A rather blatant advertisement for the Indian Army, actually, which is enough to somewhat despise that movie. The
story concerns rich boy Ajay Devgan having to go to Military Academy in
order to inherit his father's fortune, but patriarchal Major Amitabh
Bachchan teaches him the benefits of army life & turns the angry
young man into the perfect officer. If you think, that does sound like
the Indian version of An Officer and Gentleman, you are somewhat
right (though why anybody would want to copy that godawful movie is
beyond anybody else's guess), Major Saab however is at least a notch or
two above that movie, as its characters are more skillfully etched out
(even Bachchan's major is not as onedimensional as he may sound) & it
actually has a second storyline concerning Devgan's romantic interest
Sonali Bendre, who, brought up by her gangster brother, is forced into
marriage with the son of a rival gangster. The Major & his men (of
course) interfere ...
Major Saab, self-produced by Amitabh Bachchan, is one of his first
coming-of-age roles, transforming him from the angry young man he did
almost continiously play since at least Zanjeer (1973 !) into the
egotistical stubborn patriarch he did become in later movies (a role
that he would perfect in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham) & he is
already quite good in this one (no comparison to Bade Miyan Chote
Miyan, another '98 output, which still has him as the great action
star he once was, but he comes across completely wooden).
A curious detail of this movie is, that in a subplot Bachchan
actually uncovers an arms-smuggling plot. In real life, Bachchan
actually was accused of being involved in an arms smuggling affair.
However, his name was cleared in court almost 10 years prior to this movie.
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