Manmohan Desai’s ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ is one of the very few films in the history of Bollywood that depicted the religious diversity of our nation, and the family values that exists.
Here’s the storyline in short. “Three children are separated from their father on the Independence Day (15 August) who leaves them in a park under a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. These kids are subsequently found and raised by different parents (of different religions).
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One grows up to become Anthony Gonsalves (Amitabh Bachchan), who is shown as a Goan Christian. Another becomes Amar Khanna (played by Vinod Khanna), who plays the role of a Hindu police officer. The third and youngest child is raised by Muslim parents, and is named Akbar Allahabadi (played by Rishi Kapoor), who is shown as a Qawwali-singer.
Their reunion in the end, completes the vision of a united India.
In the movie, the director smartly ties up the various scenes to his overall nationalistic idea of the film.
In the beginning of the movie, there’s a crucial scene where the three brothers of different religions, unknowingly donate blood to a blind woman (who eventually turns out to be their mother) and are all united in the end.
It depicts different religions serving their country. The scene shows that what was lost during independence (secularism) can be gained.
In one of the scenes, Vinod Khanna bashes up Amitabh Bachchan (who was the reigning superstar at that time). But then the movie was about good triumphing the bad, and Vinod Khanna was a cop.
In the climax, the entire family is shown at the villain’s den. The scene highlighted that the three religions are “pillars of the nation” and when they work together, they can beat any evil and overcome any challenge.
Movies like ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ make the audience realize that the various religious groups that exist in India, such as Hindus, Muslims and Christians do manage to live side-by-side happily.
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