Shakti
Tags: murder, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Aishwarya (Ileana D'Cruz) is the daughter of central union home minister Mahadevraya (Prabhu Ganesan). Due to security reasons, he doesn't allow his daughter to go on a trip with friends. She nonetheless goes to the trip. She then meets a guide, Shakti (Jr. NTR), who takes the group on a trip to several places. At first, she hates him because he uses every chance to get money from her. But when he saves her, she starts liking him. Afterwards, a few people who are chasing her finally find her in Haridwar and try to kill Shakti as he hurt them earlier. Their plan fails as Shakti turns out to be a Secret Agent and defends himself and catches the main person in this plan. When Aishwarya goes back to her father, he forgives her and asks whether she had taken a box in which there is a holy stone. When she replies in the negative, he says that it is more important than his own daughter. Later, when Shakti goes to a temple, the box falls off a basket his mother brought with flowers on top of it. They inform Mahadevaya who asks them to immediately come to Hampi with the box and Aishwarya. Their travel is blocked by a strong man named Raakha who is son of an Egyptian enemy Faqtooni (Pooja Bedi) who is then defeated by Shakti. He then kills one more person who tries to grab the box. Then Mahadeva Raya and a Swami (Nassar) come to him and then the flashback is revealed.
It is said that Mahadeva Raya'a father Vijayraya (S. P. Balasubrahmanyam) was a royal king who was extremely generous and had the blessings of god which gave him the power that whenever he touched the stone, it used to shine brightly emitting light. He reveals that apart from the 18 Shakti peeths there is a secret one which protects India and only their family knows of it. There is also a protector who guards it at all times. His name is Rudra (Jr. NTR). After every 27 years, they must go to the shakti peeth where the protector will perform several spiritual rites which must be compulsorily performed. When he starts performing them, an Egyptian king Mukhtar (Sonu Sood) who knows of this comes to destroy the shakti peeth. The protector kills the king but a person who works under the Mahadeva Raya's father, Janaki Varma (Jackie Shroff) cheats him and kills both the protector and Vijayraya as he sought money from the king. He also steals a sword (Maha Trishulam) which is necessary for the rites to be performed. When the protector is killed, his wife (Manjari Phadnis), at the same time, delivers a baby boy (Shakti) whom Rudra gives to his loyal servant. The servant tries his best to save the boy but circumstances force him to throw the boy into the river. The boy is then found by a childless couple who adopt him. After finding out his past, he sets out for revenge.
Shakti then goes to Janaki's country where he is presently the underworld don and a multimillionaire. He kills Janaki and gets the sword. Finally he goes to perform the rites but is stopped by the Faqtooni and her powerful son Raakha who comes back and cannot be defeated. The swami then tells him that the strong man can only be defeated by damaging his eyes. He then kills him and performs the rites.

Review: "Shakti", to my opinion, is one of the best Indian movies..
The film "Shakti" is one of my favorite movies.
Wonderful, accurate play of the actors Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar.
And one understands that he could act in both ways: like the hero of Amitabh Bachchan and like the hero of Dilip Kumar.
I love to watch this film again and again, and every time I do it, this movie touches my heart like at the first time when I saw it 20 years ago...
Though Shakti (power) is the story of a father and a son who get distanced because of a misunderstanding that took place in the childhood of the son and that distance gets bridged only when the life of the son comes to an end, let me make it pretty clear that this movie is made on the lines of the most memorable movie of Amitabh Bachchan's career which labelled him as the Angry Young Man forever, i.e., Deewaar (1975).
The writers of Deewaar, Salim-Jaaved revisited that classic movie seven years later by using the similar storyline which was originally for a mother and two sons, this time for a father, a mother and a son.
In Deewaar, the mother was torn between one righteous son and one criminal son of hers whereas in Shakti, the mother gets torn between the law-protecting husband and the law-breaking son.Supercop Ashwini Kumar (Dilip Kumar) is dead honest and highly dutiful who considers his duty above everything including his family.
And when the question comes whether to do his duty or to save the life of his little son who has been kidnapped by the baddies, he prefers performing his duty as a committed cop over performing his duty as a loving father.
Years later, when the son, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) is a grown-up man, the unresolved issues of childhood still trouble him.
The most hit by this father-son conflict which is more subtle, less loud is the mother (Raakhee).
