Malamaal Weekly (2006)

Lilaram sells lottery tickets and one customer has hit the jackpot but dies of shock upon finding out that he has won. Now, Lilaram wants all the money, and so does everyone around him.

Director:

Priyadarshan

Writers:

Manisha Korde (dialogue), Priyadarshan (screenplay),

Stars:

Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Ritesh Deshmukh

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paresh Rawal	...	Lilaram 'Lila'
Om Puri	...	Balwant 'Balu'
Ritesh Deshmukh	...	Kanhaiya - Chokhey's son
Reema Sen	...	Sukhmani 'Sukhi'
Rajpal Yadav	...	Baj 'Bajey' Bahadur
Asrani	...	Chokhey
Shakti Kapoor	...	Joseph
Arbaaz Khan	...	Jayesh Agarwal
Innocent	...	Anthony Joseph Fernandes
Sudha Chandran	...	Thakurain
Rasika Joshi	...	Mary
Priyanshi
Sona Nair
Bineesh Kodiyeri
Ravindranath

Storyline

Laholi is a small village in India whose inhabitants are poor, simple-minded, and are used to their lives being controlled by the dictatorial Landlord, Thakurain, and her brother, Baj Bahadur. Although Lilaram is the one with the highest educational qualifications, he is unable to secure any job. He decides to make a living selling lottery tickets, especially the Delhi-based Malamaal Weekly, but is barely able to make ends meet. Then one day he finds out that one of his lottery tickets is a winner. He concocts a scheme with his wife, which involves pawning her pet goat with the Thakurain, getting people together for a feast, so that he can get their tickets back - all in vain. Then he finds out that the only one who was absent was the town drunk, Anthony Fernandes. When he goes to Anthony's house he finds him dead, happily clutching his winning lottery ticket. When Lilaram tries to take the ticket from Anthony's hand, another villager, Balwant, happens to come by, both of them ...

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Plot Keywords:

lottery | lottery ticket | village | goat | feast | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

10 March 2006 (India)

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$57,415 (USA) (17 March 2006)

Gross:

$204,612 (USA) (24 March 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Percept Picture Company, Sahara One Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Several reviewers consider this film to be very similar to Waking Ned Devine. Both films are set in a small remote village, involve a man winning the lottery and dying of shock with the winning ticket clutched in his hand, two people conspire to take the winnings, the conspiracy expands to involve the whole village, and a single villager attempts to reveal the conspiracy but dies in a car accident. However director Priyadarshan claims it is "totally and absolutely original".

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Connections

Remake of Waking Ned Devine (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Hansani O Meri Hansani - Remix"
Written by Nitin Raikwar
Composed by Uttank Vora
Performed by Shreya Ghoshal and Javed Ali
Courtesy of Universal Music India

User Reviews

Even if its a remake it rox....

I know I know, this is a remake, but still, it is screamingly funny, and it isn't everyday that u find a screamingly funny Hindi movie in the theaters... True its really sad that Bolly is now copying ideas for comedies as well, but it doesn't matter, cos this is funny as well... the entire movie is set by Paresh Rawal. he controls the pace of the movie, Om Puri and Asrani give him good support. The acting is good. These veterans bring out the authentic UP/Bhojpuri Hindi. Ritesh DEshmukh as usual does a good performance on his part. Shakti Kapur is again very nice in his own small way... The good thing is that the director wisely reduced the number of songs...

Overall 8/10!!!