The film had a low profile release, at least in India, as it got overshadowed by the fading hype of Jurassic Park and at the Oscars Shawshank Redemption got eclipsed by the likes of Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump, which ensured that this movie drew a blank, despite seven nominations. I vaguely remember it being screened in some theatres and it soon faded away without much ado. The title itself sounded very intriguing and with words like 'redemption' thrown in it sounded more like a morality play.
Moreover the main actor Tim Robbins was quite an unknown commodity and so was Frank Darabont, who was making his debut as director. Though Morgan Freeman did ring a bell, having acted in successful movies such as Robinhood The Prince of Thieves and Unforgiven, he was not a household name like say Eddie Murphy.
So for me the movie got lost somewhere in the back of my mind until a couple of years ago when I came across a friend who had downloaded the movie in his computer. Using a USB I copied it to my system and began watching it. Within 15-20 minutes I realised that I was not watching some run of the mill stuff but a classic.
Tim Robbins plays a high street banker who lands in prison due to quirk of fate and learns to cope with life behind bars. While Freeman plays the long time jailbird, who keeps getting denied parole. The two develop a rare bond of friendship and later Robbins carries out a riveting escape from the prison. After a slow start the movie grows upon you. It does not have any science fiction special effects or slickly edited fight sequences or any gizmos - just plain straight forward story telling, often with voice over by Freeman in his deep baritone, with a good eye for detail.
By the time I had finished watching the riveting 142-minute long movie I realised it was one of the best films I had seen in my life and rued why I didn't see it on a 70 mm screen earlier.
Also Read: Bangalore Beat
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