Released in 1977 Amar Akbar Anthony went to become a monumental hit and one of the greatest entertainers of all times. Thirty years later it still continues to enrapture movie buffs writes R Subramanian.
“ For me film-making is a fantasy trip. I like to take my audience on a fabulous journey so that they forget their daily predicaments and stress “, expounded filmmaker late Manmohan Desai with a flourish each time he was chided about his brand of cinema. The carping critics denounced his creations and he cared two hoots for their reviews. He followed his instincts and introduced his own formula of ‘Lost and Found’ to entertain his audience. And the finest example of this was the multi-starrer Amar Akbar Anthony released in 1977, which became a stupendous success and created a sensation at the box-office. The flick was stuffed with all the essential ingredients of an entertainer and for the viewers it turned out to be an awesome experience. “ It was a classic case of an engrossing story blended with fabulous performances, lilting music and above all an absorbing screenplay which moved at a brisk pace without a single drab movement. The film hooked you from the word go “, reminiscences vile parle resident Vijay S, who has seen the film umpteen times in the last three decades.
Though Amar Akbar Anthony featured an ensemble of interesting characters the one that became an instant crowd-pleaser and remains unrivalled is that of Amitabh Bachchan. Interestingly, when Manmohan Desai had narrated the subject to Amitabh at the Mangal Lawns ( Bachchan’s earlier abode at Juhu ) the latter was baffled. He laughed out loud and inquired “Man, what kind of movie are you hatching ?“. To which the supremely confident filmmaker had retorted, “ As soon as the film releases, people on the streets will address you as Anthonybhai “. He was so right. Enacting the adorable bootlegger Anthony Gonsalves, he not only steered into the hearts of millions of cineastes but his splendid act catapulted him to dizzying heights of super-stardom. “ It had a tremendous impact on the masses. I vividly remember guys wore coloured vests and moved about sporting a cross around their neck “, fondly recollects V Ashok.
If Amitabh bagged the best actor’s award then the dialogues penned by Kader Khan became a rage throughout the country. Lines like ‘ Apun ka beja karab hai ‘, ‘ Saala fod dalega’ and ‘ Apne takkar ka chokri’ became part of the Bombay lingo. Another highlight of the film was the marvelously shot fight sequence between Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna. “ The sequence had a tremendous impact and many people watched the film repeatedly specially for this scene “, divulges Rahul Patil. The legendary trio of Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Anand Bakshi came together and created catchy scores like ‘ My name is Anthony Gonsalves ‘, ‘ Parda hai parda ‘, ‘ Shirdiwale sai baba ‘, ‘ Anhoni ko honi karde ‘, ‘ Hum ko tumse ho gaya hai pyar ‘ and ‘ Tayyabali pyar ka dushman ‘ that became instant hits and won them the best music award inspite of stiff competition. The song ‘ Humko tumse…’ is the only song in the history of Indian cinema where Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi and Mukesh came together to render a song.
Amitabh used to fool around on the sets speaking gibberish English, which appealed to Manomohan Desai and he incorporated it in the song ‘ My name is Anthony ‘. And that’s how the line ‘ Wait…wait you see the whole country of the system is juxtapositioned by the haemoglobin in the atmosphere because you are a sophisticated rhetorician intoxicated by the exuberance of your own verbosity ‘, came into being. Amar Akbar Anthony was an extravagant venture and several entrepreneurs tried to cash in the wake of its release. “ I distinctly remember a stationary manufacturer had introduced a set of three large erasers with the imprint of the three lead characters. While the market was flooded with post cards, song booklets, LP records, T shirts and posters of the film “, reveals Santosh, who was a kid then.
The film had unleashed a lot excitement and long serpentine queues formed outside movie halls for tickets. “ I and my friend stood for nearly two hours in the queue at Bahaar cinema and were terribly disappointed when the ‘House Full’ broad was displayed. Those who sold tickets in black minted “, recalls Tushar Pandit, a die hard fan of Amitabh Bachchan. “ Finally three days later we managed to get the tickets. It was a gratifying experience “, he adds. While seven bungalow resident Krishnan Iyer chips in, “ After the film completed fifteen successful weeks the images of the three prime characters were printed on the tickets. And as kids we took pride flaunting the tickets indicating we were watching the film again “. Amar Akbar Anthony went on to celebrate silver jubilee simultaneously at nine theatres, which in itself became a record. This year the film turns thirty and it still remains a cult favourite. Television channels continue to telecast it periodically while the vcd’s and dvd’s of the flick are still in demand. As someone rightly put in ‘such timeless classic are not made… they happen’.
