''Namak Halaal'' () is a 30 April 1982 Indian

masala film Masala films of Indian cinema mix multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. They also tend to be ...

, directed by

Prakash Mehra Prakash Mehra (13 July 1939 – 17 May 2009) was a legendary Indian film director and producer known for his work in Hindi films. He was one of the pioneers of masala films, along with Nasir Hussain, and Manmohan Desai. His collaborations with ...

and written by

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 he ...

. The film stars

Shashi Kapoor Shashi Kapoor (pronounced �əʃi kəpuːɾ (born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his work in Hindi films. A recipient of several accolades, including four Nation ...

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

Smita Patil Smita Patil (17 October 1955 – 13 December 1986) was an Indian actress who worked in films, television series and theatres. She appeared in over 80 Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Kannada films in a career that spanned just o ...

Parveen Babi Parveen Babi (4 April 1954 – 20 January 2005) was an Indian actress and model. Recognized for her roles in Hindi films throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Babi was known for her "glamorous" acting style, and was one of the highest-paid ...

Waheeda Rehman Waheeda Rehman (born 3 February 1938) is an Indian actress and dancer. Regarded as one of Hindi cinema's finest actresses, Rehman's accolades include a National Film Awards, National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards. Rehman was honoured wi ...

Om Prakash Om Prakash (born Om Prakash Chibber 19 December 1919 – 21 February 1998) was an Indian film actor. He was born in Jammu as Om Prakash Chibber and went on to become a well-known character actor of Bollywood. His most well-known movies are Nam ...

Ranjeet Ranjeet Bedi (born 13 September 1942 as Gopal Bedi) popularly known as Ranjeet, is an Indian actor and film director born in Jandiala Guru near Amritsar (Punjab), best known for his work in Bollywood.Singh, Nonika (1999)Ranjeet's triple love" ...

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'' ...

in pivotal roles. It features music composed by

Bappi Lahiri Bappi Aparesh Lahiri (born Alokesh Aparesh Lahiri; 27 November 1952 – 15 February 2022), also known as Bappi Da was an Indian singer, composer and record producer. He popularised the use of synthesised disco music in Indian music industry and ...

, with lyrics written by Anjaan. The film went on to be the third highest-grossing Indian film of 1982, grossing . It is the biggest comedy blockbuster of all time in India, where it sold more than tickets, with an inflation-adjusted

net income In business and accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest, a ...

equivalent to nearly . It was remade in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

as ''Bhale Ramudu'' (1984) and in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

as '' Velaikaran'' (1987). The song "Raat Baaki" has been recreated by

Tanishk Bagchi Tanishk Bagchi (born 23 November 1980) is an Indian music producer, composer, singer and lyricist in Hindi films. He is known for tracks like "Bolna", "Ve Maahi", "Aankh Maarey"(recreated), " Dilbar" (recreated), "Jehda Nasha" (recreated) and "L ...

for the movie '' Ittefaq''. The movie is most famous for the dialogue 'I can talk English, I can walk English, I can laugh English because English is a very phunny language.'

Plot

Bhim Singh (

Suresh Oberoi Suresh Oberoi (born 17 December 1946) is an Indian actor and politician who appeared in Hindi films. He is a recipient of the 1987 National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. He started his career in radio shows, modelling and later moving ...

) works as a manager and personal bodyguard to Seth Raja Singh (

Kamal Kapoor Kamal Kapoor (22 February 1920 – 2 August 2010) was an Indian actor and producer who acted in around 600 Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati films. Early and personal life Kamal Kapoor was born in 1920 in Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, Brit ...

) and saves him from many murder attempts planned by Raja's step brother, Girdhar Singh (

). One day Raja Singh appoints Savitri (

), Bhim Singh's wife as trustee to their property and guardian to his toddler son Raja Kumar. On the same day, he and Bhim Singh die at the hands of Girdhar Singh. Savitri promises her husband that she would take care of Raja Kumar at any rate. Everyone including Bhim Singh's father Dashrath Singh (

) blames Savitri thinking that she killed her husband and employer for money. Savitri hands over young Arjun to Dashrath Singh and settles herself as Raja Kumar's mother to protect him. Later Arjun (

) grows up to be a naive youngster under the care of Dashrath Singh. He moves to the city to build his life on his own and joins as a bellboy in a five star restaurant. There he meets Poonam (

