Sikandar is representative of all the people who are neglected at some or other point of the time in their life, he is also representative of the heart-broken people who couldn’t get the love of
their life. He represents the people who had to fight it out all their life. In short he represents at least some part of every person. Sikandar also represents the people who got the legacy of only ’Dard’ (sorrow) in their life. Everyone goes to him when they are sad but he has no one to look for his own troubles. Sikandar again proves why (in Mahabharata) Karna appeals more to people than Arjuna. The sense of negligence is the worst sorrow in life the one makes person to question their worth.
THE PLOT
This movie is about the sorrows & how Sikandar deals with them. He is blamed of shop-lifting, he looses his love in childhood, he carries the burden of being the ’wrong-guy’ in the eyes of the people who he cares most: His ’Memsab’. He makes other people’s lives better when at the same time he is suffering with personal pain & agony! The ’Karna’ angle is not seen for nothing.
You can hear his feelings thru his monologues & you as a audience get to know whats going on in his mind but not a single character from the movie..well except after he find Johra-bai (Rekha)! You as an audience are made to ’live’ Sikandar’s sorrows & are made to watch them thru his eyes. He sees love of his life in love with other person: all happy & dancing/singing with pure Joy.
The other person is his best friend whom he loves as much! Complete with defeated mentality he tries to seek support from his soul-mate Johra-bai, who bcos of a promise to Sikandar’s friend chews a diamond in order not to meet him! Sikandar again looses his pillar of support & has to watch her die in his arms. ’Johra main dil-jala hun saari duniya jala dunga’. He pick her up & goes to kabra-sthan & complains to the ’baba’ that he can’t take it anymore & can’t take all this sorrow laughing as Baba has advised him years back.
He speaks to baba his mind just to find that Baba is also left the journey of life! Audience & Sikandar is stunned. Finally Sikandar gives his life by fighting with mislead lover of Johra (Amjad Khan: Deelawar Khan) in order to protect his sister & asl the marriage proceedings.
THE ACTING
Amitabh as Sikandar: Can there be a better person for this role? You can check my 5 Best actors review & also Amitabh top 10 movies review where I have discussed in detail similarity & differences between two Greats like Dilip Kumar & Amitabh. This is one movie that explains how Amitabh had / has en edge over Dilip Kumar, the one that explains the difference between natural actor & a natural but methodical actor.
You can’t predict Amitabh’s actions / display of emotion in every movie..GREAT given how many years/movies he has been acting. This movie also explains you why BACHCHAN was a Super-Hero, SUPER-Man & a Larger-than-life personality from id 70s to late 80s. The man is to put plainly a GENIUS. At the same time he is intelligent to soak/understand what others greats like Pachino, Brando, Jerry Lewis have to offer. Despite enjoying all-out top 1 to 20 positions in the Indian film industry this man was highly humble, honest & highly professional. Never/Ever troubled any director with the dates/time which was a norm / common thing in the industry in the 70s & 80s.
The name ’BACHCHAN’ carried an aura of such an invincibility that by the time Shakti was about to release Dilip Kumar had become the under-dog !!!
Apart from emotional/tragic scenes check his expressions in the O Sathi Re Song. Specially in the music-pieces connecting two stanzas. His humorous scenes with ’Prarelal’ are a much needed relief for the public. ’Tum thehero, Hum Nikalate hain, Hum baithate hain’ etc dialogs & their acting together is really entertaining. Every now & then though Sikandar’s sorrow comes thru his dialogs :’Na maut aati hain na memsaab aati hain, lekin Zohra-bai tum bahot achha gaati ho’
Rekha
Un-arguably this is her best movie/acting, Umrao Jan notwithstanding (though VERY good). She fits the bill of Johra bai perfectly & compliments Sikandar well. Sikandar & Johra find a worthy friend in each other with Johra having much more feelings for Sikandar. Rekha displays an unmatched ’ada’ & modesty in this role. Public applauds when she says ’Itane paise main to Sikandar ki tasveer na du’. She chooses to die for her promise to Vinod Khanna that she would not meet Sikandar again & thanks almighty to allow her to die in the hands of the person she adores/loves more than her life. Her life’s tragedy is summed by Sikandar’s request to Deelawar Khan ’Ja Johra ke kabrasthan main hain, to use ye to sukun hoga ki koi to use pyar karat tha!’
Amjad Khan Do I need to repeat that I LOVE this man? Not only because of his Gabbar but equally for his every role may it be Vikram in Natwarlal, Inspector Khan in Qurbani or Deelawar Khan in this movie. He gets applaud repeatedly for his dialogs in this movie more so bcos of his JINDA-DIL approach. ’Kya baap abhi tak idhar hain kya’..or when he comes to the police-station ’Dekh Inspector abhi apun usako tapakaya aur khud idhar aya police-station main!!!’ Pubcli loves this guy & why not!!!
Vinod Khanna A stable/consistent performer & in my opinion the most handsome/whatever hero/actor ever produced in Indian cinema. Dharmednra comes distant second. He has given many hits with Amitabh & they used to compliment each other perfectly. Sometime they look very similar in profile etc. I really liked them together & think such a pair hasn’t appeared again.
THE MUSIC
I have already penned ’Salam-E-Ishq’ in my 10 Best Amitabh review. Won’t repeat here. Just check that review out for this movie & you would surely love the description there for sure. The lyrics are noteworthy specially the stanzas & also Amitabh’s piece Isake aage ki dasata ab tu muzhese sun.
Watch people go all crazy in the theatres even today when Amitabh comes on scene with Hey, hey..Rote huwe aate hain Sab, Hasata huwa jo jayega. I specially like the stanza ’Jindagi to bewafa hain ek din thukarayegi’. Rekha’s ’Wafa jo na kee to jafa bhi na keejiyen’ is ok. ’Dil to hain Dil is cool & so is O Sathi re’
CONCLUSION
Overall a masterpiece by Prakash Mehra. He is one of the director who made VERY good use of Amitabh’s abilities. Manmohan Desai eyed only box-offcie & gave pretty mediocre stuff after AAA. EVen Naseeb was so so & Mahan was bakwas. Mukaddar Ka Sikandar is a must see, one of the best display of acting by the best actor of Indian cinema along with Dilip Kumar & Naseeruddin Shah. Watch it for Amitabh, Rekha pair too. Certainly watch it for Amjad khan’s Deelawar performance.
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