Amar Akbar Anthony – the 1977 Hindi film starring Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan – has inspired a Harvard University Press book titled Bollywood, Brotherhood, And The Nation. The movie delves into the theme of tolerance among religions, focusing on how three brothers separated in their childhood, unite despite being brought up in different faiths.
T 2498 -The Harvard University Press brings out a book on "Amar Akbar Anthony", a thesis almost on the merits of the film .. AMAZING !! pic.twitter.com/2wWdUL5Lh2
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) April 18, 2017
The authors of the book – William Elison, Christian Lee Novetzke, and Andy Rotman – give their interpretation of the symbolism in the film that celebrates pluralism and religious tolerance, drawing examples from the current state of affairs in the country. “As the authors show, the film’s sunny exterior only partially conceals darker elements: the shadow of Partition, the crisis of Emergency Rule, and the vexed implications of the metaphor of the family for the nation,” reads the blurb of the book.
“Amar, Akbar, and Anthony — Hindu, Muslim, and Christian, policeman, qawwal, and dada — each shows us a different world, even as the three come together as brothers,” the authors were quoted saying in a recent Mid-Day Mumbai interview.
Directed by Manmohan Desai, the film achieved cult status with its storyline, songs, and famous one-liners from the characters. Recently deceased actor Vinod Khanna played Amar Khanna the Hindu policeman, Akbar Allahabadi was played Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan played Anthony Gonsalves. It was later remade in Tamil as Shankar Salim Simon (1978), in Telugu as Ram Robert Rahim (1980) and in Malayalam as John Jaffer Janardhanan (1982).
Pic: Shemaroo YouTube
