| Majboor | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Ravi Tandon |
| Written by | Salim-Javed |
| Produced by | Premji |
| Starring | Amitabh Bachchan Parveen Babi Pran Farida Jalal Sulochana Latkar D. K. Sapru Iftekhar Satyen Kappu Rehman Mac Mohan |
| Music by | Laxmikant–Pyarelal |
| Distributed by |
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Release date |
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| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Majboor (transl. Compelled) is a1974IndianHindi-languageaction thriller film directed byRavi Tandon. Written bySalim-Javed (Salim Khan andJaved Akhtar), the film is loosely inspired by two 1970American films –Zig Zag andCold Sweat. It stars anensemble cast ofAmitabh Bachchan,Parveen Babi,Pran,Farida Jalal,Sulochana Latkar,D. K. Sapru,Iftekhar,Satyen Kappu,Rehman, andMac Mohan. Salim-Javed had initially narrated the story ofMajboor toRamesh Sippy, who liked it but wanted to make a film on a larger scale, and it was Tandon who agreed to do and Sippy later madeSholay (1975) with the writer duo. The music was composed byLaxmikant-Pyarelal and the lyrics were penned byAnand Bakshi.
Majboor released on 6 December 1974, opening to positive reviews. Abox office hit,[1] the film was later remade inTelugu by directorK. Raghavendra Rao asRaja (1976), inTamil asNaan Vazhavaippen (1979) and inMalayalam asEe Kaikalil (1986).[2] The film was also an inspiration for the 2008 filmJimmy.
Ravi Khanna (Amitabh Bachchan) is acommon man working as atravel agent and living happily with hiswidowed mother (Sulochana Latkar),wheelchair-bound sister, Renu (Farida Jalal), and younger brother, Billu (Alankar Joshi). He is also due to get married with his girlfriend, Neela (Parveen Babi), who is the only daughter of a wealthy man, Mr. Rajvansh (D. K. Sapru). One night, a wealthy client, Surendra Sinha (Rehman), visits Ravi's office to collect theair tickets that have been reserved for him. Ravi notices a largeemeraldring on thefinger of Surendra, who also proceeds to offer a lift in his car to him as it has been raining heavily. Later, Ravi learns from the police that Surendra was apparentlykidnapped that same night, and that the kidnappers have demanded aransom of₹5lakhs from Surendra's younger brother, Narendra Sinha (Satyen Kappu). Narendra has agreed to pay the ransom to save his brother, but there is no news about Surendra again. Six months later,CIDInspector Khurana (Iftekhar) and Inspector Kulkarni (Jagdish Raj) shockingly discover Surendra'sdead body in agutter and visit Ravi's office forinterrogation regarding the murder. Ravi is innocent, but nervous for Khurana and Kulkarni taking a keen interest in him, since he is the last known person to have met Surendra. He believes himself to be having analibi and seeks legal advice from hislawyer friend,Advocate P. V. Rane (Shiv Kumar), for being a simple man with a family to be taken care of, and not willing to deal with the police and the courts.
However, the stress seems to be triggering severalheadaches which causes Ravi intense pain for a couple of minutes. After a second episode, he takes it seriously enough to visit Dr. Shah (Sajjan) and undergoes anX-ray of hisbrain. The shockingdiagnosis is that Ravi has abrain tumour that needs to be extracted immediately through abrain surgery, and if not, will cause his death within six months. Ravi is willing to undergo the brain surgery, but Dr. Shah states that it could either cure him completely, or could result in very unintended side-effects fromblindness tomental illness toparalysis. Ravi is shattered for having many responsibilities on his mother, sister, and brother, and feels that he neither has the right to die nor become a burden on them. As a result, Ravi leaves without making a decision when the choices are death and a life worse than death. At the same time, he receives the interestingnews of the grieving Narendra having declared a handsomereward of ₹5 lakhs (which he was previously ready to pay to his brother's kidnappers) to the person who will help him capture Surendra's murderer. In an attempt to better his family's financial conditions after him, Ravi comes up with a scheme to frame himself for Surendra's murder and collect the reward money for his family, justifying that he has nothing to lose himself and is going to die in six months nevertheless. Heanonymously calls Khurana at thepolice station as aninformer about Surendra's murder, who declares Ravi as the culprit and instructs the police to deposit the money at the office of hissolicitor, Rane. As a result, a desperate Narendra agrees to pay out the reward after Khurana informs him about the anonymoustelephone call.
Meanwhile, Ravi also sends an anonymousletter at Rane's office, instructing him to open the letter and follow its instructions only after Surendra's killer has been sentenced by the court. He also plantscircumstantial evidence (his burntshirt,cigarette butts, pieces ofrope and aniron rod with hisfingerprints) to prove that Ravi kidnapped Surendra, brought him to an isolated place, and then killed him with an iron rod. Acting upon the received information, Khurana and Kulkarni recover the evidence andarrest Ravi after fingerprint testing. During the trial, Ravi falsely confesses in the court that he kidnapped Surendra for the ransom of ₹5 lakhs, tied him up at the isolated place, and when Surendra tried to escape, he accidentally killed him and threw his dead body off in the gutter. As a result, Ravi is sentenced to death by the court, devastating his family, Neela and her father. Moreover, Ravi's mother and Neela's attempts to make some sense out of Ravi's confession and also request Narendra forclemency fail miserably. However, things take a drastic turn when Ravi suffers from another headache episode inprison and is rushed by Khurana and Kulkarni to thehospital, where, serendipitously, it is Dr. Shah who examines him. Aware of Ravi'smedical history, Dr. Shah wastes no time in performing an emergency surgery of his brain, which miraculously ends up a successful with no side-effects. Nevertheless, it is too late now as Ravi is now aconvicted criminal for kidnapping, ransom and murder, which he planted on himself.
