Gol Maal


Gol Maal is a 1979 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and written by Rahi Masoom Raza and Sachin Bhowmick. It was produced by Mukherjee and N. C. Sippy, with music by Rahul Dev Burman. The film won several awards and was praised by critics. It was the highest grossing Hindi film of 1979 and was a super hit.
The film was remade in Tamil as Thillu Mullu, in Kannada as Aasegobba Meesegobba, in Malayalam as Simhavalan Menon, and in Sinhala as Rasa Rahasak.

Plot

The story revolves around a young man Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma, or simply Ramprasad or Ram. He is a man of many virtues. A young Chartered Accountant with keen interest and expertisation in sports and music. He is left with his younger sister Ratna, who does all the chores of household work and is perusing a degree in M.A. These siblings has a great relationship with their neighbour Dr. Kedar or Doctor Mama.
Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma, a qualified CA, is looking for a job. He and his sister Ratna have no relatives or acquaintances except Dr. Kedar. Dr. Kedar tells him about Bhavani Shankar's firm known as Urmila Traders. Ramprasad is shown to possess many qualities. He is very good in accounting, is fond of sports and music, is a very good singer and also a very good actor.
Shankar is a man of traditional values: He hates youth wearing modern clothes. He is a sports fan, but thinks lowly of youth knowing anything about sports. But his weirdest trait is hatred towards men without moustaches. He thinks they are characterless.
Ramprasad has a moustache. He takes care of other problems by wearing a kurta and feigning ignorance about sports. Bhavani hires him immediately. Ram is a hardworking guy, so Bhavani have no problems. However, one day Ram takes leave by pretending that his mother has taken ill and goes to watch a hockey match. Bhavani Shankar, who attends the match, sees him there.
The next day Bhavani summons Ramprasad to his office and asks him about the hockey match. Remembering the plot of a movie a friend of his is shooting, Ram convinces Bhavani Shankar that he had seen his "moustache-less" identical twin Lucky at the stadium.
Bhavani Shankar buys his argument and feels bad about accusing him. He makes amends by hiring Lucky to teach his daughter Urmila music. Ramprasad reluctantly shaves his moustache to become Lucky and starts to teach Urmila. He is helped by his actor friend Deven Verma.
Urmila is the exact opposite of her father. She takes an immediate liking to Lucky, while Ram is barely noticed by her. Bhavani notices this and gives Ram another job to tutor on the pretext of her exams. Meanwhile, Mrs. Srivastav, a socialite, is roped to play the part of Ram, "Lakshman" and Ratna's mother. Like Ram, she also ends up playing her own twin in front of Bhavani.
Ram tells Urmila the truth. Urmila tells him to tell the truth to Bhavani as well. Ram goes to Bhavani to tell the truth, but Bhavani sees Ram's moustache giving away. Bhavani exposes Ram but ends up thinking that Lucky murdered Ram and impersonated him to marry Urmila.
In a hilarious chase that follows, Bhavani ends up totaling a police jeep. The senior inspector mistakes him for a thug named Pascal D'Costa and is about to lock him up in the jail. Only when his inspector identifies Bhavani Shankar by his real identity is he freed. By now, a harried Bhavani has developed a hatred for twins as well.
On coming home, he finds that Urmila and Lucky are married. He refuses to give them blessings, until Dr. Kedar comes to the scene and explains the situation. Bhavani becomes even more furious but, on everybody's insistence, relents. The film ends with a family photo of Mrs. Srivastav, Ratna, Urmila, Ram, Dr. Kedar, Bhavani's sister Kalindi and Bhavani.

Cast

  1. "Aanewala Pal Jane Wala Hai" – Kishore Kumar
  2. "Gol Maal Hai Bhai Sab Gol Maal Hai" – Sapan Chakraborty, R.D.Burman
  3. "Ek Din Sapne Me Dekha Sapna" – Kishore Kumar
  4. "Ek Baat Kahu Gar Maano Tum" – Lata Mangeshkar

    Production

Hrishikesh Mukherjee had first selected Rekha to enact the heroine's part, but felt that he would be wasting a talented actress in a film where the hero was the mainstay. He replaced her with Bindya Goswami. The whole film was shot in 40 working days.

Remakes

's 2002 film Chor Machaaye Shor had many scenes plagiarised from Gol Maal. The 2012 film Bol Bachchan, directed by Rohit Shetty is loosely based on Gol Maal.

Awards and nominations