Film

Trishul

Trishul is a sweeping 1978 Bollywood revenge drama where Amitabh Bachchan's illegitimate son infiltrates a wealthy family to destroy them from within. It's operatic melodrama at feature length—family secrets, class resentment, and moral ambiguity wrapped in Bachchan's star power and sharp tailoring. For anyone who loves dynastic conflict and doesn't need restraint.

TMDb rating3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you relish old-fashioned Hindi melodrama where a wounded family's grudges play out at full volume, with grand set pieces and a lead who carries every scene like a coiled spring.

Skip it if you need a lean runtime or subtler, quieter storytelling, since at nearly three hours it leans on broad strokes, big speeches and heightened emotion throughout.

What it asks of you: Settle in for just under three hours of melodrama and rousing action, and expect emotions turned up loud rather than held back.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Sholay1975

The film that defined Hindi cinema's action language. Two outlaws take on a tyrant with style, humour, and genuine stakes. Influences everything that came after, including Trishul's moral complexity.

But At three and a half hours it demands time. The middle section loses momentum, and some comedy bits haven't aged gracefully.

Sholay poster

Hera Pheri1976

Another Vijay Anand masterpiece with Shashi Kapoor (your co-star here) as a con artist. Twisty, witty, and endlessly inventive—proof that Bollywood could do sophisticated plotting decades before anyone gave it credit.

But The plot is so convoluted some viewers give up. It's dated in ways that feel less charming than Trishul.

Hera Pheri poster

Zanjeer1973

The film that made Bachchan a star. A cop fights corruption and personal vendetta with raw intensity. It's the DNA of the angry-young-man archetype you embody throughout your career.

But Early and rougher than Trishul, with cruder technique. If you want polish, this will feel primitive.

Zanjeer poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Trishul

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Cloud-Capped Star1960

Both examine what sons owe fathers, and what families owe each other after catastrophe. One uses operatic revenge; the other uses quiet devastation. Same questions asked in opposite voices.

A Bengali film about Partition's aftermath—a refugee family rebuilding after displacement and loss. It shares Trishul's interest in inheritance and belonging, but approaches trauma and identity with documentary-like restraint rather than melodrama. A masterpiece in a different register entirely.

But No star power, no action, no music. It's austere and sometimes formally difficult. The wounds it explores are too real for comfort.

The Cloud-Capped Star poster
More like this (4)

The Godfather1972

The template for every dynastic crime saga that followed, including Trishul. Family, business, betrayal, and the corrupting power of wealth. It's the Western answer to what Trishul asks in an Indian context.

But Three hours of deliberate pacing might feel slow if you're expecting Bollywood's energy. Some find it glacial.

The Godfather poster

Khandaan1942

A pre-Partition family drama about legitimacy, inheritance, and resentment. It shows that Trishul's themes run deep in Indian cinema history, not invented in 1978. A ghost in your film's DNA.

But Black and white, 1940s production values, and archival quality of print. Requires patience and genuine interest in cinema history.

Khandaan poster

Raees2017

A modern echo of Trishul's DNA: a street-born man clawing his way into a powerful family's world. Shah Rukh Khan brings a different star quality, but the machinery of ambition and destruction runs familiar.

But Contemporary Bollywood excess can feel hollow after the weightier melodrama of 1978. Slicker but less substantive.

Raees poster

Khuda Gawah1992

Both feature Amitabh Bachchan operating at the scale of myth rather than realism. Here he's a Pashtun elder in Afghanistan; Trishul casts him as an avenging angel. Same actor, opposite tones—one deadly serious, one courting chaos.

Sridevi stars in this Afghan-set action-drama about a man's oath and a woman's agency. It's wildly excessive—dubbed dialogue, location chaos, genuine danger on set—and asks serious questions about honor and protection while never stopping being a spectacle.

But Production was notorious for accidents and near-disaster. The film feels unstable, almost reckless. Dubbing is thick. It's a mess, genuinely.

Khuda Gawah poster

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Recommended by

Silsila, Naseeb, Shaan, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Khandan, Laila-Majnu, Love Story