During the 1970s, while the entire nation was witness to political upheavals of various hues, it wasn’t a surprise that the most popular celluloid character was the “angry young man”. Now before you say Amitabh Bachchan, let’s just hold back for a moment and reflect that while Big B exemplified that particular character in blockbusters like Deewar, Trishul and most notably in Zanjeer, there were stupendous actors like Om Puri (Aakrosh, Ardh Satya) and Naseeruddin Shah (Nishant, Aakrosh, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai) who were quietly projecting the anger of poor in rural, as well as urban India, in films which were vowing the audiences across the world.

The common thread running through these films is the fact that they were all appreciated by critics and, more often than not, were well received at the box office. All of the above mentioned flicks are now considered “cult classics”; so what is it about these angst-filled characters that draw the Indian movie buffs towards them?

When Amitabh Bachchan’s Inspector Vijay burst on to the Indian screens in Zanjeer (1973), the concept was new to Indian fans. The character created by Salim-Javed was projected more as an epic hero rather than a novelistic character. The grandeur of it all lured the Indian fans like never before, especially in a film like Deewar, where the trauma faced by the protagonists throughout his childhood gives him license to bash all the other bad guys, so that he can run his own shady deals safely! The anti-hero in Indian cinema was born thus. This was more true to the European phenomenon of ‘angry young man’ which was created throughout the late 1950s and 60s in the plays of celebrated playwrights like John Osborne and Kingsley Amis.

This however was somewhat different from how Hollywood perceived the angry young man. Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver or Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry walked on the other side of the law, while the desi hero did not go into the vigilante mode. Instead he romanced his lady love, took care of his blind mother/paralytic younger sister. He was fierce but always controlled and noble. He won over the Indian viewers’ empathy.

The 1980s however saw a different kind of anger fueling our hero, so much so that in films like Mirch Masala it needn’t be a ‘hero’ to get justice. The last scene of the film, where a group of women get together to defy the tyrannical subedar (played by the excellent Naseeruddin Shah) through a fistful of red chilies was as lyrical as it was brutal. The anger had transcended gender boundaries. Then there were efforts like the scathing black comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, where the main protagonists, disgusted by the corruption they witness in the system register their ‘rebellion’ by travelling without ticket in Bombay’s local trains! More recently we saw a group of yuppies take on the mantle of ‘angry young men’ in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehta’s Rang De Basanti.

Besides these, a lot of revenge sagas (throughout 1980s and early 1990s starring Mithun Chakraborty, Govinda, Jackie Shroff, Sunny Deol among other) drew from the tradition that began in an obscure theater in London in 1956 with John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger. On Osborne’s death in 1994 a critic wrote, “When somebody breaks the mould so comprehensively it’s difficult to describe what it feels like”. It was true for all those who witnessed first show of LBA in 1956, and those who saw Amitabh kick a chair away from Pran in the first day first show of Zanjeer some twenty years later.

Tags: 70's, Amitabh Bachchan, Anti Hero, Cult Movies