Amitabh Bachchan’s Trishul is a result of Salim-Javed deconstructing their own formula, and coming out with an average result

In fact, as per the book ‘Written by Salim-Javed’ by Diptakirti Chaudhuri, Bachchan was a part of the script narration sessions right from the start. The film was expected to repeat the success of the Deewar as it brought back the same director-producer-writer combination with Bachchan playing another version of the angry young man. Although, this time, his anger was way more personal.

Trishul, for the unversed, is the story of an illegitimate son named Vijay (Bachchan), who wants revenge from his father RK Gupta (Sanjeev Kumar) for abandoning his mother during her pregnancy and marrying an industrialist’s daughter for money. RK Gupta makes a conscious choice to dump the woman he loves, and Vijay, after his mother’s death, makes it his life’s mission to destroy RK Gupta. The film, unlike many of its contemporaries, spoke about relationship dynamics rather indirectly.

As the businessmen discuss their contracts and tenders, Vijay’s anger is palpable but he chooses to use his business acumen and drive to destroy RK Gupta than to directly confront him for leaving his mother. Not just RK Gupta, Vijay goes after his son Shekhar (Shashi Kapoor) as he tries to break up his relationship with Sheetal (Hema Malini), and also encourages Gupta’s daughter to elope.

Rakhee and Amitabh Bachchan in a still from Trishul. (Photo: Express Archives)

In many ways, Trishul was the film that was designed to be a hit. The beats of Trishul are quite formulaic and it is evident that by the time the team of Deewar got around to making this film, they had a check-list of all the elements that worked in an Amitabh Bachchan & Salim-Javed collaboration. The reverse engineering and the packing all the crowd pleasing elements is evident to such an extent that one wonders why an actor of Shashi Kapoor’s reputation got associated with this project. Unlike the many two hero films that he did with Amitabh Bachchan, this is the one where his character doesn’t contribute much to the plot of the film, and is neither a catalyst, nor an obstacle in Vijay’s journey.

Trishul is also one of the few films that had Salim-Javed coming back to the drawing board because the film that was shot, wasn’t really working. ‘Written by Salim Javed’ details an incident that took place after Yash Chopra, Salim-Javed and producer Gulshan Rai watched the rushes of the film and were silent on the way back because they all knew that the film was not working in its current state. The writers and the director realised they needed at least 15 days of reshoot to salvage the film. Many portions, including the one where Vijay fights a gang of goons, gets a property vacated and sends them off in an ambulance was added at this stage. Of course, the scene was a crowd pleaser but from the film’s point of view, it hardly made any sense that the man who uses his smarts to get ahead in business was suddenly relying on his muscles. If Trishul was written by someone else, the question wouldn’t have even come up but since Salim-Javed were associated with the project, it seems almost fair to ask such logical questions.

Sanjeev Kumar in a still from Trishul.

The multiple love stories, focusing on Shekhar and Kusum, and even the afterthought of a villain in the form of Prem Chopra somehow find a place in the film but aren’t what one would expect from a Salim-Javed film.

Nevertheless, the film was a hit. It was the era of Bachchan, and Salim-Javed were the most formidable name in the business but if Trishul had released just a few years before or after this short window where the creators’ Midas touch was working, it probably wouldn’t have seen the same success that it managed.