''Maalik'' is a 1972
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 ...
n
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language spiritual
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
A. Bhimsingh
A. Bhimsingh or Bhim Singh (1924–1978) was an Indian filmmaker who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Apart from Tamil, he made films in other languages that include 18 films in Hindi, 8 films in Telugu, 5 films in Malayalam and 1 film in ...
. The film stars
Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna () (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. He is called as the "First Superstar of Hindi cinema", he consecutively starred in a record ...
and
Sharmila Tagore
Sharmila Tagore (also known as Begum Ayesha Sultana; born 8 December 1944) is a retired Indian actress, primarily known for her work in Hindi and Bengali cinema, Tagore is the recipient of two National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award, and the Fi ...
.
Ashok Kumar
Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family.
He ...
played a special appearance. It is a loose remake of Tamil film ''
Thunaivan
''Thunaivan'' () is a 1969 Indian Tamil-language Hindu devotional film directed by M. A. Thirumugam and produced by Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar. It was written by V. Balamurugan, while the music was composed by K. V. Mahadevan. The film sta ...
''. It was the second box office flop in the career of
Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna () (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. He is called as the "First Superstar of Hindi cinema", he consecutively starred in a record ...
since the beginning of his 17 consecutive hits from 1969 to 1971. The film was critically acclaimed. There were other films of Khanna which were running well at the box office, such as ''Mere Jeevan Saathi'', ''Apna Desh'', ''Amar Prem'' and ''Shehzada'' in the same year, due to which this spiritual film was not screened by in many theatres by distributors, due to which producers suffered losses.
''
Badnam Farishte'' in 1971 was the first film of Khanna to flop at the box office since his consecutive 17 hits from 1969. Before the release of ''Maalik'', Khanna had 9 more hits in the year 1972. In 1972, Khanna acted in 10 releases of which 9 became successful. He did a guest appearance in a Telugu movie called ''Bangaru Babu'', directed by V.B. Rajendra Prasad in 1973. His Hindi films ''
Dushman'', ''
Amar Prem
''Amar Prem'' () is a 1972 Indian Hindi romantic drama film directed by Shakti Samanta. It is a remake of the Bengali film '' Nishi Padma'' (1970), directed by Arabinda Mukherjee, who wrote screenplay for both the films based on the Bengali s ...
'', ''
Apna Desh
''Apna Desh'' () is a 1972 Indian Hindi-language action drama film, produced by A.V. Subramaniam and T.M.Kittu and directed by Jambu. The film stars Rajesh Khanna, Mumtaz, Om Prakash, Jagdeep, Mukkamala, Madan Puri and the credited Roja Ramani, ...
'' and ''
Mere Jeevan Saathi'', together earned more than Rs.5 crore.
His other films of 1972 such as ''Dil Daulat Duniya'', ''Bawarchi'', ''Joroo Ka Ghulam'' and ''Shehzada'' earned more than Rs.4.5 crores. His last hit in year 1972 was ''
Anuraag (1972 film)
''Anuraag'' is a 1972 Indian Hindi-language drama film, directed by Shakti Samanta. The film stars Moushumi Chatterjee in her debut as a heroine and Vinod Mehra in lead roles. The Shakti Samanta fixture Rajesh Khanna, having earlier made '' Ara ...
''.
Plot
A lady who is very poor and about to die places her baby before the entrance of the Krishna temple. Pandeyji, the head priest, observes the kid and decides to let the kid grow up in the vicinity of the temple premises. The kid grows up to be a huge an innocent devotee of Krishna, addressed by villagers as Raju. On a day, when Dharmadeva comes to take a darshan (viewing) of the lord, he observes that gold chain gifted by him to temple is missing. Dharmadeva orders his men to beat up Raju as he becomes suspects Raju to be thief. Pandeyji then requests Dharmadeva to not trouble Raju anymore as Raju cannot be a thief. Dhamradeva declares that Raju should not be seen in the village from the next day. Pandeyji gives him the contact of Ram Murthy Pandey, who resides in Mumbai and asks Raju to stay there and start working. Raju then wanders around and happens to visit a satsang held by Ganesh Duttji. There, Raju loudly proclaims that there is no God and the God does not protect the innocent poor even if justice lies on their side. Ganesh Duttji then advises Raju to keep having faith in Krishna and do work properly. Raju, after meeting Ram Murthy, decides to start selling vegetables to people and regains his faith in Lord Krishna. However, people make fun of his good looks and steal fruits and vegetables. One day, he comes across a person who has come with 4 lakhs rupees in a suitcase and has attacks of "Fits". Raju gives that person an iron rod, by which the attack subsides. Recognising the honesty of Raju, that man gifts 10,000 rupees. Raju decides to starts selling paintings of various gods, then starts Krishna jewelry. He suddenly becomes a rich man. He now starts to be known as a very generous and kind businessman. One day, he bumps into Dharmadeva, who apologizes for his mistake, as the gold chain was found inside the temple below the statue of Krishna. Raju forgives Dharmadeva by saying "I became a rich man, only because you drove the poor Raju away. Had bad times not befallen, this good time would not have come." Dharmadeva, then, observes that his daughter has developed a liking for the personality of Raju and decides to get them married. Savitri considers Raju as her lord and respects him a lot. However Savitri, having been educated till college, always questions traditions and culture and believes in Darwin's theory and atheism. Savitri does not like Raju thanking god for every con-incidence or good thing happening in his life. This leads to a huge fight between Savitri and Raju. The couple decide to part ways, but reconcile. However, a paralytic child is born to them. Raju then says such a kid was born only because God wanted to teach Savitri a lesson. Savitri accepts her mistake and then starts going on Tirthyatra with Raju to all the temples. Savitri experiences God in daily life instances. What will happen to their child forms the last part of the film.
Cast
*
Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna () (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. He is called as the "First Superstar of Hindi cinema", he consecutively starred in a record ...
... Raju
*
Sharmila Tagore
Sharmila Tagore (also known as Begum Ayesha Sultana; born 8 December 1944) is a retired Indian actress, primarily known for her work in Hindi and Bengali cinema, Tagore is the recipient of two National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award, and the Fi ...
... Savitri
*
Ashok Kumar
Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family.
He ...
... Ganesh Duttji "Guru"
*
Deven Verma
Deven Verma (23 October 1937 – 2 December 2014) was an Indian film and television actor, particularly known for his comic roles, with Bollywood directors like Basu Chatterji, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Gulzar. He also produced and directed fi ...
... Ram Murthy Pandey (as Devan Varma)
*
Sonia Sahni
Sonia Sahni is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi language films. Her debut film was ''Johar-Mehmood in Goa'' with actors I. S. Johar and Mehmood. Her other notable films are '' Maalik (1972 film)'', ''Buddha Mil Gaya'', ''Bobby'', ''Dharam K ...
... Narangi
*
Bipin Gupta
Bipin Gupta (21 August 1905 – 9 September 1981) was an Indian actor and artist during the 1930s and 1960s. He acted in Bengali and Hindi cinema, most notably in ''Baiju Bawra'' (1952), ''Jagriti'' (1954), ''Gharana'' (1961) and '' Khilona'' ...
... Dharamdevta
*Shivraj ... Pandeyji
*Baby Pinky ... Lord Krishna
Soundtrack
References
External links
*
{{A. Bhimsingh
1972 films
1970s Hindi-language films
1972 drama films
Films directed by A. Bhimsingh
Films scored by Kalyanji Anandji
Hindi remakes of Tamil films