ABSTRACT
While Amitabh Bachchan and Sunjay Dutt were at their peak, the roles given to women in their films were feeble to say the least. They played docile, doting, and overinvolved mothers. The heroines were decorative pieces with small perfunctory lines and roles. In Deewar as well as Zanjeer the romantic female lead is secondary. In Deewar, Parveen Babi plays a prostitute with a golden heart who is lusting to become respectable by marrying the hero and, in Zanjeer, Jaya Bhaduri virtually disappears from the screen after the first half of the film. Deewar was inspired by Mother India, acknowledges its director, Yash Chopra (Dwyer, 2002). The success of Deewar also relied on breaking many rules: There were few songs, little romance, the heroine is a nonvirgin and dies, and the father dies before the family reunion takes place. The seamy side of Bombay was shown unflinchingly and the real threat of smuggling was highlighted.
