47 Years of Zanjeer. (11/05/1973).
Zanjeer is a crime action film, written by Salim-Javed, directed and produced by Prakash Mehra, and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Pran, Ajit, and Bindu.
The film changed Hindi cinema’s trend from romance films to crime action films, and pioneered Bachchan’s new image of a brooding but explosive person who fights back when cornered, known as “The Angry Young Man.”
The film started a new wave in Bollywood. At a time when India was suffering from corruption and low economic growth, and the common man was left with frustration and anger over the system, Zanjeer began shifting Hindi cinema in a violent and aggressive direction. Reflecting the anger of the masses, Amitabh Bachchan was seen as the new hero, who had the courage to fight against the wrongs while maintaining moral values at the same time. This film also ended the struggling period for Bachchan and turned him into a rising star. The film was a blockbuster success, domestically in India and overseas in the Soviet Union.
It was the first of many collaborations between screenwriter duo Salim-Javed and Amitabh Bachchan. Ever since Zanjeer, Salim-Javed wrote many of their subsequent scripts with Bachchan in mind for the lead role, and insisted on him being cast for their later films, including blockbusters such as Deewaar (1975) and Sholay (1975), establishing Bachchan as a superstar.
Zanjeer remains an important film in the history of Indian cinema and is regarded as a classic today.
