Gol Maal

Gol Maal
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Produced by	N.C Sippy
Written by	Sailesh Dey
Starring	Amol Palekar Utpal Dutt Bindiya Goswami
Music by	R.D. Burman
Cinematography	Jaywant Pathare
Editing by	Subhash Gupta
Release dates	April 19, 1979 (1979-04-19)
Country	India
Language	Hindi/Urdu

Gol Maal (Devnagari: गोल माल, Urdu: گول مال, meaning hodgepodge, confusion) is a 1979 Bollywood comedy movie directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The film was produced by Mukherjee and N.C.Sippy with music by Rahul Dev Burman. The film's music was crafted by Burman to match the timbre of Mukherjee's perception of a subtle, yet complex love story involving the Indian middle class. Along with getting high accolades and praise from several critics, the film became a "Blockbuster" at the box office and gained huge popularity among the masses. Gol Maal, becoming a "Mega Hit" reached the top spot in 1979 in terms of box office collections. The film till now remains as popular and favorite among the audiences as it used to be and is regarded as one of the finest comedy films of Indian Cinema.

Plot

Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma (Amol Palekar) is looking for a better paying 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. Shankar is a weird man. He is a man of traditional values, hence he naturally hates youth wearing modern clothes. He is a sports fan, but thinks lowly of youth knowing anything about sports. But his most weird trait is hatred towards men without moustaches. He thinks that men without moustaches are characterless.

Ramprasad has a moustache. He takes care of other problems by wearing kurta & feigning ignorance about sports. Bhavani hires him immediately. Ram is a hardworking guy, so Bhavani (& Ram) have no problems. However, Ram once 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 also attended 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 & feels bad about accusing him and decides to make amends by hiring Lucky to teach his daughter Urmila (Bindiya Goswami) music. Ramprasad reluctantly shaves his moustache to become Lucky and starts to teach music to Urmila. He is helped by his actor friend Deven Verma (playing himself).

Now Urmila aka Urmi is the exact opposite of her father. She takes immediate liking to Lucky, while Ram is barely noticed by her. Bhavani notices this & 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" & Ratna's mother. Like Ram, she also ends up playing her own twin in front of Bhavani.

Ram decides to tell 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 & impersonated him to marry Urmila.

In a hilarious chase that follows, Bhavani ends up totalling a police jeep. The Senior Inspector (Om Prakash) mistakes him for a thug named Pascal D'Costa & 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 hatred for twin as well.

On coming home, he finds that Urmila & Lucky are married. He refuses to give them blessings, until Dr.Kedar comes to the scene & explains the whole situation. Now, 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) & Bhavani (who is shown without moustache).

Cast

• Amol Palekar - Ramprasad Sharma/ Lakshmanprasad Sharma
• Utpal Dutt - Bhawani Sankar
• Bindiya Goswami - Urmila
• David - Doctor Kedar Mama
• Amitabh Bachchan - Guest Appearance (himself)
• Deven Verma - as himself and Ramprasad's best friend
• Dina Pathak - Mrs. Srivastava and as Ramprasad's fake mother
• Om Prakash - Police Officer (Guest Appearance)
• Anjan Srivastav - Police Officer Sharma
• Keshto Mukherjee - Drunk
• Manju Singh - Ratna Sharma (Ramprasad's sister)
• Shubha Khote - Kalindi aka Buaji
• Yunus Parvez - Bade Babu

Trivia

Hrishikesh Mukherjee had first selected Rekha to enact the heroine's part but felt that he would be wasting a talented actress in film where the hero was the mainstay. He replaced her with Bindya Goswami. The very next year he made Khubsoorat, with Rekha in a pivotal role.

Remakes

• The film was first remade in Tamil cinema as Thillu Mullu in 1981.^[1]
• The second remake was in Kannada cinema in 1990, as Aasegobba Meesegobba which starred Shivrajkumar.^[2]
• The film's Malayalam remake Simhavalan Menon (1995), starred Jagadeesh.^[1]
• The 2012 film Bol Bachchan is loosely based on Gol Maal.^[2]

Awards and nominations

• Filmfare Best Actor Award - Amol Palekar
• Filmfare Best Comedian Award- Utpal Dutt
• Filmfare Best Lyricist Award-Gulzar for the song "Aanewala Pal"
• Filmfare Nomination for Best Director-Hrishikesh Mukherjee
• Filmfare Nomination for Best Supporting Actor-Utpal Dutt
• Filmfare Nomination for Best Supporting Actress-Dina Pathak
• Filmfare Nomination for Best Actor in a Comic Role-Deven Verma
• Filmfare Nomination for Best Story-Sailesh Dey

References

External links

• Gol Maal at the Internet Movie Database