''Shalimar'' (

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 ...

: शालीमार) is a 1978 Bollywood film, written and directed by

Krishna Shah Krishna Shah (10 May 1938 – 13 October 2013) was an Indian-American/Gujarati film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, and production/distribution executive. Shah was considered the first Indian to create the crossover be ...

. The movie starred

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 30 ...

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 ...

Shammi Kapoor Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsher Raj Kapoor; (pronounced �ʌmːi kʌpuːɾ 21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards, winning in the categories of Best Actor for ...

Prem Nath Prem Nath Malhotra, better known as Prem Nath, was an Indian actor and director, who was best known for his works in Hindi films. Nath made his debut with the film ''Ajit'' (1948), and went on to appear in over 100 films throughout his career. ...

and

Aruna Irani Aruna Irani (born 3 May 1946) is an Indian actress, who has acted in over 500 films throughout Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and Gujarati cinema, playing mostly supporting and character roles. She has won two Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Ac ...

. English actor

Rex Harrison Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play '' French Without Tears'', in wh ...

and American actors

John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...

and Sylvia Miles appear in supporting roles in their first and only

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

film.

Jayamalini Jayamalini (or Jaya Malini) is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi movies. Career She was introduced to Tollywood in 1975 by Vittalacharya in the movie he produced, ''Aadadani Adrustam' ...

does a dance number in the film. This was the last time that

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

's voice was picturized on

. Its English version is known as ''Raiders of the Sacred Stone''. Rex Harrison's voice was dubbed 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 h ...

. The plot is inspired by the novel ''The Vulture is a Patient Bird'' by

James Hadley Chase James Hadley Chase (24 December 1906 – 6 February 1985) was an English writer. While his birth name was René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, he was well known by his various pseudonyms, including James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Raymond ...

, The film's script was novelized by Manohar Malagaonkar

Plot

On the run from the police, S.S. Kumar (

), a thief, comes across a private invitation to the island of Sir John Locksley (

) addressed to Raja Bahadur Singh. When the Raja is shot, Kumar takes him to a nearby hospital, dons a Sikh's turban, poses as the Raja's son and goes to the private island of Sir John. Also attending are K.P.W. Iyengar aka Romeo, Dr. Dubari, Colonel Columbus, and Countess Sylvia Rasmussen. 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 (

), 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 a Diamond Shalimar 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 Bulletproof glass, ballistic glass, transparent armor, or bullet-resistant glass is a strong and optically transparent material that is particularly resistant to penetration by projectiles. Like any other material, it is not completely impenetr ...

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, Dr Dubari perish while trying to steal Shalimar. Romeo revokes his name from the competition, but he is killed by Sir John. Sir John who has become insecure after claiming Shalimar that these veteran criminals may try to rob it, hence he plays a handicapped and cancer card so that these criminals are killed during competition. Kumar then attempts and he succeeds, the Local tribe leaders kill Sir John as he had promised Shalimar to them. Later its shown that Kumar is actual an army personal on his special mission from CBI, to arrest the master criminals.

Box office

The film was released in two versions; Hindi and dubbed in English for the USA release. Both were unsuccessful when they were released. However the Hindi version later gained cult status in the DVD-Video circuit, and is now seen as ahead of its times.

Cast

as S.S. Kumar *

as Sheila Enders *

as Sir John Locksley *

as Colonel Columbus * Sylvia Miles as Countess Rasmussen * O. P. Ralhan as K.P.W. Iyengar (Romeo) *

as Dr. Dubari *

as Raja Bahadur Singh * Shreeram Lagoo as Tolaram *

as Dance Teacher *Clyde Chai-Fa as Dogro * M. B. Shetty as Tribal Chief *

as tribal dancer

Soundtrack

The music of this movie was given by the legendary music composer R. D. Burman while

Anand Bakshi Anand Bakshi (21 July 1930 – 30 March 2002) was an Indian poet and lyricist. He was nominated for the Filmfare award for Best lyricist a total of 40 times, resulting in 4 wins. Early life Anand Bakshi (Bakshi Anand Prakash Vaid) was bor ...

penned the lyrics. "''Hum Bewafaa Hargiz Na The''" sung by

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 ...

is an evergreen song of this album. The soundtrack was featured in the book, ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''.

Awards

;;

26th Filmfare Awards The 26th Filmfare Awards were held in 1979. ''Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki'' and ''Muqaddar Ka Sikandar'' led the ceremony with 9 nominations each, followed by ''Satyam Shivam Sundaram'' and ''Trishul'' with 6 nominations each, and ''Don'' with 5 ...

: Nominated * Best Music Director – R. D. Burman * Best Male Playback Singer –

for "Hum Bewafaa" * Best Female Playback Singer –

Usha Uthup Usha Uthup Iyer (born 7 November 1947) is an Indian pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer who sang songs in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. "Darling", which she recorded with Rekha Bhardwaj for the film ''7 Khoon Maaf'', won the Filmfare ...

for "One Two Cha Cha Cha"

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0078241, Shalimar 1970s Hindi-language films 1978 films Indian adventure films Films scored by R. D. Burman American adventure films English-language Indian films Indian multilingual films American multilingual films 1978 multilingual films 1970s American films