Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Abhimaan is a beautiful story involving many aspects of marriage, success and competition between close and related. When it happens between a husband and his wife, it's evident that it's gonna be a troubled relationship. In short, Amitabh Bachchan is a popular singer who falls for and marries a young and talented girl who can also sing. Post marriage, she finds her own success as a singer and soon surpasses his own. And that's when the problems begin. These problems are called envy, pride, ego (or hurt thereof), anger, and the destructive results of such feelings.
This is quite reflective of the real state of these artists at that point of time. While Amitabh was still struggling to pave his way to the top, Jaya was already a leading lady. Amitabh is excellent in his performance and brings forth the character's feelings effectively. He is quite tailor made for such roles, which are not overblown and are far more demanding and impressive than the AYM (angry young man) roles he would later play. But the real winner is Jaya, who is wonderfully understated. She is first a bubbly young girl, then a shy newly-married bride, then a successful yet humble artist, then a woman who intelligently understands her husband's feelings and despair and takes a firm decision, then a suffering wife who bears the brunt of her husband's envy and anger. She goes through it all, and blows it out of the park every time out by just living her character's struggle. An unusually different performance it must be noted comes from the part of Bindu, whose character is surprisingly warmhearted and lovely.
Abhimaan is a fine movie of 1973, and the way it was made, treated by the filmmaker and acted, makes it a must-watch for every cine-goer. It is only two hours long, an exception in Hindi cinema and as expected by a great director like Mukherjee, whose films are always realistic and balanced, never goes overboard.
