Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth reunited in October this year to create magic in TJ Gnanavel’s action thriller Vettaiyan. It’s a tried and tested pairing that gave us two Bollywood hits in the past — Andhaa Kaanoon in 1983 and then Hum in 1991.
Andhaa Kaanoon was Rajinikanth’s Bollywood debut. It signalled the start of a new pan-India trend — the union of superstars, big-name actors, directors, and producers from South and North India. In a way, it was Telugu director T Rama Rao’s ‘pan-India’ movie with a cast that included Hema Malini, Prem Chopra, Pran, Danny Denzongpa, and Amrish Puri.
Andhaa Kaanoon, a remake of the 1981 Tamil film Sattam Oru Iruttarai, had all the ingredients of a blockbuster—two megastars, a revenge saga, and injustice.
The movie set cash registers ringing that year. Made on a budget of Rs 2.30 crore, it raked in Rs 7.50 crore at the box office to become one of the top five highest-grossing films of 1983.
A talisman for box office
What’s interesting is that Rajinikanth’s character in the movie is called Vijay, a name closely associated with Amitabh Bachchan. He’s acted in at least 20 movies where he has been Vijay, including Zanjeer (1973), Deewaar (1975), Don (1978), Kaala Patthar (1979), and Shaan (1980). It was almost like a talisman for box office success.
In Andhaa Kaanoon, Bachchan plays Jan Nissar Khan, a disgraced forest officer. Vijay and Jan meet by chance and bond over their mutual distrust and hate for the country’s legal system. Jan, too, has been betrayed by the law, and looks for revenge.
Vijay and Durga (Hema Malini) are siblings who had witnessed the murder of their father and the rape and killing of their sister by three hardened criminals. A corrupt jailer says that the criminals were in their jail cell at the time of the crime, but the three men had gotten away scot free.
Ticking most boxes
The film’s title track is sung multiple times by Jan as the story delves into the ways the legal system had betrayed him and Vijay. One version plays at the very end of the movie, when both men have extracted their revenge.
One of the songs, Rote Rote, had a happy and sad version. The latter version, sung by Rajeshwari Sachdev, is hard-hitting. Jan’s daughter Neelo sings it to console her father who is jailed after being falsely arrested on charges of murder. Soon after the song, Jan’s wife Zakhiya (Madhavi) sends a letter to him, telling that she has killed herself and her daughter, unable to bear the trauma of being raped.
The song Meri Bahena, sung by Asha Bhonsle and Kishore Kumar, establishes the relationship of Vijay and Durga despite them being on the opposite sides of law. On Rakshabandhan, Durga decides to let go of her issues with Vijay’s quest of killing their parents’ murderers and shares a few happy moments with him.
The film, however, has its own set of problems. In order to emphasise the corruption and ineffectiveness of the judicial system, the movie makes use of rape as a freewheeling trope. Rajnikanth’s skin tone is also lightened considerably, as if to suit the more Hindi belt aesthetics of lighter skinned actors. The violence, too, is graphic.
Despite its flaws, it managed to tick most boxes–and proved to be a hit, one that united North and South India.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)