Shalimar (1978 film)

Shalimar
Poster
Directed by	Krishna Shah
Written by	Krishna Shah
Produced by	Suresh Shah
Starring	Dharmendra Zeenat Aman Sir Rex Harrison John Saxon Sylvia Miles Shammi Kapoor Prem Nath Aruna Irani
Cinematography	Harvey Genkins
Edited by	Amit Bose
Music by	R. D. Burman
Release date	8 December 1978 (1978-12-08)
Countries	India United States
Languages	Hindi English
Budget	$4 million [1]

Shalimar is a 1978 bilingual Indian film, written and directed by Krishna Shah. ^[2] The film 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. It has been marketed on DVD under the name The Deadly Thief.

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 Kumar steals it from the Raja after the Raja is shot. Kumar then takes the Raja to a nearby hospital, dons a Sikh's turban, poses as the Raja's son, Bahadur Singh, Jr., and goes to the private island of Sir John with the stolen invitation. Also attending are K.P.W. Iyengar aka Romeo, a lothario; Dr. Dubari, a follower of all world religions; Colonel Columbus, a mute; ^[7] and Countess Sylvia Rasmussen, an acrobat. 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) who works for Sir John. ^[8] The real Bahadur Singh, Jr. is then seen by his father's bedside. 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 the Shalimar Diamond 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, and Dr Dubari perish while trying to steal Shalimar. Kumar claims, to the disbelief of the others, that Columbus let out a scream before dying. Columbus's body is then taken by the local tribe and revered. Romeo revokes his name from the competition, but he is killed by Sir John and reveals that he can walk. Sir John who has become insecure after claiming Shalimar, believes that these veteran criminals may try to rob it, hence he plays a handicapped and cancer card, and invited the criminals so that they would be killed during the competition. Kumar then attempts to steal the Shalimar and he succeeds, the Local tribe leaders kill Sir John as he had promised the 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.

Release

The film was released in two versions; Hindi and in English (titled as Raiders of the Sacred Stone) for the USA release. ^[9]

Cast

• Dharmendra as S.S. Kumar
• Zeenat Aman as Sheila Enders
• Sir Rex Harrison as Sir John Locksley
• Shammi Kapoor as Dr. Dubari
• John Saxon as Colonel Columbus
• Sylvia Miles as Countess Rasmussen
• O. P. Ralhan as K.P.W. Iyengar (Romeo)
• Clyde Chai-Fa as Dogro
• Prem Nath as Raja Bahadur Singh
• Shreeram Lagoo as Tolaram
• Aruna Irani as Dance Teacher
• M. B. Shetty as Tribal Chief
• Jayamalini as tribal dancer

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.

#	Title	Singer(s)
1	"Hum Bewafaa Hargiz Na The (I)"	Kishore Kumar
2	"Hum Bewafaa Hargiz Na The (II)"	Kishore Kumar
3	"Aaina Wohi Rehta Hai"	Lata Mangeshkar
4	"Mera Pyaar Shalimar"	Asha Bhosle
5	"Naag Devta"	Mohammed Rafi
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

• Best Music Director – R. D. Burman
• Best Male Playback Singer – Kishore Kumar for "Hum Bewafaa"
• Best Female Playback Singer – Usha Uthup for "One Two Cha Cha Cha"

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. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
3. "The outstanding performances by Dharmendra!". Zee News. 8 December 2013. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. 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. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
5. Screen The Business Of Entertainment-Music-Cover Story Archived 5 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
6. "Star capers". India Today. New Delhi: Living Media. 31 January 1978. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
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. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. 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. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
11. Roy, Kunal (15 November 2017). "I am a complete live performer: Usha Uthup". The Statesman. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. 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.

External links

• Shalimar at IMDb