Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Manmohan Desai

Writers:

Smt. Jeevanprabha M. Desai (story)
Kader Khan (dialogue)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Family

Plot:

Three brothers are separated and united after many years - one is brought up a Hindu, another a Muslim and the last (and most memorable) a Christian. Hilarity and adventure ensues.

Plot Keywords:

Muslim | Hindu | Accident | Christian | Brother

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Vinod Khanna	...	Inspector Amar Khanna
Rishi Kapoor	...	Akbar Ilhabadi / Raju
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Anthony Gonzalves
Neetu Singh	...	Dr. Salma Ali
Parveen Babi	...	Jenny
Shabana Azmi	...	Laxmi
Nirupa Roy	...	Bharati
Pran	...	Kishanlal
Jeevan	...	Robert
Yusuf Khan	...	Zebisko (as Yusuf)
Mukri	...	Taiyyab Ali
Nasir Hussain	...	Catholic Priest
Kamal Kapoor	...	Superintendant Khanna
Hercules	...	Zebisko
Shivraj	...	Mr. Ilahabadi

Runtime:

184 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

India:U

Filming Locations:

Kamalistan Studios, Andheri, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company:

Hirawat Jain and Company

Trivia:

According to Director Manmohan Desai, the character of Anthony Gonzalves (played by Amitabh Bachchan) was based upon a real person from his youth.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the adult Akbar is first seen in the movie at the hospital, he refers to Salma by the actress' real-life name, Neetu.

Quotes:

Kishanlal: Jenny, Jenny, my child

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Baadshah (1999)

Soundtrack:

Anhoni Ko Honi (Amar Akbar Anthony)

Mad!

Get this:

Having just been released from prison, a chauffeur who took the rap for a driving-accident by his boss, finds his children living in poverty and his wife having tuberculosis. He goes to his gangster-boss to demand the pay he was promised but is rebuffed. In a rage, he shoots at the boss, but he's wearing a bullet-proof vest. The chauffeur makes a getaway with one of the gangster's cars, not knowing that the car is loaded with gold. He runs home, where he finds that his wife has gone to commit suicide. On the run for the gangsters, he leaves his three children at a park ordering them to stay put and drives off, with the gangsters in hot pursuit. In the ensuing car chase, his vehicle is run off the road and explodes. With both gangsters and police believing him dead, he discovers the gold and runs away. Meanwhile, the wife, instead of offing herself, is struck by a falling tree branch and loses her sight. The kids in the park get separated and one's adopted by a Muslim, one by a Hindu police officer and one by a Catholic priest. Years later, when they've grown up, the three of them meet again donating blood to save the life of the woman they don't know is their mother. AND ALL THAT IS JUST THE PRE-CREDIT SEQUENCE!!! (eat that, James Bond!).

If you expect the narrative to slow down after that, think again. Amar Akbar Anthony is a wild, delirious roller coaster of a movie that rushes from pathos to comedy to action to thriller to pathos again and somehow manages to work perfectly. It has to be seen to be (hardly) believed.

Sit back, relax, turn off you sense of logic, suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride.