Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) is walking out of a police station with his black-listed benefactor who has just bailed him out of jail. Ashwini Kumar (Dilip Kumar), a revered police officer and his father warns, “If you go too far on this path..you may not be able to return.” Vijay turns to face him and says, “Iss baar main wapis aane ke liye nahin jaa raha.”(This time I am not leaving to come back)
The scene sums up what Shakti, Ramesh Sippy’s 1982 classic, is all about. Helplessness in the face of grave human errors we mistake as fate. Shakti is a Shakespearean tragedy because an air of inevitability hangs over the narrative. It is also a Freudian tale of Vijay’s complex filial love laced with hate and resentment.
And it is also a modern take on Mother India, Ganga Jumna and Deewar, where family bonds are tested by duty, and the result is inevitably bloody. Shakti however is not just about two people who love each other deeply, but are forced into repeated confrontations because one chooses law and the other, lawlessness. It is about miscommunication and silence and deep-rooted, simmering hurt that can destroy families if unaddressed. It is always a frustrating experience to watch Shakti because you cannot take sides. And because you care deeply for the provokingly self-righteous father and for the stubborn, unforgiving son who builds up a world of pain to shut the one man out who can save him from self-destruction.
The trail of pain goes right back to childhood when Vijay overhears his father telling his kidnappers over the phone, “Maar daalo usse par main apne farz se baimani nahin karoonga,” (Kill my son but I will stay true to my duty). The words estrange him from his father forever. Ramesh Sippy must have known the significance of casting Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan in the roles of father and son. He was after all, pitting two genre-defining actors against each other at a time when one was already a legend and the other was on his way to becoming one. The most powerful scene in the film is where the two are not engaged in hurtful accusations but when Vijay arrives to grieve his dead mother. And suddenly, you are aware of not just the characters but the actors who are playing them. So it is Bachchan you notice, his stooping shoulders, his agony as he walks over to the harrowed father. This is Dilip Kumar, you say to yourself.
This man with his face shadowed with tragedy and loss, his eyes glazed with tears. And then the two are face to face even though they do not look at each other. Then Bachchan is just a son wordlessly reaching out across years of estrangement. He holds his father’s arm for a fleeting second…looking to connect at least now but there is no answering gaze. And you know the tragedy is not when you lose someone to death but when you lose them to life. Till that moment in the climax when a simple admission of love breaks down all the barriers. Only by then, it is too late.
And yes, beyond Dilip Kumar’s nuanced brilliance and Amitabh Bachchan’s unhurried angst, is Smita Patil, shining in a brief role, speaking simple but powerful lines like only she could. Just watching her walk down a street with Bachchan is something out of a dream because few actors today command the screen the way these two did.
Salim Javed’s writing is like a kaleidoscope of every human emotion there is. Rakhi in one of the most moving performances of her career, RD Burman’s music and the unwillingness of the lead actors to overwhelm the story, make Shakti a landmark memory. One that you must revisit, just to feel the goosebumps pop when RD’s theme music plays in the background and Bachchan crumbles in Dilip Kumar’s arms to say, “To phir kaha kyon nahin dad..kaha kyon nahin.” (why didn’t you tell me that you loved me, dad, why didn’t you?)
with Reema Moudgil works for The New Indian Express, Bangalore, is the author of Perfect Eight, the editor of Chicken Soup for the Soul-Indian Women, an artist, a former RJ and a mother. She dreams of a cottage of her own that opens to a garden and where she can write more books, paint, listen to music and just be.
Really a classic.loved it then and love it now.and Both were just awesome!