Loyal Servant (1982)

Brought up by his grandfather, Arjun Singh moves to the city in search of a new job and life. While in the city he meets Bhairon who helps him find a job as a singer in a 5-star hotel owned by Raja.

Director:

Prakash Mehra

Writer:

Surendra Kaul

Stars:

Waheeda Rehman, Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Waheeda Rehman	...	Savitridevi
Shashi Kapoor	...	Raja
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Arjun Singh
Smita Patil	...	Poonam
Parveen Babi	...	Nisha
Om Prakash	...	Dasrath Singh (Daddu)
Ranjeet	...	Ranjit Singh
Satyendra Kapoor	...	Girdar
Ram P. Sethi	...	Bhairon
Kamal Kapoor	...	Sanyal (Raja's father)
Chandrashekhar	...	Mehta (Lawyer)
Ashalata Wabgaonkar	...	Nisha's mother
Dev Kumar	...	Deva
Harish Magon	...	Poonam's blind brother
Nandita Thakur	...	Hotel Clerk

Storyline

Young Arjun (Amitabh Bachchan) is brought up by his Daddu (Om Prakash). His Daddu decides for him to go to the city in search of a new job and life. While in the city he meets up with Bhairon (Ram P. Sethi) who guides him into finding a job as a servant in a 5-star hotel owned by Raja (Shashi Kapoor). While in the hotel, Arjun meets Poonam (Smita Patil) and falls in love with her. During this time, many attempts are made to kill Raja by the one and only Girdar Singh (Satyendra Kapoor) and his son Ranjeet (Ranjeet). All these attempts are thwarted by Arjun. Will he be able to save Raja from these attacks?

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Plot Keywords:

record player | faked death | song | inheritance | camera | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The trumpet tune used at 1:00 of "Pagh Ghungroo Bandh" was later the source of inspiration from the tune of the song "Mera Dil Kho Gaya" from Aazmayish. What is confusing is that a similar tune was used by Michael Jackson for his song "Bad", 5 years later.

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Quotes

Arjun Singh: I know such English that I will leave the British behind. You see sir, I can talk English, I can walk English, I can laugh English, I can run English, because English is such a funny language. Bhairo becomes Byron because their minds are very narrow. In the year 1929 when India was playing Australia at the Melbourne stadium Vijay Hazare and Vijay Merchant were at the crease. Vijay Merchant told Vijay Hazare "Look Vijay Hazare Sir, this is a very prestigious match and we must consider it very ...

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Connections

Referenced in Comedy Nights with Kapil: Kapil ke Ghar aaya Bhoothnath - Part 2 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Raat Baaki, Baat Baaki
Performed by Asha Bhosle & Bappi Lahiri
Lyrics by Anjaan
Music by Bappi Lahiri

User Reviews

A Classic Indian Comedy Thriller

I've liked most of the comedies by the Shashi Kapoor- Amitabh Bachchan duo than the more serious films they did e.g. 'Deewar'. Another title that comes to mind right now is 'Do Aur Do Paanch'. 'Suhaag' too works as a semi-comedy.

'Namak Halaal' provides numerous laughter and entertainment. There is the loyal servant (Bachchan) who's protecting his employer, a hotel owner (Kapoor) because of the promise he made to his mother (Rehman) and he also falls in love with a fellow employee (Patil). There is a grandfather (Prakash) who wants his grandson to make it on his own. There's a siren (Babi) who's been hired to assassinate the hotel owner. Then there's the evil manager (Ranjeet) who wants to frame the mother and kill the owner in order to takeover the hotel.

Mehra puts it all together and gives us a thriller/ comedy. This gives Amitabh another chance to show his comedic abilities. The actor does reasonably well at most parts but he does tend to go over the top. Shashi Kapoor is quite adequate. Smita Patil is luminous and Parveen Babi is ravishing. Waheeda Rehman does well with her part as does Om Prakash.

The songs are a strong point. Though the first song is better to watch than listen to, the rest are both pleasant for the ears and filmed nicely. Parveen looks particularly stunning in 'Raat Baki' while Smita is sexy in the white sari rain song.

'Namak Halaal' is one film that can be enjoyed with the family. It does have its share of flaws as some of the comedy fails to be funny (mostly due to Amitabh's over the top acting).

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

30 April 1982 (India)

Also Known As:

Loyal Servant

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

171 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color