Batwara'

1989 201’ col/scope Hindi d/s J.P. Dutta pc 786 Aftab Pics dial O.P. Dutta lyr Hasan Kamal c Ishwar Bidri m Laxmikant- Pyarelal lp Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Vijayendra Ghatge, Neena Gupta, Dimple Kapadia, Shammi Kapoor, Asha Parekh, Poonam Dhillon, Mohsin Khan, Amrish Puri, Amrita Singh

Amitabh Bachchan’s celebrated baritone introduces in voice-over the film’s political context: new laws limiting land ownership introduced after Independence threaten the zamindar class. One of them, Bade Thakur (Kapoor), has a son, Vikram Singh aka Vicky (Khanna) who is friendly with Sumer Singh (Dharmendra), a member of the hated Jat community. Vicky’s younger brother, the arrogant Devan (Ghatge), is killed by irate villagers and Vicky in turn murders several villagers, including the brother of Sumer’s girlfriend (Dimple). The friends turn into mortal enemies as Sumer becomes the farmers’ leader. Both Sumer and Vicky are sought by the police, especially by Rajendra Pratap Singh (Khan), a principled officer despite being the youngest son of Bade Thakur. Rajendra Pratap’s disdain for caste differences irks his junior officer Hanumant Singh (Puri), who plans to kill him. The film continues J.P. Dutta’s concern with Rajastan’s communal and caste wars, the feudal lifestyle of the zamindars, their scant respect for human life and the image of a powerful, charismatic leader who unites the people against the oppressive thakurs. The visuals are replete with horses racing across the desert, camels, palaces, elaborate costumes, sand-dunes, ravines and the mandatory vultures.

Film