Two months later, Ravi summons Neela and Rane for a permitted meeting at the hospital and confesses about his innocence. However, Rane states that now there is no way out and that they will need fresh evidence to reopen the case. In an attempt to save himself from execution, Ravi successfully escapes from the hospital on the mission to search for Surendra's real murderer and is aided by Neela in his pursuit. The couple escapes to a hotel to safety, where Ravi meets a wealthy man, Mahipat Rai (Madan Puri), who has a girlfriend, Madhu (Sabina), despite being married to amillionaire wife, Sulakshana (Lalita Kumari). Ravi notices that Mahipat is shockingly wearing the same ring he had noticed on Surendra's finger. On being questioned by Ravi, Mahipat reveals that the ring was sold to him by a curio shop owner, Prakash (Mac Mohan). With the help of Prakash, Ravi traces the origin of the ring to Michael D'Souza (Pran), a kind-hearted and happy-go-lucky professionalthief, whom Prakash had purchased the ring from. Ravi meets Michael and confronts him over Surendra's ring, when Michael confesses of stealing the ring but claims to be the solewitness to Surendra's murder. On that rainy night, Michael had prevented the way of a car with a man driving and another man sleeping on thebackseat, and had threatened the driving man atgunpoint. The driving man claimed that the sleeping man is his friend, who is sick and is being taken to the hospital by him. Since he had nothing to give, the driving man removed the ring the sleeping man was wearing and handed it over to Michael. On learning this, Ravi realises that the sleeping man was Surendra and that he was already dead, while the man driving was his murderer. In exchange for tracking down Surendra's real murderer, Ravi offers the reward of ₹5 lakhs as well as Surendra's ring to Michael.
However, Prakash advises Michael to betray Ravi and go to make a deal with Narendra, who will give him ₹5 lakhs for the information on the murderer. Michael visits Surendra's house to meet Narendra for the same, but is shocked to identify Narendra as the driver of the car, whom he had stolen Surendra's ring from. Seeing no other way out, Narendra admits that Surendra's wife, Mona (Ashoo), had anextramarital affair with him, which Surendra discovered on the rainy night and banished Narendra from the house. He also alleged that Narendra is his adopted brother, but a furious Narendra immediately retaliated by smashingglass bottles on Surendra'shead, killing him instantly due tohead injuries. Narendra then threw Surendra's dead body off in the gutter, faked his kidnapping and ransom, and announced the reward of ₹5 lakhs to cover up his crime. After learning this, Michael agrees to hand over Ravi to Narendra in exchange for ₹7.5 lakhs. Michael instructs both Ravi and Narendra to reach an isolated cabin at the same time, where Ravi will find Surendra's real killer, and Narendra will find Ravi. Michael is now perplexed as he is aware that Ravi never murdered Surendra, and yet he admitted to the crime in the court.
In an attempt to find out the truth about Ravi's strange actions, Michael visits Ravi's house to realise that Ravi took the blame of the murder just to provide for his family, and takes anoath that Ravi will return home to them. Later, Michael meets Narendra at the place where he had summoned him and Ravi. When Ravi and Neela arrive there, they are horrified to witness Narendrashooting threebullets in thestomach of Michael, already aware that he will expose the truth about his crime. At this point, Ravi learns that the murderer of Surendra is none other than Narendra, Surendra's own brother. He drives away desperately to bring a doctor back in time, while a gravely injured Michael holds Narendra at gunpoint along with Neela during the time. As Ravi is returning with a doctor, Kulkarni and the police discover his car and pursue Ravi to thecrime scene. As Michael's health deteriorates, Narendra attempts to escape, but Ravi appears on time and captures him. Michael provides histestimony to Kulkarni about Ravi's innocence and Narendra being Surendra's killer, and eventually dies in Ravi's arms. As a result, Kulkarni and the police arrest Narendra for both Surendra and Michael's murders, andacquitt Ravi from the charge of Surendra's murder. The film ends with thefuneral of Michael when his oath of reuniting Ravi with his family is recalled.
All lyrics are written by Anand Bakshi.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Aadmi Jo Kehta Hai Aadmi Jo Sunta Hai" | Kishore Kumar | |
| 2. | "Dekh Sakta Hoon Main Kuch Bhi Hote Hue" (Male Version) | Kishore Kumar | |
| 3. | "Daroo Ki Botal Mein Kahe Paani Bharta Hai" | Kishore Kumar | |
| 4. | "Roothe Rab Ko Manana Aasan Hai" | Mohammed Rafi,Asha Bhosle | |
| 5. | "Dekh Sakta Hoon Main Kuch Bhi Hote Hue" (Female Version) | Lata Mangeshkar |
Nominated