) and they both fall in love. That hotel is owned by Raja Kumar (

) and run by Savitri. Hotel manager Ranjit Singh (

) is the son of Girdhar Singh and plans to kill Raja. They manage to show Savitri as a culprit and Raja believes that and suspects Savitri. Gradually Arjun learns that Savitri is actually his, not Raja's mother and swears that he would protect Raja at any rate, just like his father did. Meanwhile, Raja meets a beautiful young dancer Nisha (

) and gets attracted to her. She is actually hired by Ranjit Singh to kill Raja, but Nisha falls in love with Raja and couldn't kill him. Finally she arranges a party on a boat to execute her plan, but Arjun foils it. Finally goons kidnap Arjun's and Raja's family members and blackmail them to transfer all his property to Ranjit's name. Arjun and Raja beat all bad guys and save their loved ones. Raja marries Nisha and Arjun marries Poonam at the end and they reconcile with their mother Savitri.

Cast

* Shashi Kapoor as Raja Singh *

as Arjun Singh *

as Poonam *

as Nisha *

as Savitri Singh *

as Dashrath Singh "Daddu" *

as Ranjeet Singh *

as Girdhar Singh *

Viju Khote Viju Khote (17 December 1941 – 30 September 2019) was an Indian actor who was known for his work in more than 440 films in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He was famous as the dacoit ''Kaalia'' in the film ''Sholay'' and the dialogue, "Sardar m ...

as Talvar Singh *

Ram Sethi Ram Sethi (born 15 November 1938), also known as Pyaare-laal, is an Indian actor who works in the Bollywood industry. Sethi has worked in many films as a main or supporting character in his long career of 6 decades. Biography Ram Sethi (Pyarel ...

as Bhairon *

as Raja Sahib *

as Bheem Singh *

Ashalata Wabgaonkar Ashalata Wabgaonkar (2 July 1941 – 22 September 2020) commonly known as Ashalata, was an Indian actress. Originally tracing her roots to Goa's Palolem village in Canacona ''taluka'' (or 'sub-district'), she was associated with the Mumbai-base ...

as Nisha's Mother

Trivia

Raj Babbar Raj Babbar (born 23 June 1952) is an Indian Hindi and Punjabi film actor and politician belonging to Indian National Congress. three-time member of the Lok Sabha and a two-time member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. He was the Pr ...

was Prakash Mehra's original choice for the role of "Raja Singh", a role which eventually went to

portrays the protagonist Arjun Singh, who was influenced by the character

Hrundi Bakshi ''The Party'' is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for Sellers's improvisational comedy ...

, the protagonist of the 1968 Hollywood film '' The Party''; Hrundi Bakshi is an Indian character who was portrayed by British comedian

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

's favourite actors

and

acted in this film after '' Laawaris''.

scored music for the first time for a

film, after blockbusters like ''

Muqaddar Ka Sikandar ''Muqaddar Ka Sikandar'' () is a 1978 Indian drama film produced and directed by Prakash Mehra, and written by Kader Khan, Vijay Kaul and Laxmikant Sharma. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, in his fifth of nine films with Prakash Mehra to date, along w ...

'' & '' Laawaris'', by Kalyanji-Anandji association with

Awards

;

30th Filmfare Awards The 30th Filmfare Awards were held on 25 September 1983. ''Prem Rog'' led the ceremony with 12 nominations, followed by ''Nikaah'' with 11 nominations, and ''Bazaar'' and ''Shakti'' with 7 nominations each. ''Prem Rog'' and ''Shakti'' won 4 ...

: Won * Best Male Playback Singer –

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. He ...

for "Pag Ghungroo" Nominated * Best Actor –

* Best Supporting Actor –

* Best Music Director –

* Best Lyricist – Anjaan &

for "Pag Ghungroo"

Soundtrack

The movie's soundtrack, which consisted of five songs, became a huge hit. Singer

bagged his 5th

Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer The Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award is given by Indian film magazine ''Filmfare'' as a part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a male playback singer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a film song. ...

for the song 'Pag Ghungroo Bandh'. "Jawaani Jaan-E-Man Haseen Dilruba" went on to become a major hit. The intro to the song is similar to

Sammy Davis Jr Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

's Candyman melody. The main part of the song has similarities to

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

's The Wanderer. "Raat Baaki, Baat Baaki", another song picturized on Parveen Babi, also became a big hit.

References

External links

* {{Prakash Mehra 1980s Hindi-language films 1982 films Films directed by Prakash Mehra Films scored by Bappi Lahiri Hindi films remade in other languages 1980s masala films