Falling in love with Roma (Smita Patil) and then marrying her also does not bring any positive change in Vijay's life and finally he reaches what is the destiny of a criminal in the hands of his father only, realizing before his death how much his father loves him.The biggest strength of Shakti is neither the screenplay nor the characters but the power-packed performances of the lead actors performing the father-son duo.
Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan have delivered towering performances and so this movie has called a Clash of the Titans by many spectators as well as critics.
Action star Amitabh Bachchan has delivered another highly emotional performance in a role which contains the shadows of Deewaar.
One of the pillars of parallel cinema movement, (Late) Smita Patil joined the commercial cinema and her pair with Amitabh Bachchan appears quite cute on the screen.
The song - Arre Jaane Kaise Kab Kahaan Ikraar Ho Gaya is an example of the lovable romance and amazing on-screen chemistry of Amitabh and Smita.The movie starts with Anil Kapoor who plays the grandson of Dilip Kumar (and the son of Amitabh Bachchan who is no more) and his grandfather tells him the whole saga, explaining how difficult it is to do your duty as an honest and committed policeman.
Ramesh Sipply who happens to be the director of the epic movie, Sholay has ably directed this movie according to the demand of the script and the stature of the cast.R.D. Burman's music is good.
The ending dialog of Dilip and Amitabh underscores it perfectly when Dilip says to Amitabh, 'Main Bhi Tumse Bahut Pyar Karta Hoon Bete (Me too loves you very much, son) and then Amitabh asks, 'To Aapne Kaha Kyon Nahin Daddy ?' (Then why did you not express it, father ?).I rest my case..
Dilip kumar is an honest cop who declines to pay the ransom to free his child who gets away free any way.
The child grows up to be Amithabh Bachchan who has this love-hate relationship with his father.
One of the finest performance by the bollywood superstar of all time, Amitabh where he is able to display all colors of emotion, yet appears to be very restrained.
Dilip Kumar gives a matching performance too.
Simply one of the best bollywood movie of all time..
It is indeed a feast to watch the performance of the superstars in the  movie.
And Amitabh stands shoulder to shouler with 'Mughal E Azam' Dilip Kumar.
Shakti starred two of the biggest Actors in Bollywood.
When Amitabh was young he was kidnapped by terrorist in return his father (Police Jailer) has to free the convicts.
Dilip Kumar in a sarcastic way tells the Terrorist that he wont release their men and that he doesn't care about his son.
Amitabh in a spectacular performance, but he was beaten in the awards against nominee Dilip Kumar playing his father in the same film.
It would be appropriate to call him the William Wyler of Indian cinema.With the help of two superstars, Dilip being more mature and compelling than Amitabh; Sippy was successful in churning out an emotionally charged blockbuster with excellent acting performance by all, even Ashok Kumar in his cameo role as the IGP.
Good songs and great acting by the cast constitute something which is devoid in present day movies.The climactic, action packed and emotionally electrifying ending of the film is something special to remember for the audience.
Dilip Kumar excels while Amitabh continues to carry the torch of stardom..
Two mega stars of Bollywood, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan star in this action drama.
The story is pretty familiar, with the father cast as a dedicated inspector and son a criminal.
Instead of regular stunts and villains, the film focuses much on the psychological relationship between a father and the son, who both love each other immensely but fail to understand each other until it is too late.
In their roles as a father and son, both mega stars have performed brilliantly and instead of their star power they have shown their pure acting skills.
The flaws if you want to point out include certain sequences which are familiar from other Amitabh Bachchan movies like the regular cop and criminals chase, Amitabh's alcoholic scene, or the regular image of the police.Rating: 2 stars out of 4.
Amitabh drubs Dilip Kumar..
Amitabh plays a wayward son to Policeman Dilip Kumar.
Dilip Kumar who is known to have a polished way of acting without much shades in any film of his, he goes smoothly playing a father, he does very well as a disciplined police officer.
He is the bad boy of the movie, the story revolves around him, he is very good to his girl friend & is a mama's boy.
Everybody can see the vast difference when comparing why Amitabh was way too good, it was as easy as saying Amitabh is taller than Dilip & all big heroes physically also.
Rakhee too has 2 shades to the role she played, supporting both husband & son.
