Amitabh Bachchan’s Vijay in Deewar is the ultimate Bollywood hero, and he may never be dethroned now

The year was 1975. The Emergency was still five months away but a sense of angst had been brewing in the middle-class youth of the country for a while now. The newer generation was more frustrated, less easily placated and angrier for a number of reasons that are too diverse and complex to fit in here. This year, they would get a face for their angst in the unlikeliest of places–Bollywood. Amitabh Bachchan appeared in Deewar, giving a different kind of ‘hero’ to the audiences and changed the meanings of heroism as we understand it. As the superstar turns 80 on Tuesday, a look back at this seminal film that remains his greatest legacy. Also read: Dharmendra shares pic from Sholay, calls Amitabh Bachchan ‘most talented actor’ as he sends wishes for his film Uunchai

Many say that the turning point in Amitabh Bachchan’s career was Zanjeer, the film that gave the ‘angry young man’ persona. No doubt the 1973 film marked a shift in his fortunes. He had seen over a dozen flops, and Zanjeer’s success revived his career, paving the way for more such roles. But what Salim-Javed had begun in Zanjeer was perfected only in Deewar. Vijay, the name that was to become synonymous with Amitabh, was an imperfect hero. Hindi cinema had seen anti-heroes before, since the days of Kismet, no less. But they had largely been aberrations. Deewar’s success and Amitabh’s towering presence was to turn them into the norm.

Vijay was a smuggler, an atheist, and someone with a flexible moral code. He had no qualms killing and did not care his brother was standing against him. It wasn’t the archetypal Bollywood hero. Vijay was more relatable, a lot greyer. And despite these flaws, he was ‘good’. Amitabh would go on to play variations of Vijay over the next decade-and-a-half with varying success. But none of those roles would be as layered and as nuanced as this one. Yet, they would transform him into a one-man industry, giving Hindi cinema characters that were earlier considered too ‘risky’ for leading men. The Vijay from Don was more suave, the one from Sholay more heroic, and the one from Agneepath more iconic. Yet they all traced their origin to this coolie from the docks that was first seen on screen in January 1975.

Deewar also began a trend of Bachchan remakes that would either cement existing superstars or create new ones down south. The year after Deewar, superstar NT Rama Rao starred in the film’s Telugu remake Magaadu. The name Vijay remained unchanged. Tamil film Thee, released in 1981, was also a scene-by-scene remake of Deewar. It catapulted a certain Rajinikanth to superstardom. Two years later came Nathi Muthal Nathi Vare, the Malayalam remake that starred Mammootty. In between was a Cantonese remake (that’s a Chinese film, you read that right). The Brothers (1979) starred Tony Liu and recreated several of the iconic Deewar scenes, including ‘that’ confrontation.

But the influence of the film and Vijay extends beyond the remakes. It has seeped into the blue print of the angry young man that has been used in Indian cinema time and again. And it continues to be used even today. The biggest Indian film of the year–in terms of box office collection–has been KGF: Chapter 2. In an interaction with Bollywood Hungama around the film’s release, the lead actor Yash admitted that his character borrowed elements from Deewar’s Vijay. “It’s the essence of the belief system, the hero and his heroism- that kind of film. It has nothing to do with any film but in general, the kind of films they used to make, the essence is the same, what the whole of India wants to see,” he said.

Every angsty, rebellious character used in Hindi cinema today has shades of Vijay, either consciously or subconsciously. The influence of the character and the persona on our pop culture has been so immense. Times have changed. Those larger than life heroes went away and have returned as well. But there hasn’t been a Vijay. The Chulbul Pandeys and the Bajirao Singhams or even the Pushpa Rajs have all come close. But there hasn’t been another Vijay. And given how commerce dictates cinema now, there probably will never be.