Vijay Pal Singh(Amitabh Bachchan) is a Merchant Navy officer,one who stands by his principles.A sea-storm one night has him and colleagues saving their own lives rather than those of the passengers.Later they come to know the ship survived the storm and all passengers were safe.Vijay was court-martialled and left to live a disgraced life.Even his parents left him.Vijay starts working as a coal-mine worker leaving his unpleasant past behind him.There he meets Ravi Malhotra(Shashi Kapoor),a young,dashing,romantic engineer. Both make good friends. There is Anita(Parveen Babi),a journalist who wants to write about the plight of the mine workers,who falls in love with Ravi.A very important character is that of Dr.Sudha(Rakhee)who awakens Vijay of his past and urges him to fight his inner self,to come to terms with reality.Vijay falls in love with Dr.Sudha but they cannot meet each other due to the difference in their social standing.Seth Dhanraj(Prem Chopra)wants to dig the mine deeper and deeper to make more profits,in the process risking the lives of numerous workers as water level is very close to the point of digging.Vijay,Ravi and Mangal rescue the workers from the mines in the end.Another significant character is that of Mangal(Shatrughan Sinha). His fight sequences with Vijay are beautifully shot and executed.Actually,at the time of shooting,AB and Shatrughan were not even on talking terms.Their real-life enmity passed on to the big screen,so to say.Prem Chopra does not convince as Seth Dhanraj.I think Amrish Puri would have done justice to the baddie's role.Parikshit Sahni as the Punjabi truck driver is fabulous.You can catch a glimpse of the two-film old and former Miss India Poonam Dhillon towards the end if you don't blink. The songs are quite good.One of my favourites is 'Ek Raasta Hai Zindagi Jo Tham Gaye To Kuch Nahin' by Kishore Kumar. The song by Mahendra Kapoor picturised on Parikshit Sahni in the rain is also good. All in all, a complete entertainer.I watched this movie in December 2003,24 years after its release.Pity,they don't make films like that anymore.
Review of Kaala Patthar