A must watch for every movie goer to watch Amitabh the supreme actor in action..
Shakti was famous for the fact that the two titans of Bollywood, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachan starred in this movie for the first and only time.
The story revolves around Policeman (Dilip Kumar),his wife(Rakhee Gulzar)and their son(Amitabh).
Dilip Kumar tells the kidnappers that they can do whatever they want with his son.
Dilip Kumar was trying to fool the kidnappers but his plan goes awry when his son, who is still being held captive overhears him.
Amitabh even gets involved with gangsters who Dilip Kumar is trying to bring to justice.
The opening sequence, in which Anil Kapoor steps off the train to be greeted by his grandfather Dilip Kumar is similar to that of Sholay.
Amitabh was good but it was Dilip Kumar in my opinion that stole the entire show as loyal policeman Ashwini Kumar.
The end scene is a real tearjerker and is testament to not only Dilip Kumar talents but also Amitabh Bachan's.
I consider Shakti to be not only one of Amitabh's best movie of the 80's but I consider it to be one of the top 10 most underrated Bollywood movies ever..
Another great performance from Amitabh Bachchan.
Amitabh Bachchan plays Vijay Kumar, son of a righteous police officer, who comes to resent the law because he feels his dad's job causes him to neglect his family.
Even though I could watch Amitabh Bachchan all day (lucky given the length of Bollywood movies ), I did get kind of bored watching basically the same things happen again.
Amitabh gets to smoulder intensely a lot more, and again exudes the levels of cool and charisma that make him India's number one superstar.There's quite a lot to like in SHAKTI, and it's perhaps unfair that I judge it after so recently seeing DEEWAR.
In a way it's like Yash Chopra's 'Deewar' except that this time it is between father and son instead of two brothers.
The movie drags on and on for hours when it could have easily been tightened.Amitabh Bachchan is stiff and downright bad in many scenes, especially in the final sequence which is unintentionally hilarious.
His best scenes are those with Rakhee and Smita Patil (minus the drunken sequence - which was another example of bad acting).
For the most part, Dilip Kumar does the best with what he's given but he too has his moments of bad acting.
She was known in the 80s for playing the typical mother roles but in 'Shakti' she is the only actor who manages to draw sympathy from the viewer.
A mother and wife so torn between her husband and son that it takes a serious toll on her health but even that doesn't resolve the conflict between Ashwini and Vijay.
The actress downplays her part with élan and this is perhaps one of her best and most underrated performance.To sum it up, 'Shakti' is a poorly made movie.
The highlight of the film is the powerhouse performances by both the legends-Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar.
Amitabh able displays all emotions with such talents(His character is more or less similar to that of Deewaar) and he gives and equally stunning performance.
Dilip Kumar too gives a superb performance that won him the Best Actor award.
Deewar and Shakti have similar story lines but yet they are so different.
In addition to being the story of a mother torn between two sons on the opposite side of the law, Deewar is also a comment on the prevailing socio economic conditions in India in mid 70s.
More precisely the tense relationship of three characters - father, mother and son.
Its the story of a father and son conflict with the mother unable to side with either.
Remember the final scene where dying Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) tells his father Ashwini (Dilip Kumar) that in spite of trying hard to not he always loved his father.
The movie was one of the most awaited movie of the year as it was seen as the war of two of the greates actors of indian cinema Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan.
Dilip Kumar got filmfare award and Amitabh all the accolades.
The plot is that Dilip kumar is an honest cop who declines to pay the ransom to free his child who gets away free any way.
The child grows up to be Amithabh Bachchan who has this love-hate relationship with his father.The intensity of their hatred was so intensely presented that nobody even notices the performances of Rakhi and Smita Patil.
If not the greatest movie it is definitely one of the greatest movies of all time with two memorable performances The last scene of the movie where amitabh dies is best and very emotional.
amitabh is know as angry man but I think his best comes out when he does an emotional scene like this one..
After Sholay and the not successful Shaan, Ramesh Sippy came together again with Big B this time in a more serious Shakti(1982) which brought Amitabh and Dilip Kumar for the first and only time together.
The film was panned by Amitabh fans due to the feeling that DK overshadowed him or was given a better role but thats all foolhardy.
The film is more of a psychological drama where Dilip Kumar who plays a cop and Amitabh who plays his son are on 2 sides of a coin.
