| 18 | 18 | Other topical and politically loaded references invoked threats of national economic destabilisation in e.g. Trishul, Shakti and Mr. Natwarlal. The melodramatic plot structure also lent itself well to the enactment of the fantasy of the lumpen rebel-vigilante who achieves great personal success, at times turning the film into a gigantic masquerade (esp. with Manmohan Desai). In addition to his own charismatic presence and his sonorous voice, an important component in several Bachchan films is the Salim-Javed script. Bachchan’s persona is often defined by two female figures: the melodramatic mother who symbolises the family and the ‘liberated’ |