Zanjeer: Amitabh Bachchan may have cried in a corner after watching Ram Charan’s disaster

I personally don’t believe that Zanjeer (1973) is “the best film” of anyone involved in it — be it director Prakash Mehra; actors Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan (née Bhaduri), Ajit Khan, and Pran; screenwriter duo Salim-Javed; or composers Kalyanji-Anandji. Yet, there’s no denying that Zanjeer was a pathbreaking film that established “failed newcomer” Amitabh Bachchan as an actor and marked the birth of the “angry young man” archetype that became a sensation across the country.

Although Zanjeer might look formulaic now, it was the film that introduced a story pattern that eventually became a formula used by creators across India. It wasn’t a masala film, but it had elements and plot devices belonging to various genres, ranging from action sequences and romance to drama. It had enough elements to ensure that the audience connected with one thing or another.

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And that’s exactly why, when watching director Apoorva Lakhia’s 2013 remake of Zanjeer (simultaneously shot in Telugu as Thoofan), all I could think of screaming at the makers, including the actors, was: “You had one job!”

But Apoorva and the team not only butchered the original Zanjeer; they also proved that some people can’t even copy-paste decently.

Inspector Vijay Khanna’s (Amitabh Bachchan) battle was against the illicit liquor mafia and its head, Seth Dharam Dayal Teja (Ajit Khan). Meanwhile, Apoorva and Suresh Nair, who adapted Salim-Javed’s screenplay, turned Vijay Khanna into an ACP (played by Ram Charan in his Bollywood debut) fighting against the oil mafia and its head, Rudra Pratap Teja (Prakash Raj). This was obviously done to update the script and modernise the story, syncing it with contemporary sensibilities.

Modernising a classic or butchering its essence?

Instead of a shot-for-shot remake, the makers genuinely tried to adapt Zanjeer by making the necessary alterations to suit the sensibilities of the 2010s. However, most of these changes were pretty shallow and only ruined the essence of the original film.

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Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri in the 1973 Zanjeer. (Express archive photo)

One of the “most important” updates was the introduction of the objectification and patronisation of women. The 2013 Zanjeer not only opens with a completely unnecessary item song, but that’s not the only one in the movie. While Jaya Bhaduri’s Mala was a strong, self-sufficient woman with depth and identity, Priyanka Chopra’s Mala is an annoying damsel in distress who oozes fake cuteness in everything she does.

And what makes everything significantly worse is Chintan Gandhi’s “poetic” dialogues such as, “The call girl did it. I mean, a girl called, sir.” Wah! Shayari!

Apoorva Lakhia is a very honest filmmaker. In the very first scene itself, he makes the movie’s overall quality abundantly clear, and he never goes off track. He sticks to this standard until the end, and it’s only our fault that we continued watching the Ram Charan-starrer for the next 2+ hours.

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Amitabh Bachchan’s intentionally stoic, stone-cold demeanour became a rage after Zanjeer’s release. Amitabh brilliantly gave the character a fiery touch, depriving his rivals of the opportunity to read and decipher Vijay Khanna. Given how expressive he can be as an actor, it’s clear this was a conscious choice.

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When the movie was remade in Telugu as Nippulanti Manishi (1974) and in Tamil as Sirithu Vazha Vendum (1974), the lead stars NT Rama Rao (NTR) and MG Ramachandran (MGR), respectively, did not adhere to the exact same metre. They were a bit more dramatically expressive, in tune with their regional industry’s acting styles. However, in the Malayalam remake Naayattu (1980), action hero Jayan stuck to the Amitabh style, giving the character more strength.

In Apoorva’s Zanjeer, Ram Charan also maintains a stoic face almost always. But the difference is that it’s evident that’s all he can do. Even in most of his other films, we have seen him struggling to emote. His introduction scene in Zanjeer, where he is jolted awake by a nightmare, stands as a testament to his poor acting skills that no amount of selling him as “Mega Power Star” (a portmanteau of his father Chiranjeevi’s sobriquet “Mega Star” and his uncle Pawan Kalyan’s moniker “Power Star”) can erase.

In his first fight, we even see Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan’s posters in the background, but Ram Charan quickly drains their aura with his expressions — or lack thereof — which make him look like a cardboard cutout.

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Although Amitabh Bachchan’s Zanjeer had its fair share of flaws, it still had a soul. It stood on its own. But Ram Charan’s Zanjeer is less a remake and more a poorly executed copy-paste, pulled down further by the worst background score of that decade in Hindi cinema. I didn’t know one could turn “Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram” into a comedic track, even if unintentionally. Had the movie been released today, it would have faced a ban call from the right wing just for that.

Priyanka Chopra has a fabulous PR team now, in my opinion. They cleverly ensure that our memories don’t go back to the time when the “global star” appeared in such shoddy films far too often and delivered abysmal performances in line with them.

Apoorva Lakhia should be forever indebted to Ram Gopal Varma for massacring another Salim-Javed film (Sholay) a few years prior. If his Aag (2007) hadn’t turned out to be the abomination it was, the 2013 Zanjeer would have easily become the worst Hindi remake of all time.

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And I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me that Amitabh Bachchan, if he accidentally watched the Ram Charan-starrer, cried himself to sleep at the sight of his career-defining movie being shamelessly dragged through the mud.

By the way, if you come back next week, I will welcome you all to central jail (wink).

Memories of Blunder is a column in which we dissect some of the worst South Indian movies and performances of all time. No offence to anyone whose name surfaces here. They may all have potential, but they blew it that one time. However, don’t play the song if you can’t face the music, right?