1979 Indian Hindi-language comedy film by Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Gol Maal (transl. Messed up [or] Hanky Panky) is a 1979 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and written by Rahi Masoom Raza and Sachin Bhowmick. It was produced by N. C. Sippy, with music by R. D. Burman. The film won several awards and was praised by critics.[1]
The film was remade in Tamil as Thillu Mullu (1981), in Kannada as Aasegobba Meesegobba (1990), in Malayalam as Simhavalan Menon (1995), and in Sinhala as Rasa Rahasak.[2] The film was an inspiration for the Hindi movie Bol Bachchan (2012) which was remade in Telugu as Masala (2013).
Plot
Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma, a chartered accountant and singer, lives with his sister Ratna and searches for a job after passing his exams. His uncle Kedar informs him of an opening at his acquaintance Bhavani Shankar's firm called Urmila Traders. Shankar is a man of traditional values who hates modern attire and laments that the youth spends so much time on sports. He also carries an irrational contempt for men without mustaches, whom he considers characterless. Following Kedar's advice, Sharma appears for the interview in a kurta and feigns ignorance about sports, impressing Shankar who hires him immediately. A few days later, he takes leave to watch a hockey match by lying that his mother, who is long dead, has fallen ill. Shankar, who secretly enjoys sports despite preaching against them, attends the same match and spots Sharma. When confronted the next day, Sharma lies again that it was his clean-shaven twin brother, Lakshmanprasad aka Lucky who was at the match, not him.
Bhavani Shankar buys the lie and summons Lucky to teach music to his daughter Urmila. Taking help from his friend Deven, Sharma shaves his mustache and starts living a double life as Lucky- a modern, easy-going man completely opposite to Ramprasad. Urmila immediately takes a liking to him. Sometime later, Bhavani Shankar expresses his wish to meet Sharma's mother. Sharma recruits a socialite, Kamala Srivastava to play the role of his mother. Kamala faces a similar situation when Shankar recognises her real self at a party, and she too lies that she has a twin sister, confusing the man.
Bhavani Shankar notices Urmila's fondness for Lucky, and decides to get her married to Ramprasad instead, whom he considers a better match, upsetting Urmila. Sharma eventually reveals the truth to her, and decides to drop his persona of Lucky. They tell Shankar that Lucky ran away, but Shankar notices Sharma's fake mustache and assumes that Lucky killed and impersonated Ramprasad in order to marry his daughter. He then chases the fleeing Sharma and Urmila in his car but gets arrested. When released, he finds them both married and refuses to accept it until Kedar and Deven explain the situation. In the end, everyone takes a group photograph and we see Bhavani, who has now shaved his mustache.
Soundtrack
The music of the film was composed by R. D. Burman and lyrics were written by Gulzar.
Track listing
Production
Hrishikesh Mukherjee had first selected Rekha to enact the heroine's part, but felt that he would be wasting a talented actress in a film where the hero was the mainstay. He replaced her with Bindiya Goswami. The whole film was shot in 40 working days.[3]
Remakes
David Dhawan's 2002 film Chor Machaaye Shor had many scenes plagiarised from Gol Maal.[8] The 2012 film Bol Bachchan, directed by Rohit Shetty is loosely based on Gol Maal. It was also later remade in Telugu as Masala. The Malayalam movie Ayalvasi Oru Daridravasi had few scenes adapted from Gol Maal. Simhavalan Menon movie is also a remake of this film
