Namak Haraam (1973)

Somnath (Somu) lives in a shanty house in a Delhi slum with his widowed mom, and unmarried sister, Sarla. He is friendly with Calcutta-based wealthy Vikram (Vicky) Maharaj. When Vicky's dad... See full summary »

Director:

Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Writers:

Biresh Chatterjee (associate screenplay), Biresh Chatterjee (story),

Stars:

Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Simi Garewal

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rajesh Khanna	...	Somnath (Somu) / Chander Singh
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Vikram (Vicky) Maharaj
Simi Garewal	...	Manisha
Rekha	...	Shyama
Asrani	...	Dhondu (Shyama's brother)
A.K. Hangal	...	Bipinlal Pandey
Om Shivpuri	...	Damodar Maharaj
Manmohan	...	Jai Singh
Durga Khote	...	Somu's Mother
Raza Murad	...	Alam
Jayshree T.	...	Courtesan
Yogesh Chhabra
Darshan
Neelam
Lalita Kumari

Storyline

Somnath (Somu) lives in a shanty house in a Delhi slum with his widowed mom, and unmarried sister, Sarla. He is friendly with Calcutta-based wealthy Vikram (Vicky) Maharaj. When Vicky's dad, Damodar, has a heart attack and is advised to take bed-rest for two months, Vicky fills in his father's shoes, has a confrontation with a senior employee and union leader, Bipinlal Pandey, which results in a strike. His father intervenes, asks Vicky to apologize to Bipinlal, which Vicky does, and everything returns to normal. Vicky confides about his humiliation with Somu, and both conspire to teach Bipinlal a lesson. As a result, Somu accompanies Vicky to Calcutta, gets a job as a laborer in his mill, befriends his fellow-workers, gets some monetary relief to injured workers, amongst other benefits, is elected as the union leader replacing Bipinlal. With Somu as the union leader and Vicky as the boss there is no stopping these two - until Damodar finds out and decides to put a stop to Vicky being...

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Plot Keywords:

union | friend | slum | friendship | death | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

19 November 1973 (India)

Also Known As:

The Ungrateful

Filming Locations:

Mohan Studios, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

R.S.J. Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

146 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Vicky Maharaj (Amitabh Bachchan) first shows up, he mentions that he is wearing two watches. In real life, Amitabh Bachchan is very fond of various wristwatches and sometimes wears more than one at a time.

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Connections

Featured in Tan-Badan (1986)

User Reviews

Two of the greatest performances of Indian cinema.

Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachan put in two of the best performances of Indian cinema. Although Amitabh Bachan in a louder role got more praise from the masses, it is Rajesh Khanna in a role that required underplaying, who is the heart of the film and whose acting performance is as good if not better than that of Amitabh. This is not to say that Amitabh puts in a truly great acting performance (one of his best). The film itself is excellent and is another tribute to the greatness and versatility of Hrishikesh Mukherjee (director). Quite simply put, it is in the 'MUST NOT MISS' category. By the way the excellent music is also a real plus.