Ramesh Sippy’s Shakti (1982) isn’t as much about the Amitabh Bachchan and Smita Patil on-screen romance, as the on-screen histrionics of the Big B and and the Big D – Dilip Kumar. In a rare drift away from the moral weave of the movies of that period Sippy didn’t shy away from portraying a live-in relationship and premarital sex. But quite like other censor-wary films of the period there’s no puffing and panting on the screen. The camera only shyly pans away to the blazing fire in the background.
But the poster designers were definitely not the shy variety. Those fleeting few seconds had enough in them, to have us mistake, even if it for a moment, that the only film that Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar worked together in was a titillating feature. Those who are yet to watch the movie, I am sorry to disappoint. It wasn’t.
If a mere still isn’t enough for your senses, here’s the moving stuff.
This post revives the 100 Years of Indian Cinema series on Cutting the Chai. Over the period of the next year (perhaps more) I’ll share experiences and information on the third of the three wonders of India. (The other two are, of course, religion and cricket)
