The Indian movie Kalyug is a Hindi language crime drama film where they adapted the great Indian epic Mahabharata and weaved it into a corporate modern-day scenario. The screenplay and plot are quite different from Mahabharata. However, the characterization and the critical events had a striking similarity with the epic.
Plot of Kalyug
The plot of the movie Kalyug depicts an archetypal conflict between rival business houses, where the scions of a great family are at war. The two branches of the family, Puranchand and Khubchand, celebrate life cycle events together - but the engineering firms run by each are bitter rivals in the marketplace. The Puranchand Company is led by Dharamraj (Raj Babbar), with the help of his younger brothers Balraj (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) and Bharatraj (Anant Nag). At the helm of the Khubchand company is their cousin Dhanraj (Victor Banerjee) and a close associate of the family, Karan Singh (Shashi Kapoor). The two companies compete fiercely for lucrative government contracts. The Khubchand Company wins a tender due to high-tech machinery that Karan Singh procured. The Puranchand Company appeals the grant and succeeds in wresting back the contract. The dispute escalates, driven by Bharatraj and Dhanraj, who take the rivalry most seriously, and most personally. Karan Singh`s manipulations on behalf of the Khubchand Company incite labour infighting in the Puranchand shop, through the volatile labour leader Pandey played by Om Puri. Karan and Dhanraj even scheme to frame the Puranchand Company on charges of insurance fraud. Soon the rivalry turns violent, and both sides of the family are caught in a terrible storm of bitterness and grieving.
What makes Kalyug a wonderful film is Shyam Benegal`s gift for telling intense stories that are very intimate, even while being totally allegorical. The dramatis personae of Kalyug are packed with many players, most of whom do not get more than a few minutes screen time. But each is so delicately characterized, and the movie conveys enough of their lives and personalities, that they remain distinct, and the anger and anguish of each is keenly felt as the internecine conflict grows.
Cast of Kalyug
Directed by Shyam Benegal and produced by Shashi Kapoor, the movie Kalyug is the second collaboration by the duo after the success of the 1978 movie Junoon. Written by Benegal himself along with Satyadev Dubey and Girish Karnad, then cinematography of the movie Kalyug was done by Govind Nihalani. The movie starred Shashi Kapoor, Rekha and Raj Babbar in lead roles along with Supriya Pathak, Anant Nag, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Sushma Seth, Akash Khurana, Victor Bannerjee, Reema Lagoo, and A.K. Hangal in other major roles, while Urmila Matondkar appeared as a child artist in the movie. With a runtime of 152 minutes, the movie was edited by Bhanudas Divakar and the music composed in the movie was done by Vanraj Bhatia.
Accolades received by Kalyug
The movie Kalyug was well received at the Box Office and the performances by the actors were also highly praised. The movie entered into the 12th Moscow International Film Festival and also went on to win the Filmfare Award for Best Film in 1982.
