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''Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves'' ( hi, Alibaba Aur 40 Chor, italic=yes; russian: Приключения Али-Бабы и сорока разбойников, Priklucheniya Ali-Baby i soroka razboynikov) is a 1980 Indian-
Soviet film The cinema of the Soviet Union includes films produced by the constituent republics of the Soviet Union reflecting elements of their pre-Soviet culture, language and history, albeit they were all regulated by the central government in Moscow. M ...
based on the '' Arabian Nights'' story of ''
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard ...
'', directed by Uzbek director Latif Faiziyev with Indian director
Umesh Mehra Umesh is an Indian given name. People * M. S. Umesh, actor * Umesh Chandra Banerjee, jurist * Umesh Chandra Dutta, social reformer * Umesh Chandra Patra, zoologist * Umesh Harijan, footballer * Umesh Kamat, actor * Umesh Kulkarni (cricketer), c ...
. The film stars Indian actors
Dharmendra Dharam Singh Deol (born 8 December 1935), also known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi films. Known as the first " He-Man" of Bollywood, Dharmendra has worked in over 301 ...
,
Hema Malini Hema Malini (born 16 October 1948) is an Indian actress, director, producer, and politician. She is primarily known for her work in Hindi films. Known for starring in both comic and dramatic roles, she is one of the most popular and successful ...
and
Zeenat Aman Zeenat Khan (born 19 November 1951), better known as Zeenat Aman, is an Indian actress and former fashion model. She first received recognition for her modelling work, and at the age of 19, went on to participate in beauty pageants, winning both ...
alongside
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
,
Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...
and
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
n actors. The storyline is slightly altered to extend as a long movie. The writers were Shanti Prakash Bakshi and Boris Saakov, the music was scored by musician
R.D. Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work ...
, and the
Choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
was P. L. Raj. It was the most successful Indian-Soviet co-production, becoming a success in both India and the Soviet Union.


Plot

The story is about a poor lad named Ali Baba who lives in the town of Gulabad, somewhere in Central Asia, with his mother and elder brother Qasim, who owns a small, petty shop. Ali Baba's father, Yousuf, is a merchant in a faraway land who has never returned since he last left when Ali Baba was born. So poor Ali Baba makes a living out of selling timber cut from the hills. Gulabad is terrorized by a band of 40
dacoit Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquia ...
s. They hide their loot in a magical cave in the deserted hills. When the bandit leader recites the magical spell, it opens, and when he says another spell, it closes. When news reaches them that his father has gone missing, Ali Baba goes in his search and not only finds his father but also rescues princess Marjeena from the guards of the king who murdered her father to become king. Both Marjeena and Ali Baba fall in love with each other. Then they are attacked, Marjeena is taken captive, and his father is killed. After burying his father, Ali Baba finds out that Marjeena is being sold in the slave market, he borrows money from Qasim, and uses that to pay for Marjeena, and brings her home. Qasim wants to recover his money, and as a result, decides to evict Ali Baba from their family home. Ali Baba and his mother leave the home. It is then the qazi of the region that announces a reward for the capture of notorious bandit Abu Hassan. A young girl named Fatima whose father has been murdered by the dacoits has a score to settle with Abu Hassan. Fatima pledges her support to Ali Baba in killing Abu Hassan. Shortly, thereafter Ali Baba discover the secret hideout of Abu Hassan and its magic spells to open it. He takes some gold and jewelry from there, which he distributes amongst villagers for diverting some water to their parched land. Ali Baba's greedy brother Qasim lures Ali Baba into telling him where the cave is and what the magic spells are. Out of greed, Qasim takes so much gold jewelry and coin, as a result of which, he forgets the spell to reopen the door and gets stuck inside. When the dacoits find him, they kill him. Ali Baba then informs the qazi about Abu Hassan's hideout. What Ali Baba does not know is that the qazi and Abu Hassan is the same person and that the qazi has given instructions to his men to ensure that Ali Baba is killed, so that no one can get their hands on his treasure. Abu Hassan hides the forty thieves in large urns to kill Ali Baba. Ali Baba discovers this and kills them all with the help of Fatima. He brings to light the startling truth that their own ruler heads the dacoits.


