These movies are and were part of my weekend binge and therefore very close to my heart. The purpose of these reviews are not to criticize any aspect of this movie. I just want to put it out there. This is the kind of cinema I like.

CHARACTERS

Amol Palekar as Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma (Laxmanprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma )

The protagonist

Bhavani Shankar

Owner of Urmila Traders

Bindiya Goswami as Urmila

David as Doctor Kedar Mama

Deven Verma as himself 

Ramprasad’s best friend

Dina Pathak as Mrs. Kamala Srivastava and Vimla Sharma

Ramprasad/Laxmanprasad’s fake mother

Anjan Srivastav Sharma as Police Officer

The police officer who catches Bhavani Shankar when he’s chasing Ramprasad

Manju Singh as Ratna Sharma

Ramprasad’s sister

Shubha Khote as Kalindi

Bhavani Shankar’s widowed sister, Urmila’s Buaji. 

Yunus Parvez as Bade Babu

The senior clerk at Urmila Traders who likes pulling his hair nose

PLOT SUMMARY

Let me admit. Writing a plot summary is redundant, because I don’t think anyone who watches Bollywood movies would NOT have watched Golmaal. Still, I will do what is needed.

Golmaal is about a man Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma (Amol Palekar) who needs a job. He lives with his younger sister Ratna. He has an uncle who takes it upon himself to get Ram a job and a girl.

Ram tries too hard to impress job interview and says one lies too many. He gets the job and is now required to continue strewing the web of lies that he has created – wearing a fake mustache, short khadi kurta and pajama.

Things go funnily well until Bhavani asks Ram to arrange a music teacher for his daughter Urmi. Now, he cannot meet the heroine in his disguise, right? He would never be able to impress her. So, he goes as his true self and introduces himself as Laxman, Ram’s brother, a total opposite to Ram’s polished “nice boy” image. He also says nasty things to Bhavani Shankar.

Urmi and Ram fall in love. There is a series of hilarious scenes as Ram tries to manage dual identities and then a rib-tickling climax.

For a more trivia, you can read the wikipedia entry for Golmaal (1979 film).

REVIEW

This movie is a legend. It is difficult to review it, or find a fault in it. From the opening title song that introduces Ram, his friends and Ram’s love for music and sports; to the last car chase scene that lands Bhavani Shankar in a police station, every scene is crafted with details and nuances that will keep you smiling.

Some of my favourites are:

• The toilet scene where Ram hijacks the toilet from a man
• Bua ji’s dialogue: Tum yahaN tond pighla rahe ho. WahaN Urmi…
• Vimla’s oft-repeated: JudweN haiN na

I have watched this movie a million times and it still entertains me. This movie, in fact, is what made me search for Hrishikesh Mukherji. I have watched most of his work by now. Thank you, YouTube. 

Shabana Mukhtar