Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)

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.

Director:

Manmohan Desai

Writers:

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

Stars:

Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Raghu
Shivraj	...	Mr. Ilahabadi

Storyline

A ex-convict must flee his mob boss, leaving his family to fend for themselves. His wife goes blind and his children are abandoned. They are adopted by a Hindu policeman, a Muslim tailor, and a Catholic priest. The Hindu-raised son becomes a policeman in his turn; his Muslim-raised brother becomes a singer; and the last son, played by Amitabh, becomes a happy-go-lucky Catholic who lives on the edge of the law. The boys meet again and their lives become entangled in an incredible plot full of unlikely coincidences and furious action sequences interspersed with songs. In the end, the grieving mother recovers her sight, the evil mob boss is punished, and the family is at last re-united.

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Plot Keywords:

hindu | muslim | accident | christian | tailor | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Family

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi English

Release Date:

7 January 1977 (India)

Also Known As:

A Força do Passado

Filming Locations:

Kamalistan Studios, Andheri, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hirawat Jain and Company, M.K.D. Films Combine, Manmohan Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

184 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

The line, "sophisticated rhetorician intoxicated with the exuberance of your own verbosity" that is spoken by Anthony when he emerges from the Easter egg is an almost exact quotation from a speech given by Benjamin Disraeli in 1878. Disraeli (who was referring to W.E. Gladstone) used the word "inebriated" rather than "intoxicated".

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Goofs

When the adult Akbar is first seen in the movie at the hospital, he refers to Salma by the actress' real-life name, Neetu.

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Quotes

Anthony Gonzalves: You know the whole country of the system is juxtapositioned by the hemoglobin in the atmosphere because you are a sophisticated rhetorician intoxicated by the exuberance of your own verbosity.

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Connections

Referenced in Black Friday (2004)

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Soundtracks

"My Name Is Anthony Gonzalves"
Lyrics by Anand Bakshi
Music by Laxmikant and Pyarelal
Sung By Kishore Kumarand Amitabh Bachchan
Polydor

User Reviews

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.