As fans revisit Nana Patekar this week, Parinda (1989) is the film to return to. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s crime thriller stars Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Madhuri Dixit, and it is now credited with introducing realism into mainstream Hindi cinema. Here are eight details from its making and legacy that still surprise.
The fire sequence left Nana Patekar seriously burned
While filming the final scene’s fire sequence, the crew lost control of a fire they built using rubber solution and petrol. Patekar suffered serious burns, was critically injured and hospitalised for nearly two months, and returned to filming after a year. The set was rebuilt in Film City, where the fire sequence was re-shot under more controlled conditions.
The story started with two real brothers
Chopra based the story on two non-fictional brothers who worked for a gangster named Ashwin Naik. After Khamosh failed to find distributors and he released a single print at Mumbai’s Regal Cinema, he decided to make a more commercial Hindi film about two brothers on the streets of Mumbai, which became Parinda.
It was first called Kabutarkhana
The film was initially named Kabutarkhana, meaning pigeon accommodation, but was later changed to Parinda. The title that stuck translates to Bird.
Anil Kapoor objected to Patekar as his elder brother
Chopra cast Nana Patekar in the elder brother’s role after he saw him in a play called Purush. Anil Kapoor, who was cast as Karan, told Chopra that Patekar was not suitable for the role of his elder brother. Patekar was then offered the role of Anna, the film’s antagonist.
Jackie Shroff needed a song to say yes
Shah and Patekar were considered for the role of Kishan, which later went to Jackie Shroff. Shroff was initially hesitant because he did not want to get typecast in the elder brother role. Kapoor made Shroff listen to the songs, and he agreed to do the film.
The Godfather shaped its look
Cinematographer Binod Pradhan used shadow lighting because he was tired of the way Hindi films were lit. His main inspiration was Gordon Willis’s cinematography in The Godfather (1972). He put diffusion materials, like a piece of white cloth or tracing paper, in front of the light to make it softer and more natural.
A ₹500 water tank became a key location
The location where Musa (Tom Alter) meets Kishan in the film was a water tank on Antop Hill, which was spread with the scrap of nearby slum dwellers. Chopra had rented the site from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for ₹500.
It became India’s official Oscar entry
Parinda was selected as the official Indian submission for the 1990 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film but was not nominated. In a 2010 interview, film critic and Chopra’s wife Anupama Chopra noted, “there was so much buzz about Parinda” before its release. Critics credit it for redefining the portrayal of the underworld in films and showing the way for realistic crime films in Hindi cinema in the following years.
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Facts from Wikipedia: Parinda, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
