 1983 on which I thought our own ‘Agneepath’ was based. Scarface itself was a remake of 1932 film of the same name. People were quite shocked by the excessive violence and graphic language when the movie was released but the film is now considered a classic. Amitabh Bachchan got a National award for Agneepath which had been directed by the young whizkid Mukul S Anand, though the spectators had given the movie a thumbs down and AB had to re-dub the film as his modulated voice was rejected by the audience. Agneepath was re-made recently with Hritik Roshan and Sunjay Dutt . It grossed over 100 crores.
The 1987 hollywood film 'The Untouchables' directed by Brian de Palma remains one of my favourite mafia films. It had a mouth watering cast of Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert de Niro , Andy Garcia and Charles Martin Smith. The film was about the prohibition era gangster Al Capone who is considered to be the biggest American gangster of all time. The movie deals with the crack team formed to arrest Al Capone.
The movie was a gripping saga of Chicago during the 1920's. Many of the action scenes from the film were plagarized by our films here including the famous pram scene with a baby ,where the pram goes down the stairs at the Union Station. This scene was copied by N. Chandra for 'Tezaab.' Last year while watching a scene at our 'film appreciation' class I realised that this scene in the 'Untouchables' was also inspired from 'The Battleship Potemkin', a 1925 silent film about the 1905 mutiny of the crew of the Russian battleship. This iconic Odessa Steps Massacre scene has been used dozens of times in films around the world, including Untouchables. Untouchables gave due credit to the source while 'Tezaab' was silent about it.
Al Capone was finally arrested not for murders and liqour smuggling but for tax evasion. Once inside the jail, the law enforcement agencies made sure that he stayed there. In June this year I visited 'Alcatraz' high security prison in San Francisco where Capone had been kept. I learnt that at first Capone had been sent to Atlanta prison where he took over the system. Once he was transferred to Alcatraz island, he was brought down by the prison warden and vicious co-prisoners.
Al Capone was finally arrested not for murders and liqour smuggling but for tax evasion. Once inside the jail, the law enforcement agencies made sure that he stayed there. In June this year I visited 'Alcatraz' high security prison in San Francisco where Capone had been kept. I learnt that at first Capone had been sent to Atlanta prison where he took over the system. Once he was transferred to Alcatraz island, he was brought down by the prison warden and vicious co-prisoners.
It was actually Deewar by Yash Chopra that started the trend of glorifying Mafia dons in Indian Cinema in 1975. Written by Salim Javed, this movie was based on the story of gangster Haji Mastan and this performance cemented Amitabh Bachchan as king of action and a superstar. It seems strange that Deewar was written by Salim Javed with the romantic superstar ‘Rajesh Khanna’ in mind. It is difficult to imagine Khanna as ‘Vijay’ of Deewar but Salim Javed had thought that Khanna was so versatile that he would be able to justice to the role. AB played this role and rest is history. This film finished off romance and Rajesh Khanna from the silver screens. This melodramatic action packed film made history at box office and dialogues of this film are still fresh in the minds of our 'junta.' Nirupa Roy became the eternal mother after this film and must have played similar role in around 50 films after this including 'Amar Akbar Anthony.'
I remember Deewar had released just after Majboor at the same theater in Lucknow. People just didn't know how to relate to this film. For the first couple of weeks there was no frenzy about Deewar but one fine day, it became a craze. The manager of the theatre told my dad that when the movie opened, it had an advance booking of 3-4 days. After a few weeks, the advance booking was for the entire week and each day there was a lathi charge at the booking window. The audience had more sympathy for a 'gangster and a smuggler' in the movie rather than a honest police inspector. The heroine was a cigarette smoking and wine drinking prostitute.Till then only vamps smoked and drank on screen. People started mouthing the dialogues spoken by 'Vijay' in the film. The dialogues are popular even after 35 years of the release of the movie. Deewar changed the very concept of the hero, heroine and movie watching in India. I watched it 8 times in cinema hall at that time.
I remember Deewar had released just after Majboor at the same theater in Lucknow. People just didn't know how to relate to this film. For the first couple of weeks there was no frenzy about Deewar but one fine day, it became a craze. The manager of the theatre told my dad that when the movie opened, it had an advance booking of 3-4 days. After a few weeks, the advance booking was for the entire week and each day there was a lathi charge at the booking window. The audience had more sympathy for a 'gangster and a smuggler' in the movie rather than a honest police inspector. The heroine was a cigarette smoking and wine drinking prostitute.Till then only vamps smoked and drank on screen. People started mouthing the dialogues spoken by 'Vijay' in the film. The dialogues are popular even after 35 years of the release of the movie. Deewar changed the very concept of the hero, heroine and movie watching in India. I watched it 8 times in cinema hall at that time.
Ram Gopal Varma made Satya with unknown stars in 1998. The film took Bollywood by storm. It is argubaly the best hindi film made on underworld. Not many people talked about J.D Chakravarthi who played the lead role. The flavor of the movie was Manoj Bajpayee in the role of a lovable rustic gangster ‘Bhigu Mhatre.’ Satya broke box office records and it truly showed the underbelly of the city of Mumbai. It showed the real picture about Mumbai underworld. We learnt that these Don's don't necessarily live in posh houses but they lived and operated in slums and chawls. This film made us realise that an innocent looking bystander could be a dreaded criminal. This was the real underworld which existed in India and Ramu exceeded himself by projecting things so realistically. Manoj Bajpayee may have acted in a hundred films after Satya but he is still best remembered as Bhigu Mhahtre.
