Namak Haraam: Difference between revisions

1973 Indian film

Namak Haraam (transl. Traitor) is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The film stars Rajesh Khanna, Rekha, Simi Garewal and Amitabh Bachchan. It also stars Asrani, Raza Murad, A. K. Hangal, and Om Shivpuri. The music is by R. D. Burman, the screenplay by Gulzar, and lyrics by Anand Bakshi.^[1] Rajesh Khanna received his third BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) in 1974 for this film and Amitabh Bachchan had won his second Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1974.

This was the second Hrishikesh Mukherjee film that starred Khanna and Bachchan after Anand.^[2] “Diye Jalte Hai”, “Nadiya Se Dariya” and “Main Shayar Badnaam” are the most memorable melodies, all rendered powerfully by Kishore Kumar and picturised on Rajesh Khanna,^[3] who won the hearts of millions by his meaningful acting and face impressions. The film proved out to be a box office superhit and was the 5th highest-grossing film of 1973. The film was remade in Tamil as Unakkaga Naan.^[4]

This story concentrates on the rise of unions with the backdrop of Bombay’s textile mills and inflation in the early 1970s.

Two friends, Somu and Vicky try avenge the insult made to Vicky by the union leader of his factory, Somu infiltrates the factory as a worker and later the trade union as its leader. However, Somu is moved by the plight of the workers and is influenced by their ideals, which leads to a confrontation between the two friends. Vicky goes to jail at the end.

In an attempt to recreate the death scene in Anand (1971) and be remembered as a hero, Rajesh Khanna wanted his character to die a heroic death, which was a deviation from Gulzar‘s script. This left Amitabh Bachchan disturbed after he found out about it the day of the shoot, and he never co-starred with Khanna again.^[5][6][7][8] Raza Murad revealed in an interview that at one point while filming, both Khanna and Bachchan were on a call and Mukherjee had the doors locked in order for the shoot to finish on time.^[9][10]