Shalimar (1978 film)


Shalimar is a 1978 Bollywood film, written and directed by Krishna Shah. The movie starred Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman, Shammi Kapoor, Prem Nath and Aruna Irani. English actor Rex Harrison and American actors John Saxon and Sylvia Miles appear in supporting roles in their first and only Bollywood film. Jayamalini does a dance number in the film. This was the last time that Mohammed Rafi's voice was picturized on Shammi Kapoor. Its English version is known as Raiders of the Sacred Stone. Rex Harrison's voice was dubbed by Kader Khan. The plot is inspired by the novel The Vulture is a Patient Bird by James Hadley Chase.

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 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. Pitted against such veterans, it looks like Kumar has got himself into a bind that he may not come out of alive.

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

The music of this movie was given by the legendary music composer R. D. Burman and the ever witty Anand Bakshi penned the lyrics "Hum Bewafaa Hargiz Na The" is an evergreen song of this album.
The soundtrack was featured in the book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Nominations