Achanak - hindi movie review

Achanak (1973)

Genre: Thriller 

Director: Gulzar

Cast: Vinod Khanna, Om Shivpuri, Lily Chakraborty, Farida Jalal, Asrani, Iftekar

Story: Khwaja Ahmed Abbas

Written by: Gulzar

Music: Vasant Desai

Box office status: Hit

I've acted out this movie name in dumbcharades mutliple times over the years but never actually got around to watching it. Finally got the opportunity yesterday. It was chosen due to its genre being "Thriller" and we were expecting a juicy murder mystery - also the fact that it was directed by Gulzar, intrigued us.

It, however, turned out to be a totally different ballgame altogether, yet entertaining. Both the director (Gulzar), and main lead (Vinod Khanna), were a pleasant surprise. Its definitely the best performance by Khanna and he looks great too! Inspired by the true life story of Kawas Nanavati, a naval commander, who killed his wife’s lover Prem Ahuja, Gulzar pegged the narrative on a story by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas where the protagonist kills his philandering wife too. Gulzar delved into the layers of the human psyche and came up with a riveting moral battle between judiciary and medical science. Mounted like a thriller, the 90-minute song-less narrative goes back and forth in time as the director keeps you hungry for more.

Though the identity of the killer is no secret, the plot has a couple of moral dilemmas that have been handled sensitively (Gulzar's forte). Vinod Khanna goes against his popular image and makes an entry on a stretcher. Shot through the chest, the doctor(Om Shivpuri) has given up on him but Khanna survives multiple operations. The flashback tells us about his army background and how he used his training to kill the two most important people in his life. Instead of showing the act of killing, Gulzar smartly cuts to training sessions where Khanna learnt the tricks to neutralise the enemy.The soldier has won medals for his stint in the army and is even shown telling his wife in a flashback that his medal reminds him of the people he has killed. Yet, he does what he has been trained to do when he eliminates his enemies in personal life by killing them. That's the first moral dilemma - is war justified? Khanna is expected to underplay and he does it without turning into a cardboard.

Om Shivpuri as the cigarette smoking doctor Chaudhary takes the quandary to another level. He and his team (Farida Jalal and Asrani) save Khanna only to be sent back to the gallows. It says something about the criminal justice system which waits for the guilty to be healthy to be punished. Gulzar doesn’t come up with any clear cut answers. But the ambiguity is not boring as he opens a debate that continues to rankle. And the moral impasse does come in the way of the pace of the thriller best exemplified by the sequence where dogs chase a bare-foot, and bare-chested, Khanna.

Gulzar has a knack for finding humor in the mundane and his wordplay is legendary. When the colonel father-in-law (Iftekhar) tells Khanna he is not only his sir but also sasur, it comes as a relief amidst tense moments. Letters recorded on tape create an interesting romantic tapestry giving us a sense of the times. The repeated use of “Sun Mere Bandhu Re” (Sujata) as a refrain giving this battle of heart and mind a lyrical expression. That heart is not just a pumping station. Though, Gulzar steered clear of songs, towards the end during in an emotional parting, Khanna and his father-in-law, who, by the way, also wants to save him, salute each other, one could sense the tune of “Koi Hota Jisko Apna Hum Apna Keh Lete”.

“Achanak” as a fairly well made film apart from the disappointing climax. The way the director kept shuttling back and forth between past and present, the boldness of some of the dialogues, the dog chase scene, and the light syrupy scenes between Khanna and Farida Jalal in latter part of the movie, are well ahead of its times. Its definitely a classic and surprisingly was well received by the audience too.