Sharaabi Movie Review: Sharaabi - Intoxicating Masala Fare!

Theirs is a most unique contribution to Indian cinema. Though it may be argued that they were not the most profoundly creative or technically inclined of filmmakers, it was the work of directors like Manmohan Desai and Yash Chopra in the '70s and the '80s, that codified the essential Bollywood masala genre and gave Indian cinema its greatest icon, Amitabh Bachchan as the Angry Young Man.

The first of that lot, though, would be filmmaker Prakash Mehra (13 July 1939 – 17 May 2009), who introduced audiences to Bachchan's volatile persona in 1973's Zanjeer. The film, which rewrote Bollywood history, would lead to a highly-successful director-actor collaboration between Mehra and Big B that would continue until the late '80s and give us such hits as Hera Pheri (1976), Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), Laawaris (1981) and Namak Halal (1982). Though Amitabh and Prakash would come together again in '89 for the commercially panned Jaadugar, their last success together, 1984's Sharaabi was, perhaps, a final glimpse of the angry young man at the peak of his powers.

Though it might be a stretch of the imagination to believe a ten year old who takes to drink like a fish to water, therein lies the magic of Prakash Mehra's vision that the audience finds itself perfectly willing to believe in his films. In a story also penned by Mehra, with dialogues by Kader Khan, Sharaabi deals with Amitabh as Vicky Kapoor, the only son of a widower millionaire industrialist father Amarnath, played by Pran. With a life that revolves around his business and constant meetings, Amarnath leaves Vicky's upbringing entirely up to the good hearted Munshi Phoolchand, played by Om Prakash.

In a life devoid of his father's love, Vicky turns to drink at a young age and grows up to be an alcoholic. Though Amarnath thinks of him as a spoiled brat, a grown-up Vicky, with a heart of gold, still yearns for his father's love. When Vicky falls in love with a poor dancer Meena, Jaya Prada, his father turns him and Munshi Phoolchand, out of the house as Amarnath wants him to marry a fellow industrialist's daughter. Thereafter, the film proceeds to the long-winded climax, where, appropriately, father and son reunite having realised how much they love each other.

The driving force behind Sharaabi is the sheer power of performance delivered by Big B as Vicky. Though Bachchan was fairly in his middle years by '84, as Vicky, he's still firmly in the 'angry young man' mould. His performance as the titular alcoholic is effortless, tinged with the right amount of melancholy, even as Amitabh in real life is a firm teetotaller. And backed by Bappi Lahiri's stellar musical contribution, Bachchan also brings an impossible level of 'cool' to his performance, especially in the brilliant inteha ho gayi number.

His most able support comes from the veteran Om Prakash. Though he may lend himself easily to caricatures and mimics, Prakash's performance as Munshi Phoolchand comes across as heartfelt and quite touching. Pran, as the stern Amarnath also turns in a superb performance. Jaya Prada as Meena is quite okay, though she hams it up quite a bit in her emotional scenes. Ranjeet plays the generic villain to his lecherous best. Most memorable, though, perhaps, would be Mukri, who was immortalised as the comic Nathulal, with his famous muchein.

Apart from Amitabh himself, the film's other enduring success would be Bappi Lahiri's brilliant soundtrack. With classics like chaar yaar mil jaye and naulakha dila de re, the music of the film was an instant classic. Three tracks in chief also turned into Bollywood standards immediately on release. While de de pyaar de and inteha ho gayi are a bombastic triumph for Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle, Bappi, who is otherwise known as India's self-anointed disco king, shows off an amazingly heart-touching side to his music with Kishore's melancholy manzilein apni jagah.

Coming after five consecutive hits together, Sharaabi was Amitabh and Prakash Mehra's final, and perhaps, their finest hit together. Managing a perfect blend of formula and 'out-of-the-box', the film is a uniquely emotional film amongst all of Mehra's films with Bachchan, the father-son conflict here comparable to that of Laawaris. For Big B's brilliant performance and Bappi's magnificent music, Sharaabi is a Bollywood must-watch.