Cast

*
Dharmendra Dharam Singh Deol (born 8 December 1935), also known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi films. Known as the first " He-Man" of Bollywood, Dharmendra has worked in over 301 ...
as Alibaba *
Hema Malini Hema Malini (born 16 October 1948) is an Indian actress, director, producer, and politician. She is primarily known for her work in Hindi films. Known for starring in both comic and dramatic roles, she is one of the most popular and successful ...
as Marjeena *
Zeenat Aman Zeenat Khan (born 19 November 1951), better known as Zeenat Aman, is an Indian actress and former fashion model. She first received recognition for her modelling work, and at the age of 19, went on to participate in beauty pageants, winning both ...
as Fatima *
Prem Chopra Prem Chopra (born 23 September 1935) is an Indian actor in Hindi and Punjabi films. He has acted in 380 films over a span of over 60 years. He has a soft-spoken diction despite being a villain in most films. His 19 films, with him as antagonist ...
as Shamsher * Madan Puri as Fatima's father *
Mac Mohan Mohan Makijany (24 April 1938 – 10 May 2010), popularly known as Mac Mohan, was an Indian actor, who worked in Hindi cinema. He was known for his villainous roles in films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He appeared in over 200 films, i ...
as Mehmood *
Rolan Bykov Rolan Antonovich Bykov (russian: Ролан Антонович Быков; October 12, 1929 – October 6, 1998) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, director, screenwriter and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1990). Early life R ...
as Abu Hassan * Zakir Mukhamedzhanov as Yousuf *
Sofiko Chiaureli Sophia Chiaureli ( ka, სოფიკო ჭიაურელი; 21 May 1937 – 2 March 2008), professionally known as Sofiko Chiaureli, was a Soviet Georgian actress. Thought to be the muse of filmmaker Sergei Parajanov, she played a sig ...
as Ali Baba's mother *
Frunzik Mkrtchyan Mher Musheghi Mkrtchyan ( hy, Մհեր Մուշեղի Մկրտչյան; 4 July 1930 – 29 December 1993), better known by the name Frunzik ( hy, Ֆրունզիկ; russian: Фрунзик), was an Armenian stage and film actor. Mkrtchyan is wide ...
as Mustafa * Yakub Akhmedov as Kasym * Khodzha Durdy Narliyev as Khamid *
Elena Sanayeva Elena Vsevolodovna Sanayeva (russian: Еле́на Все́володовна Сана́ева; born 21 October 1942, Kuibyshev) is a Soviet and Russian theater and film actress and social activist. She is an Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1990).Н ...
as Simsim, the ghost of the cave


Soundtrack


Box office

''Ali Baba'' was the most successful Indian-Soviet co-production, becoming a financial success in India and an even bigger hit in the Soviet Union. In
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, it was the eighth top-grossing film of 1980, earning
nett Nett also written as Net, is one of the administrative divisions of Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia. Description Nett is one of the six municipalities located in the main island of Pohnpei. It corresponds to the north-central sec ...
from a gross collection of (). It reached silver jubilee status after running in theaters across India for 25weeks continuously. In the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, it was the fifth top-grossing domestic film of 1980, and the 32nd highest-grossing domestic film of all time, with 52.8million box office admissions. This was equivalent to approximately million  Rbls''Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War'', page 48
Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in th ...
, 2011
(, ). Worldwide, the film grossed (). This is equivalent to () adjusted for inflation in . In terms of footfalls, the film sold an estimated million tickets in India and 52.8million tickets in the Soviet Union, for an estimated total of million tickets sold worldwide.


Awards

The film won awards at several film festivals, including the
All-Union Film Festival The All-Union Film Festival (russian: Всесоюзный кинофестиваль; tr.:''Vsesoyuznyy kinofestival'', also known as ВКФ; ''VKF'') was one of the most important film festivals of the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1958 and he ...
in 1980,КИНО: Энциклопедический словарь, главный редактор С. И. Юткевич, М. Советская энциклопедия, 1987, с.83 the
Dushanbe Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (r ...
Film Festival in 1980, and the Grand Prix at the Belgrade Film Festival in 1981.


See also

*''
Ajooba ''Ajooba'' () is a 1990 superhero film, produced and directed by Shashi Kapoor and co-directed by Soviet filmmaker Gennadi Vasilyev. An Indian-Soviet Union, Soviet co-production, it is loosely based on Arabic literature, Arabic folklore such as ...
'' *
List of highest-grossing Indian films in overseas markets Indian films have been released in overseas markets since the latter half of the 1940s. Some of these have had significant commercial success and been nominated for awards. Although the first Indian film to have worldwide released was from 1952 ...


References


External links

* {{Ali Baba 1980 films Films based on Ali Baba 1980s Hindi-language films Indian fantasy adventure films Indian action adventure films 1980s fantasy adventure films Soviet action adventure films Films scored by R. D. Burman 1980s Russian-language films Indian multilingual films Soviet multilingual films Films set in Asia Indian fantasy action films 1980 multilingual films Films directed by Umesh Mehra Films shot in Uzbekistan Films set in Samarkand