The Great Gambler (1979)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Shakti Samanta

Writers:

Ranjan Bose (screenplay)
Vrajendra Gaur (dialogue)

Release Date:

15 March 1979 (India)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot:

Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) is an expert gambler, and has been so as long as he can remember, and has never lost a game...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Amitabh Bachchan	...	Dual Role (Jay & Insp. Vijay)
Zeenat Aman	...	Shabnam
Neetu Singh	...	Mala
Prem Chopra	...	Ramesh / Abbasi
Utpal Dutt	...	Saxena
Madan Puri	...	Ratan Das
Om Shivpuri	...	Sen Verma
Iftekhar	...	Deepchand
Sujit Kumar	...	Marconi
Roopesh Kumar	...	Sethi
Helen	...	Monica (Dancer)
Madhu Malhotra	...	Madhu - Jay's Sister (as Madhu)
Jagdish Raj	...	Nath
Keshav Rana	...	Rohit
Brahm Bhardwaj	...	White haired man

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | Italian

Color:

Color

Certification:

India:A

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Associated Films & Finance Corporation

Trivia:

The movie didn't prove lucky for actor 'Amjad Khan'. On the day he signed the film, his father passed away. In the very first schedule of the film, he met with a serious accident. The role was eventually essayed by Utpal Dutt.

Soundtrack:

Hey folks, watch him. He's a gambler!

Amitabh shines in Double Role

This movie is a very special one for Amitabh fans as it is the only good movie in which he plays a set of twins.Other movies where he tried to repeat it namely Mahaan and Toofan,bombed badly. The Great Gambler is a fast paced action thriller which has a taut screenplay and Amitabh in his full form that makes the movie worth watching. The movie starts with Jai(Amitabh) a small time gambler getting engaged in a brawl.As the movie progresses we come to know that he is a great gambler and he always wins the game of cards.Enter bad guy(Madan Puri) who hires Jai to play in his own casino so that he can rob some influential people and later use their services to his own benefit.One such person is Nath(Jagdish Raj) who is working with the intelligence.Jai wins around 75,000 and leaves Mr.Nath bankrupt.Now in order to save himself from disgrace Nath has togive out the secret plan K2 which is actually wanted by Saxena(Utpal Dutt as a humming villain).Saxena has a team of bad men who r Romesh(Prem Chopra),Sethi(Roopesh Kumar) and Marconi(Sujit Kumar).Alongwith them is Romesh's girlfriend Shabnam(Zeenat baby at her best).Due to an internal fight between them Sethi flees to Rome with evidence against Saxena.He contacts the Indian Police who send their trusted man Vijay(Amitabh again) to collect the evidence.Meanwhile Jai is also heading to Lisbon to marry Neetu Singh so that he can win the wealth of her dad(Iftekhar).After a series of action sequences and great location viewing we come to know that Jai and Vijay are twins who got separated in their childhood.They join hands to destroy the evil men and eventually get their respected ladies and their sister(who appears only for 2 and a half scenes). Shakti Samanta is known for his Aradhana and Amar Prem type of movies.He gave many hits with former superstar Rajesh Khanna.So the viewers must be surprised on seeing him direct Khanna's arch-rival Bachchan and that too in and action oriented thriller.Well,for those who do not know Samanta had made some great action stuff like Howrah Bridge, China Town and An Evening In Paris before he made Aradhana. The Great Gambler has shades of both An Evening In Paris and China Town.He has kept the pace of the movie quite fast and aided by a tight screenplay he succeeds in keeping the viewers glued. The locations where the movie is shot are very beautiful The movie boasts of being shot in Cairo,Lisbon,Venice and Rome.The cinematography is excellent.The action sequences form the highlight of the movie and are very well executed. the fight between Amitabh bachchan and Shetty(in a cold storage) is excellent.The music by R.D. Burman is good.The song '' Main Tumko Kya Kahoon....'' is great.But the evergreen ''Do lafzon Ki hai....'' picturised on Amitabh and Zeenat on a boat in Venice is a classic song by all standards.The background score specially the tune when initially Helen and later Zeenat dance while sending secret codes is haunting. The way pyramids,egyptian belle dance,european casinos and Venice are shown in the movie,it has an international look. Amitabh carries the movie very ably on his shoulders. He has looked his best in both the roles.The coats,glasses and shirts he wear go very well with the characters.He acts very naturally and looks very handsome.This is perhaps the only double role film where there is no difference between both the roles.There is absolutely no difference between Jai and Vijay in looks,voice,way of dressing and habits.This leads to some confusion for the viewer as well.Zeenat and Neetu Singh play their part comfortably.Madan Puri,Iftekhar, Om Shiv Puri and Jagdish Raj are adequate in their respective roles. The peculiar and interesting part of the movie is the different type of villainous character namely Saxena,Romesh, Sethi and ofcourse Marconi enacted ably by Utpal Dutt, Prem Chopra,Roopesh Kumar and Sujit Kumar.Utpal Dutt plays an unusual and interesting character Saxena who starts humming tunes even though he is discussing serious topics.Prem Chopra as Romesh is at his menacing best.Roopesh Kumar plays Sethi in a way that it becomes his most famous performance.However it is Sujit Kumar as Marconi, who has an accent and talks funnily, who gets away with the cake with his superb timing. Sujit Kumar was a regular in Shakti Samanta films but this one is really special.Helen shines in a cameo. Another unknown feature about this movie is producer Boney Kapoor shooted for the movie in a fight sequence where he played Amitabh Bachchan's DOUBLE!!! When released in 1979 The Great Gambler met with modest success but it has high repeat value which makes it a must watch for Bachchan fans.Samanta and Bachchan again teamed up for the 1981 blockbuster billingual ''Barsaat Ki Ek Raat''. Still, The Great Gambler although often compared with Don remains a must watch for Samanta's ability to handle an action film with panache and for the class Bachchan generates as JAI and VIJAY.