Achanak 1973
On Gulzar’s birthday we will talk about Achanak, directed by the legend himself. He is most popular as a poet, but he also directed dozens of movies. His movies always showcase the human relationships and ask very difficult questions for the society, for groups, for individuals. The way he tells his stories is always a treat for a movie lover. Sadly, in today’s generation, only a few people explore these movies. Whether you agree or not, the director Gulzar is always under the shadow of the Grammy and the Oscar winner, Lyricist Gulzar.
Today we will talk about Achanak, a movie by Gulzar with no songs. Achanak is a story of an army officer, played by Vinod Khanna, who found his wife cheated on him with his best friend. He then killed both and surrendered. He was given a death sentence but story turns when he ran away from police custody. He gets himself shot in his chest and ultimately ends up in a hospital with no chance of recovery. But he recovers. The question is, for what? to be executed by the law. How this justifies the hard work of doctors and nurses do to bring back someone from death to be executed shortly by the law. It also asked that we trained army officer to kill, we awarded them on how ruthlessly they kill the enemy or how many they kill, but why does it change, when the officer kills his own enemies by using those skills? Can a good man be a criminal or vice versa? is it really needed to do your duty for the sake of the duty? Is it any kind of social paradox whether you do your work or decide to resign but ultimately you can’t solve the issues? This movie left us with such many difficult questions to think about.
Mainly the story told through flashbacks. With only 90 minutes ruining time, the story is very focused on its main plot. Vinod Khanna, Om shiv puri, Asrani, Lily Chakraborty, Farida Jalal and Iftekhar everyone plays their characters really well. The movie is based on the story written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. If you want to explore Gulzar, the director, I will recommend you to watch Achanak.