Gol Maal

Gol Maal (transl. Messed up) or Hanky Panky 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 R. D. Burman. The film won several awards and was praised by critics.[1] It was the highest grossing Hindi film of 1979 and was a super hit.[2]

Gol Maal
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHrishikesh Mukherjee
Produced byN. C. Sippy
Written byRahi Masoom Raza (dialogues)
Screenplay bySachin Bhowmick
Story byShailesh Dey
StarringAmol Palekar
Utpal Dutt
Bindiya Goswami
Music byR.D. Burman
CinematographyJaywant Pathare
Edited bySubhash Gupta
Release date
  • 20 April 1979 (1979-04-20)
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

The film was remade in Tamil as Thillu Mullu (1981), in Kannada as Aasegobba Meesegobba (1990), in Malayalam as Simhavalan Menon (1995), and in Sinhala as Rasa Rahasak.[3]

Plot

Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma (Amol Palekar), a qualified CA, is looking for a job. He and his sister Ratna (Manju Singh) have no relatives or acquaintances except Dr. Kedar (David). Dr. Kedar tells him about Bhavani Shankar's (Utpal Dutt) 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 (which he uses to get the job at Shankar's office).

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 (and Ram) have no problems. However, one day Ram takes leave by pretending that his mother (who died many years ago) 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 (alias Lakshmanprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma) 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 (Bindiya Goswami) music. Ramprasad reluctantly shaves his moustache to become Lucky and starts to teach Urmila. He is helped by his actor friend Deven Verma (playing himself).

Urmila (aka Urmi) 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 (Dina Pathak), 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 (Om Prakash) 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 (Shubha Khote) and Bhavani (who is shown without a moustache).

Cast

Soundtrack
  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.[4]

Remakes
Year Film Language Director Ref.
1981 Thillu Mullu Tamil K. Balachander [5]
1988 Rasa Rahasak Sinhala Yasapalitha Nanayakkara [6]
1990 Aasegobba Meesegobba Kannada M. S. Rajashekar [5]
1995 Simhavalan Menon Malayalam Viji Thampi [7]
2013 Thillu Mullu Tamil Badri [8]

David Dhawan's 2002 film Chor Machaaye Shor had many scenes plagiarised from Gol Maal.[9] The 2012 film Bol Bachchan, directed by Rohit Shetty is loosely based on Gol Maal.[5]

Awards and nominations

References
  1. Lokapally, Vijay (20 December 2012). "Gol Maal (1979)". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  2. "Highest Grossing Hindi Movies of 1979". IMDb. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  3. Jha, Lata (15 October 2018). "Ten Indian films with multiple remakes". Mint. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  4. Hungama, Bollywood. ""Golmaal was entirely shot in my Bandra bungalow in just 40 days" - Hrishikesh Mukherjee - Bollywood Hungama". Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  5. "Bol Bachchan not a remake of Gol Maal". Hindustan Times. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  6. Jha, Latha (15 October 2018). "Ten Indian films with multiple remakes". Mint. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  7. "Why has Amitabh Bachchan-Dharmendra's 'Sholay' not been remade in any of the southern languages yet?". News18. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  8. "Watch 'Thillu Mullu' to be happy, it's a guarantee: Mirchi Shiva". CNN-News18. 20 June 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  9. "Attack of the clones". Rediff.com. 30 August 2002. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
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