In the start the young Amitabh is kidnapped by Amrish Puri, Dalip Tahil and then DK refuses to accept their options and says do what they want with his son which he says in rage but it creates bitterness in AB's character.
Amitabh grows up to be a bad guy who supports the gangsters and this creates a Deewaar like situation but there's lot of difference.
The film also has a subtle romance between AB and Smita Patil(who starred with him in Namak Halaal too in the same year) and there also live in which was rare in Bollywood in 80s.
while Lata's Humne Sanam ko Khat Likha is good, Maangi ThI Dhua on DK and Raakhee is a good song by Mahendra KapoorDilip Kumar is simply fantastic in his role as usual, in the same year he had Vidhaata too.
Raakhee is good in her role, while Smita Patil is great Amrish Puri, Dalip Tahil, Khulbushan Kharbanda are all good We also have young Anil Kapoor in a cameo before he debutted as a lead.
The movie starts and ends with strong emotions, where a mother though over-whelmed with the decision of her son is still proud of the high- morality and high-dignity path which her son decided to take, despite listening to a story associated with his very close & dear ones, and which tests the moral principles of a man who compromised just too much in his personal life so that he could hold his head high and contribute towards a large cause by abiding to his professional duties.high commendations to great Dilip Kumar who played in an impacting manner the character of a duty and principle-bound police cop who in situations of dilemma between profession and personal life, always consistently is loyal to his profession and who advocates equality of treatment to any criminal, be it a stranger or a direct relation, but at the same time does not bear undue grudge against his son for not following a correct path and who always makes an attempt to remind and persuade his son to leave the world that he has got into.a respect to his character, who expresses a tremendous degree of happiness after his daughter-in-law informs him of her marriage with his son, it just reflects the open-mindedness of the character, who welcomes her so graciously even though there are ongoing clashes between the father and the son.
in fact admire the writer for elegantly creating characters with starkingly varying traits, such as an highly emotional and sensitive mother, who constantly is battling out to resolve the differences between the father-son and who manages to exhibit a feeling of respect & awe towards her husband and concurrently exhibiting a feeling of love and affection towards her son, despite knowing the weaknesses and drawbacks of both these people.
and of the character of Smita Patil, who does not discourage her son from becoming a police officer.
Though she loves her husband, she is appreciative and cognizant of the dilemmas of her father-in-law and very well understands the reasons of her father-in-law's behaviour and outlook towards her husband.The character of Amrish Puri though having a smaller role comparatively, is important in the script for indirectly straining the relations between the father and son.
Though the character of Amitabh Bacchan is shown to compromise on morality, and possess a feeling of animosity towards his father's principles, the acting is worth applause.
The winning of filmfare best actor award of Dilip Kumar says everything about his performance.
A great watch which would take you to the old days of stardom of young angry maverick Amitabh Bacchan.
The Police Officer (Dilip Kumar), when asked by gangster JK (Amrish Puri) to pay up the ransom (in exchange for release of his young son,) out of bravado, retorts that the gang can kill his kidnapped son Vijay, he will never compromise.
This incident is the turning point of the movie as a whole and though the Police Officer-father is somewhat contrite about this, the 'wayward' son (Amitabh Bachchan) never sees him as a father.
Acting by Amitabh Bachan and Rakhi was amazing...it was a little awkward to see them in son and mother's role considering they both played romantic roles in most previous films but I guess, realistically speaking, Indian backward mentality of any woman 30+ starts playing mama's role for same actors they starred opposite.
Same thing is happening with today's starts like Sharukh and Salman who are close to 50 and yet playing opposite to girls who could be their daughters but same role is never reversed with an actress in her 40s starring opposite to actors in their 20s.Coming back to this movie...I was surprised seeing so many positive feedbacks even though story highlighted a big flaw (IMHO) where who is sane mind would put their job/ duty over their family?
In reality, I don't think...it, for me, this point is debatable and sadly the writer (Khan and Akthar) appear to be enforcing their point of view till the very end without even realizing that two people (son and mother) both died because of father's duty in the movie.
The mother died saving father and son was killed by father in the name of duty and there was no sense of regret or realization from the character of Dilip Kumar of his decisions were questionable in the movie.I will give it 3 out 10 only because of superb acting by Big B and Rakhi.