Ramu followed 'Satya' with 'Company' which was a very gripping and well made film based on the rivalry between Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan. One thought that Vivek Oberoi would be the next superstar of hindi films but that never happened. Ajay Devgan was impressive as a Don. Here he had played the role of Dawood but much later, in another film, he got a chance to play the role of Haji Mastan.
Haji Mastan wasn’t a polished and suave gangster as was shown in Deewar. Ekta kapoor decided to show the rise and fall of Haji Mastan and his rivalry with Dawood Ibrahim in ‘One upon a time in Mumbai.’ Ajay Devgan looked the part he played. The movie had the right blend of violence & romance. It showed what Mumbai became during those days when Mastan was the king of docks.Mastan dabbled with politics and with films. He wooed film actresses and became friends with many of the heroes. He married a B grade actress as well. The music added to the appeal of the film. Milan Luthria came up with a winner in 2010 which made a lot of money and won many accolades.This was followed by a forgettable sequel in 2013.
There is one hindi gangster film, which according to me is one of the best made in India but remains under-rated. This was 'Hathyar' by J P Dutta in 1989 starring Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor and Dharmendra. Shot mostly in Mumbai, the cinematography of this film like Datta's other films was top class.The film flopped and was forgotten. Sanjay Dutt however shone as a gangster in Mahesh Manjrekar's ' Vaastav' and Mahesh tried to repeat this magic with yet another film called 'Hathyar' but could not repeat the box office performance of Vaastav.
A few years ago (2007) the screens came alive by performances by Denzyl Washington and Russel Crowe when they came together in 'The American Gangster.' This film is about drug smuggling into America from South East asia in the 70's. The film lacked the normal action we associate with the mob films but it shows how the rot set into the American system. This biography of gangster Frank Lucas shows how America was invaded by drugs from south east countries thanks to the connivance of gangsters with officials.
Last but not the least, no discussion on gangster films could be completed without mentioning the master, Martin Scorsese. Casino was the 8th and the last film which he made with Robert de Niro. The earlier mob film that they had made together was ' Goodfellas.' 'Casino' tells you everything that you know and don't know about Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a place where Mafia rules; where gloss and glitter hides what is behind the scenes; where there's no day or night; where everything has a price; where if you're lucky, you could go home a millionaire .Of course, people who go to Vegas lose money, and people who try to take on the mob end up losing their lives. But Las-Vegas is all about hope where millions go each year with nothing but hope . If you have to watch a high class 'mob' film, Casino takes the cake. India does not have Casinos other than a few off shore ones at Goa. Otherwise we would have had a few inspirations by now.
Ramu followed 'Satya' with 'Company' which was a very gripping and well made film based on the rivalry between Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan. One thought that Vivek Oberoi would be the next superstar of hindi films but that never happened. Ajay Devgan was impressive as a Don. Here he had played the role of Dawood but much later, in another film, he got a chance to play the role of Haji Mastan.
Haji Mastan wasn’t a polished and suave gangster as was shown in Deewar. Ekta kapoor decided to show the rise and fall of Haji Mastan and his rivalry with Dawood Ibrahim in ‘One upon a time in Mumbai.’ Ajay Devgan looked the part he played. The movie had the right blend of violence & romance. It showed what Mumbai became during those days when Mastan was the king of docks.Mastan dabbled with politics and with films. He wooed film actresses and became friends with many of the heroes. He married a B grade actress as well. The music added to the appeal of the film. Milan Luthria came up with a winner in 2010 which made a lot of money and won many accolades.This was followed by a forgettable sequel in 2013.
There is one hindi gangster film, which according to me is one of the best made in India but remains under-rated. This was 'Hathyar' by J P Dutta in 1989 starring Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor and Dharmendra. Shot mostly in Mumbai, the cinematography of this film like Datta's other films was top class.The film flopped and was forgotten. Sanjay Dutt however shone as a gangster in Mahesh Manjrekar's ' Vaastav' and Mahesh tried to repeat this magic with yet another film called 'Hathyar' but could not repeat the box office performance of Vaastav.
A few years ago (2007) the screens came alive by performances by Denzyl Washington and Russel Crowe when they came together in 'The American Gangster.' This film is about drug smuggling into America from South East asia in the 70's. The film lacked the normal action we associate with the mob films but it shows how the rot set into the American system. This biography of gangster Frank Lucas shows how America was invaded by drugs from south east countries thanks to the connivance of gangsters with officials.
Last but not the least, no discussion on gangster films could be completed without mentioning the master, Martin Scorsese. Casino was the 8th and the last film which he made with Robert de Niro. The earlier mob film that they had made together was ' Goodfellas.' 'Casino' tells you everything that you know and don't know about Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a place where Mafia rules; where gloss and glitter hides what is behind the scenes; where there's no day or night; where everything has a price; where if you're lucky, you could go home a millionaire .Of course, people who go to Vegas lose money, and people who try to take on the mob end up losing their lives. But Las-Vegas is all about hope where millions go each year with nothing but hope . If you have to watch a high class 'mob' film, Casino takes the cake. India does not have Casinos other than a few off shore ones at Goa. Otherwise we would have had a few inspirations by now.
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