Pukar

Pukar review :

One of the few Bollywood films based on Goa Liberation; Pukar was produced by Ramesh Behl who repeated his hit jodi - Amitabh Bachchan and Randhir Kapoor - from Kasme Vaade (1978) and roped in Pancham RD Burman to compose the music which turned out to be a huge hit.

"Tu maiko mat jaiyyo" sung by Bachchan himself, was a Binaca Geetmala chartbuster while the sexy Zeenat Aman scorched up the Goa beach in "Samundar mein nahake aur bhi namkeen ho gayee ho". Yes, indeed!!

Amitabh Bachchan was cast in an anti-hero role of Ramdas, a son of a Goan freedom fighter, who despises fellow Indians and turns Ronnie owing allegiance to Portuguese after a childhood misunderstanding. Randhir was miscast as the brave 'sipahi' of Goan Liberation party and appeared out of place in most action sequences. Zeenat looked absolutely marvelous as Amitabh's amour while Tina Munim was shortchanged in a blink and miss role.

Prem Chopra played the Portuguese baddie efficiently. In one scene, Amitabh hoodwinks him in a comic scene inspired from Lone Ranger. Bachchan was in his element here and the film is watchable only for him and Pancham da's awesome score.

Being a Goenkar, Pukar holds a special place in my heart for its depiction of Goa independence. While British left India in 1947, Goa got liberated from the Portuguese rule only on December 19, 1961. The film's climax recreates this glorious moment when Indian army rushed in to the province and made the Portuguese flee forever.

A parting trivia : The original climax had Bachchan die after killing Prem Chopra but was changed to a happy ending after he suffered a near fatal accident during the shooting of Manmohan Desai's Coolie (1983). The audience just couldn't see their hero pass away even in the reel world after this incident. Obviously!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.