''Mr. Natwarlal'' is a 1979 Indian

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 ...

action comedy Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

film produced by Tony Glaad (as "Tony") and directed by Rakesh Kumar. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan,

Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in more than 180 fi ...

, Ajit,

Kader Khan Kader Khan (22 October 1937 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and film director. As an actor, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films after his debut film in the 1973 film '' Daag'', starring Rajesh Khanna, in which h ...

, Amjad Khan and the music is by

Rajesh Roshan Rajesh Roshan Lal Nagrath (born 24 May 1955) is an Indian Hindi cinema music director and composer. He is the son of music director Roshan and singer Ira Roshan. Personal life Rajesh Roshan has a Punjabi Hindu father and Bengali Brahmin m ...

, the songs are written by Anand Bakshi. The highlight of the film was a children's song sung by Amitabh Bachchan. Tony Glaad decided to take them as the writers of the film. The film was shot in Kashmir with most of the shooting done in

Beerwah, Jammu and Kashmir Beerwah also pronounced as Beeru is a subdistrict, tourist destination and one of the oldest town of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir and a Municipal Council (India), municipal committee in Budgam district in the Indian a ...

The name of the film and lead character were inspired by a notorious Indian conman,

Natwarlal Natwarlal (born Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava; 1912 — 25 July 2009) was an Indian fraudster known for his high-profile crimes and prison escapes, including having supposedly repeatedly "sold" the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, ...

. Getting Amitabh to sing was a gimmick that was tried for the first time in this movie. '' Kabhi Kabhi'' earlier had Amitabh use spoken verse within a melodic song, but this was the first time he sang in a movie. This was subsequently copied by other filmmakers in films like '' Laawaris'', '' Silsila'' and '' Pukar''. As per a trade guide, which was premium box-office publication in the 1970s and 1980s, ''Mr. Natwarlal'' was a "Super Hit". In today's lenient classification system, Mr. Natwarlal is easily a blockbuster.

Plot

Natwar is a young boy, when his beloved older brother and caretaker, police officer Girdharilal, is framed for bribery by sinister criminal mastermind Vikram. When he grows up, Natwar creates a secret identity for himself, posing as a powerful and mysterious underworld figure named Mr. Natwarlal, determined to slowly but surely exact vengeance on Vikram. Girdharilal does not understand his motives and develops a grudge against him. Natwar learns from Mickey, an infamous underworld figure and Vikram's former ally, who is posing as a burnt man, that Vikram is in a village called Chandanpur and wants a diamond necklace, which is in the possession of Fakirchand, one of Mickey's allies. Natwar steals the necklace, unknown to everyone present there and leaves for Chandanpur, after apologising to an asleep Girdharilal about the troubles he has given to him. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Mickey also wants to exact revenge on Vikram for betraying him. He reveals that Vikram is terrorising the villagers using a tiger. Natwar arrives at Chandanpur, disguised as Avtaar Singh, a hunter whom Vikram had already killed, unknown to everyone.

Cast

* Amitabh Bachchan as Natwarlal *

as Shanno * Ajit as Inspector Girdharilal *

Indrani Mukherjee Indrani Mukherjee (born 1 March 1942) is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films during the 1960s and 1970s and starred in over 70 films. After playing the heroine in some films, notably '' Usne Kaha Tha'' (1960) and '' Aakhri Khat'' (1966 ...

as Mukhiya / Baba * Amjad Khan as Vikram Singh *

Satyen Kappu Satyendra Kappu (born Satyendra Sharma; also credited as Satyen Kappu; 7 February 1931 – 27 October 2007), was an Indian character actor in Bollywood films. He has acted in 390 films. His most remembered role is Ramlal in the movie ''Sholay'' ...

as Mickey *

Yunus Parvez Yunus Parvez (1931/1932 – 11 February 2007) was an Indian actor who played supporting roles in over 200 films from the late 1960s to the 2000s. He is best known for his roles in films like '' Garm Hava'' (1974), '' Deewaar'' (1975), '' Trishu ...

Gurbachan Singh Gurbachan Singh (10 December 1930 – 24 April 1980) was the third guru of the Sant Nirankari sect, considered to be heterodox by all Sikhs. He was born in Peshawar (modern-day Pakistan). He was declared next Baba by his father and predecesso ...

Awards

;

27th Filmfare Awards The 27th Filmfare Awards were held in 1980. '' Junoon'' led the ceremony with 9 nominations, followed by ''Gol Maal'' and ''Kaala Patthar'' with 8 nominations. ''Junoon'' won 6 awards, including Best Film and Best Director (for Shyam Benegal) ...

: Nominated * Best Actor – Amitabh Bachchan * Best Music Director –

* Best Male Playback Singer – Amitabh Bachchan for "Mere Paas Aao"

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

and the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi.

was nominated for Best Music Director award for the film; Laxmikant-Pyarelal received the award for '' Sargam'' that year. The song "Pardesia" by Kishore Kumar and

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...

, of this movie was popular, besides "Oonchi Oonchi Baaton Se" by Mohammed Rafi and

Usha Mangeshkar Usha Mangeshkar (born 15 December 1935) is an Indian singer who has recorded many Marathi, Manipuri, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Nepali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Assamese songs. Personal life Usha Mangeshkar is an Indian singer. She is the fou ...

. Amitabh Bachchan has a solo number on his own; "Mere Paas Aao Mere Doston". This song was the first song sung by Amitabh Bachchan in Bollywood.

References

External links

* * {{youTube , id=n6KjO92SXp4&t=1520s, Mr. Natwarlal 1979 films 1970s Hindi-language films Films scored by Rajesh Roshan Indian action comedy films Films about con artists