The Great Gambler

The Great Gambler
The Great Gambler
	Film poster
Directed by	Shakti Samanta
Written by	C. J. Pavri (adaptation); Vrajendra Gaur (dialogues)
Screenplay by	Shakti Samanta; Ranjan Bose
Story by	Vikramaditya (Bengali novel)
Produced by	C. V. K. Shastri
Starring	Amitabh Bachchan; Zeenat Aman; Neetu Singh
Cinematography	Aloke Dasgupta
Edited by	R. P. Bapat; Pran Mehra
Music by	R. D. Burman
Release date	6 April 1979;
Running time	163 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

The Great Gambler is a 1979 Indian crime action film directed by Shakti Samanta. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Neetu Singh. It was based on the Bengali novel Great Gambler by Vikramaditya.

The film's story is based on international gangsters, spies, and secret agents of different countries' intelligence agencies and their undercover operations. This film had high production costs with a significant portions of it being shot in international locations including Cairo, Lisbon, Venice and Rome, and in India, many scenes were shot in Goa. The film was a box office average on initial release due to high distribution price but has been widely appreciated for its action, direction, and cinematography. Later it became profitable on repeat releases and attained cult status.^[2]^{[better source needed]}

Plot[edit]

Jay is an expert gambler, has been for as long as he can remember and has never lost a game. These skills bring him to the attention of the underworld don Ratan Das, who is interested in hiring him to win large amounts of money from rich people and then influencing them into doing whatever he wants. Jay agrees to do so and plays successfully, though unknowingly to entrap Nath, who works for the government. After losing large amounts of money, he is blackmailed into revealing the blueprints of a top-secret military laser weapon that can hit any target within 50 miles and is wanted by an underworld don named Saxena. When the Indian police come to know of this, they assign the case to Inspector Vijay, who is a lookalike of Jay.

Jay and Vijay's paths are soon intertwined when they both travel to Rome with separate missions. Vijay is sent to retrieve the evidence against underworld don Saxena by one of his former henchman and Jay is onto a money-making scheme where he would marry Mala to inherit her money. Mala, however, meets Vijay at the Rome airport and Vijay decides to go along with this to find out who his lookalike is. Jai meets Shabnam, a club dancer who mistakes him for Vijay and was sent by Saxena to stop him on his mission to discover Saxena's plans. It is later revealed that Jay and Vijay are actually long-lost twin brothers and together they team up to stop Saxena from retrieving the laser weapon.

Cast[edit]

Amitabh Bachchan as Jay / CID Inspector Vijay (Double Role)
Zeenat Aman as Shabnam
Neetu Singh as Mala
Prem Chopra as Ramesh / Abbasi
Madan Puri as Ratan Das
Sujit Kumar as Marconi
Utpal Dutt as Mr. Saxena
Roopesh Kumar as Sethi
Helen as Monica
Iftekhar as Deepchand
Jagdish Raj as Nath
Om Shivpuri as CID Head Sen Verma

Production[edit]

Amjad Khan was initially cast as the character Saxena; due to a road accident, he was unable to continue, and was replaced by Utpal Dutt.^[3]

Music[edit]

All lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi. Music was composed by R. D. Burman.

No.	Title	Singer(s)
1.	"O Deewanon, Dil Sambhalo"	Asha Bhosle
2.	"Tum Kitne Din Baad Mile"	Asha Bhosle
3.	"Raqqasa Mera Naam, Ae Sahib Sabko Salaam"	Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi
4.	"Pehle Pehle Pyar Ki Mulaqaten Yaad Hai"	Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle
5.	"Do Lafzon Ki Hai Dil Ki Kahani"	Asha Bhosle, Sharad Kumar

The song "Do Lafzon Ki Hai Dil Ki Kahani" was shot on a Gondola in Venice's Grand Canal.^[4]

References[edit]

^ Dhanagare, Shridhar [@SDhanagare] (21 February 2020). "@AneetaRadoja Shalimar was based on the book by Manohar Malgaonkar adapted by Krishna Shah. The Great Gambler was also based on a Bengali novel by Vikramaditya. That's why they were scripted well. Both the roles Suited Zeenat Aman and she did them extremely well (both having a twist) https://t.co/8NkZRYenhg" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2022 – via Twitter.
^ "39 Years of The Great Gambler; 06/04/1979 | by Bollywoodirect | Medium". 6 April 2018.
^ "Amjad Khan named Amitabh Bachchan 'Shorty' during Sholay, Big B filled in for his family after life-threatening accident". The Indian Express. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
^ Pandya, Sonal. "40 years of an Italian romance with 'Do Lafzon Ki Hai Dil Ki Kahaani'". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.

External links[edit]

The Great Gambler at IMDb

[1] Dhanagare, Shridhar [@SDhanagare] (21 February 2020). "@AneetaRadoja Shalimar was based on the book by Manohar Malgaonkar adapted by Krishna Shah. The Great Gambler was also based on a Bengali novel by Vikramaditya. That's why they were scripted well. Both the roles Suited Zeenat Aman and she did them extremely well (both having a twist) https://t.co/8NkZRYenhg" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2022 – via Twitter.

[2] "39 Years of The Great Gambler; 06/04/1979 | by Bollywoodirect | Medium". 6 April 2018.

[3] "Amjad Khan named Amitabh Bachchan 'Shorty' during Sholay, Big B filled in for his family after life-threatening accident". The Indian Express. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2022.

[4] Pandya, Sonal. "40 years of an Italian romance with 'Do Lafzon Ki Hai Dil Ki Kahaani'". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.

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