Revisiting - Shalimar

This post has been sitting in my drafts page since the last 5 days. A busy weekend and a busier social scene deprived me of my blogging time. Nonetheless, the post.Watching Khamosh yesterday reminded me how much I enjoy old movies. Especially movies that are not pucca commercial masala movies. I was reminiscing the good old days when my parents would sit together on a Sunday afternoon, drinking their coffee and having animated discussions about movies and songs. I vividly remember, I was 12-13 years old when we watched Shalimar together. The movie was stuck in my head for many days, especially the title song. I have been looking for the movie from the past 3 years and I finally found it. I wasted no time in watching it and 2 hours later I had a big satisfied grin on my face!

Film: Shalimar

Cast: Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman, Rex Harrinson, Shammi Kapoor & Others.

Music: R.D. Burman
Director: Krishna Shah


*Spoiler Alert* Plot revealed after Jump.




The Story:

Kumar(Dharmendra) works as a manager in a gambling den . He embezzles funds in the den leading to his suspension. He saves an old man from being shot at and realizes that he was the target and that he has a week's time to repay the money. From the old man's pocket he finds an invitation to Sir John's(Rex Harrison) palace. The palace is the only house on a remote island which has no phones and no electricity. Kumar disguises himself as the old man's son and meets Sir John and his assistant/nurse Sheela(Zeenat Aman) who is his ex-girlfriend. Sheela breaks up with him after she finds him sleeping with another girl after their engagement. Along with him there are 4 other people invited. A mute colonel who lost his leg, a German countess who is a trained trapeze, a mysterious guy who calls himself Romeo & a religious priest Dr. Bukhari(Shammi Kapoor). Sir John reveals that all the people are world class thieves who are responsible for many expensive robberies all around the world. John is suffering from Cancer and he does not have much time to live. He is in possession of a 1400 carat Ruby called Shalimar and wants to present it to the next best thief after he dies.  He challenges them to steal the Shalimar from him. It is not an easy task as the palace is filled with guards, gadgets, closed circuit cameras and lasers.  If any one fails in their attempt to steal they lose their life.Kumar expresses his desire to join. The colonel, trapeze and Dr. Bukhari are killed when they fail in the challenge. Romeo is killed by Sir John after he quit the challenge. Sir John feigns illness to kill all the illustrious thieves. Kumar steals the Shalimar with Sheela's help and a brilliant plan. It is revealed in the climax that Kumar is a special force police officer who was behind these criminals and he and Sheela end up getting married. 

Post Script:

One must applaud the director's vision to make a heist movie with top Bollywood and well known Hollywood  actors. Usually when Hollywood actors work in Hindi movies, it is a blink and miss cameo. Rex Harrison ha s a full length role and he is brilliant. Dharmendra is good and Zeenat is sexy. Shammi Kapoor is loveable. The film is way ahead of it's times. When you see the movie today you end up admiring the setup and the schemes used. It was a major flop but the songs by R.D. Burman are still popular especially Hum Bewafa  and the title song.  

Worth Re-Watching?

Yes, watch it just to see how advanced the movie is for the 70's.