Shalimar
Poster
Directed byKrishna Shah
Written byKrishna Shah
Produced bySuresh Shah
StarringDharmendra
Zeenat Aman
Sir Rex Harrison
John Saxon
Sylvia Miles
Shammi Kapoor
Prem Nath
Aruna Irani
CinematographyHarvey Genkins
Edited byAmit Bose
Music byR. D. Burman
Release date
  • 8 December 1978 (1978-12-08)
CountriesIndia, United States
LanguagesHindi, English
Budget$4 million[1]

Shalimar (Hindi : शालीमार) is a 1978 bi-lingual Bollywood film, written and directed by Krishna Shah.[2] The movie starred Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman, Sir Rex Harrison, Shammi Kapoor, John Saxon and Sylvia Miles.[3]

This was the only Bollywood film that English actor Sir Rex Harrison and American actors John Saxon and Sylvia Miles appeared in.[4] Jayamalini does a dance number in the film. This was the last time that Mohammed Rafi's voice was picturized on Shammi Kapoor.[5] Its English version is known as Raiders of the Sacred Stone. Rex Harrison's voice was dubbed by Kader Khan. The plot is inspired by the novel The Vulture is a Patient Bird by James Hadley Chase, The film's script was novelized by Manohar Malagaonkar. Shalimar is the most expensive movie ever made in India.[6] The English version of the movie was released in the United States titled as the Raiders of the Sacred Stone.

Plot

On the run from the police, S.S. Kumar (Dharmendra), a thief, comes across a private invitation to the island of Sir John Locksley (Sir Rex Harrison) addressed to Raja Bahadur Singh. When the Raja is shot, Kumar takes him to a nearby hospital, dons a Sikh's turban, poses as the Raja's son and goes to the private island of Sir John. Also attending are K.P.W. Iyengar aka Romeo, Dr. Dubari, Colonel Columbus,[7] and Countess Sylvia Rasmussen. A stunned Kumar finds out that all of these invitees are master criminals and thieves. Kumar's guise does not fool anyone, including his former sweetheart, Sheila Enders (Zeenat Aman),[8] nevertheless Sir John permits him to stay on, as he feels that Kumar's career, though an amateur, is consistent with those already present. The reason why John has invited them is to find a successor to take his place as he is dying of cancer. He feels that one of his invitees can be trusted to take his place and for this he has arranged for them to steal a Diamond Shalimar worth 135 crores of rupees. This gem is placed in a secure room within his palace, which is alarmed, and guarded by armed men 24 hours a day. The ruby itself is located within a display case of bulletproof glass and surrounded by a minefield. He challenges one of them to steal the shalimar - but if anyone fails then they are killed by the security system. Columbus, Rasmussen, Dr Dubari perish while trying to steal Shalimar. Romeo revokes his name from the competition, but he is killed by Sir John. Sir John who has become insecure after claiming Shalimar that these veteran criminals may try to rob it, hence he plays a handicapped and cancer card so that these criminals are killed during competition. Kumar then attempts and he succeeds, the Local tribe leaders kill Sir John as he had promised Shalimar to them. Later its shown that Kumar is actual a CBI officer (selected from the Army) on this special mission, to arrest the master criminals. Kumar and Sheila get married.

Box office

The film was released in two versions; Hindi[9] and in English (titled as Raiders of the Sacred Stone) for the USA release. Both were not much successful when they were released. However the Hindi version later gained a cult status in the Digital-Video circuit and became very popular; it is now seen as ahead of its times.

Cast

Soundtrack

The music of this movie was given by the legendary music composer R. D. Burman while Anand Bakshi penned the lyrics. "Hum Bewafaa Hargiz Na The" [10] sung by Kishore Kumar is an evergreen song of this album.

#TitleSinger(s)
1 "Naag Devta" Mohammed Rafi
2 "Aaina Wohi Rehta Hai" Lata Mangeshkar
3 "Hum Bewafaa Hargiz Na The (I)" Kishore Kumar
4 "Mera Pyaar Shalimar" Asha Bhosle
5 "Hum Bewafaa Hargiz Na The (II)" Kishore Kumar
6 "One Two Cha Cha" Usha Uthup[11]

The soundtrack was featured in the book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[12]

Awards

26th Filmfare Awards:

Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "Doing the Cannes Cannes". Variety. 31 May 1978. p. 30.
  2. ↑ "Krishna Shah, Director of 'Hard Rock Zombies,' Dies at 75". Variety. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  3. ↑ "The outstanding performances by Dharmendra!". Zee News. 8 December 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  4. ↑ Obituaries (23 June 2019). "Sylvia Miles, film actress and Warhol acolyte, twice Oscar-nominated, who brought zany sparkle to small roles – obituary". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  5. ↑ Screen The Business Of Entertainment-Music-Cover Story Archived 5 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "Shalimar most expensive movie ever made in India".
  7. ↑ Balaji Vittal and Anirudha Bhattacharjee (25 September 2018). "Evil minds in disabled bodies". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  8. ↑ Vittal Balaji (29 May 2018). "A look at last scene weddings in Bollywood". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  9. ↑ Banerjee, Tamaghna (3 April 2019). "88 years on, curtains come down on Mitra cinema". Times of India. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  10. ↑ Bhattacharjee, Rudradeep (17 October 2016). "52 years, 5,000 songs: With musician Kersi Lord's death, we have lost a vital part of film history". Scroll. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  11. ↑ Roy, Kunal (15 November 2017). "I am a complete live performer: Usha Uthup". The Statesman. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  12. ↑ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (7 February 2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 0-7893-1371-5.
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