Anil Kapoor has a striking presence on screen which he utilised very well over a career spanning 40 years.
Starting with an insignificant role in Humare Tumhare, Anil Kapoor grew into a versatile actor after making his presence felt in Mashaal. His role as a ”tapori” in the film garnered him an award.
He consolidated with Tezaab and never looked back except for a brief period in the 1990s. He rarely shaved off his trademark moustache except in a few films like Lamhe. He also acted in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.
Here are five of his earlier works which reveal his talent:
Mashaal (1984)
Cast: Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Anil Kapoor, Rati Agnihotri, Gulshan Grover, Saeed Jaffrey, Amrish Puri
Director: Yash Chopra
A honest man Vinod (Dilip Kumar), runs a newspaper to highlight problems facing society. His wife Sudha (Waheeda) spots an orphan who they adopt. The orphan Raja (Khanna) is sent for further studies and becomes a journalist. He falls in love with Geeta (Rati).
Vinod crosses swords with a bad man S K Vardhan (Amrish Puri), exposes his crimes and runs into problems. Vinod loses everything, including his wife, and decides to take to crime and destroy S K. Once Raja comes to know that Vinod has now become a crime lord, he is shocked. But he vows to track down his mentor if it need be.
Janbazz (1986)
Cast: Feroz Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Anil Kapoor, Sri Devi, Shakti Kapoor
Director: Feroz Khan
Two brothers with different views of life get into a tangle after one Rajesh (Feroz), a police officer, starts chasing the other, Amar, (Anil Kapoor), a playboy. Amar is in love with Reshma (Dimple), daughter of his father’s friend. But he won’t marry her.
Rajesh’s wife Seema dies of a drug overdose and Rajesh swears to root the drug peddlers out. Amar gets jealous of a farm worker who eyes Reshma and in the ensuing fight the worker is killed. Will the brothers ever unite?
Beta (1992)
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Aruna Irani, Anupam Kher, Laxmikant Berde, Priya Arun
Director: Indra Kumar
A cruel stepmother Laxmi (Aruna Irani) has so much hold over her stepson Raju (Anil Kapoor) that she can make him dance to her tune. Her whole intention is to grab the all the money her husband will pass on him on his death. She imprisons her husband in the outhouse.
But the arrival of Saraswati changes the scenario because she sees through Laxmi and wants to expose her. A cat and mouse game ensues. Both have to convince Raju but he will not accept anything against his stepmom. Who will win?
Virasat (1997)
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Amrish Puri, Pooja Batra, Milind Gunaji, Govind Namdeo
Director: Priyadarshan
Two landowners, Raja Thakur (Puri) and Birju Thakur (Namdeo) are bitter enemies. Raja Thakur’s son Shakti (Kapoor) returns home after studying abroad along with his girlfriend Anita (Batra) but cannot live there. His father insists he stays and help educate the villagers.
Shakti visits a temple which is closed by Birju’s son Bali (Gunaji) and this starts of more violence. Shakti saves the honour of a landowner by marrying his daughter Gehna (Tabu) whose to-be groom runs away on the wedding day. Shakti gets drawn further into the village politics and he finally settles everything and decides to live there.
Pukar (2000)
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Namrata Shirodkar, Danny Denzongpa, Om Puri
Director: Rajkumar Santoshi
A celebrated Army officer Major Jai Rajvansh (Kapoor) rescues a leading politician who has been kidnapped by Abrush (Denzongpa). The latter is jailed but he causse trouble for the Major later. Meanwhile, Jai returns home and meets his childhood friend Anjali (Dixit) who actually loves him.
But Jai is in love with Pooja (Shirodkar) which disappoints Anjali. In a fit of jealously, she finds some papers relating to Abirush’s movement in jail and frames Jai. This brings great shame to the Major but he vows to clear his name. Anjali realises her mistake and tries her best to undo the mess. But will she?
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