Prateek
The film Prateek, directed by Prabhat Roy, brings on the thrills, drama and humour. Chiranjeet’s Prateek literally somersaults into a scene where Utpal Dutt and Soumitra Chatterjee are having a heated exchange in a forest. He decides to take matters into his own hands, and beats up the baddies sent by Dutt’s character Bara Babu. “So you get the bandage, iodine, Dettol and gauze ready,” Prateek tells Bara Babu. An assistant appears out of nowhere and says, “Bara Babu has kept everything ready in case of an emergency!”
For this act, Prateek starts off with kicks and punches, employing various explosive techniques of martial arts. And then Prateek hurls the miscreants one after the other before Bara Babu’s feet, who also berates them before pushing them away! For the final act, Prateek jumps and grabs hold of a rope hanging from a tree, gets an assailant in a leg lock and starts kicking him repeatedly with one leg as he swings in the air. Once this is over, Soumitra’s character tells Prateek: “You have many qualities, you can play the flute, sing and beat up people as well.” Prateek replies: “I have many more qualities, you’ll get to know about them very soon!” The final message from Bara Babu —his eyes bulging out — to his henchmen: “Learn from Prateek. He must be watching a lot of Hindi films, where one hero beats up 10 people! Give me ideas so that I can wreak havoc like Amrish Puri and Prem Chopra.”
Kencho Khoondte Keute
A super emotional scene plays out between Anondo (Chiranjeet) and his mother in the climax of the film directed by Chiranjeet where they reunite after many, many years and she forgives him and implores him to give up stealing. As if foreshadowing the sequence of events, the next few moments actually give a hint of things to come. As mom and son meet, a sprinkler (positioned in the foreground of the frame) starts spraying water to signify the tears that would flow later. As expected, his mother tears up as she pours her heart out, telling him how she lost her son 20 years ago, and that she was waiting for him all these years to come back.
PRATIDAN
Bongshi (Naseeruddin Shah) comes to the rescue of Gauri (Sharmila Tagore) in the climax. “I have come to take you away,” says Bongshi. He holds up a gun to scare away the baddies but that’s when Nemai (Victor Banerjee) strikes — he throws a vase at him. The vase knocks out the gun, startling Bongshi. The two face each other as Gauri looks on. “Before you take her away, clear my debts,” says Nemai. It is just the kind of problem a weapon can easily solve. They shift their attention to the solitary gun lying on the floor. A zoom-in on the gun underscore their intent and both dive towards it with an alacrity that is highlighted by the resounding background score.
What ensues is a two-minute-long fight sequence between the two. They lunge at each other, and rain punches. Strategically carried out kicks send them hurtling across the room, smashing furniture. The drum beats become upbeat in the background. A small table is used as a weapon also. To throttle. After the gun, it is time to shift focus on to the vase rolling on the ground. Nemai throws the vase again at Bongshi, which he ducks. Pandemonium ensues. Just as the battered, bleeding and bruised Nemai is about to topple over, he finds the gun and points it towards Bongshi. It feels like Bongshi has been finally overpowered. Just as Nemai is about to shoot and have the last laugh, he cries out in pain and slumps to the ground. A knife is seen lodged in his back. It is Gauri who has finally brought the fight to an end.
PRATIKAR
A birthday party of a little boy turns into the scene of a face-off between his father, a cop, Rajib, played by Chiranjeet and his dear friend Shankar (played by Victor), who is out to avenge the death of his mother and sister, and hence is on the wrong side of the law. Rajib enters the party and wants a confession from Shankar so that he can save him but little birthday boy will have none of that — he wants to cut the cake first! And he won’t do it on his own! He wants his father and his best friend to help him out. As the suspense builds and we chew out our nails in anticipation of what might happen once the adults finally get a room to talk it out, the birthday party scene plays out in full glory. Rajib and Shankar join the chorus in singing Happy Birthday... the boy brings them together, and all three hold hands to cut a cake.
AGOON
Like the title, this one is full of firepower. In the climax of the film directed by Victor Banerjee, Raju (Victor) finally confronts the man responsible for a series of deaths in his family, including that of his father. In the glow of flashing neon lights emitting from the signboards outside a hotel room, the fight scene plays out between the two. Though it is mostly Raju who does the fighting. The baffled villain puts up a hand as if to ward him off but all is in vain. Raju keeps on slapping him as he fails to answer his questions. This leaves him with no choice but to launch into a monologue: “I’ll make you remember everything, these are the people you had killed,” he growls as the villain cowers some more. It is followed by a change of strategy, as a kick to face replaces the slap and then comes the killer line from Raju. “I am not here to dirty my feet by killing a cockroach like you.” The end, it has to be mentioned here, is not very pleasant for the “cockroach”.