Namak Halaal

Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachan make a great duo in films such as Suhaag and Hum do aur panch, and they return in what is their last appearance together, and they are both funny and fantastic in what is a solid comedy-action entertainer with a strong plot and a great production.

The story: Arjun, a youngster, works at a hotel owned by Raja and serves him faithfully. However, when he learns about a plot to kill Raja, he decides to save him from harm at any cost.

The songs are great, especially Jane E jaaneman, which Parveen Babi sings with style. It's a classic scene. The performances are great all around. Smita Patel shows that she can both do serious and masala films effortlessly.

Review By Kamal K

Comedy at its best. Last Superhit film of Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan. Good performances, good songs, good music by Bappi da. Prakash Mehra-Amitabh combo was alwayz a Blockbuster.

This movie will tell you why Amitabh Bacchan is a one man industry. This movie will also tell you why Indian movie-goers are astute buyers.

Amitabh was at the peak of his domination of Bollywood when his one-time godfather Prakash Mehra decided to use his image yet again. Prakash has the habit of picking themes and building stories out of it, adding liberal doses of Bollywood sensibilities and clichés to it. Zanzeer saw the making of Angry Young Man. Lawaris was about being a bastard and Namak Halal was about the master-servant loyalties.

But then, the theme was limited to move the screenplay through the regulation three hours of song, dance and drama. What comprised of the movie is a caricature of a Haryanavi who goes to Mumbai and turns into a regulation hero. Amitabh's vocal skills and diction saw this movie earn its big bucks, thanks to his flawless stock Haryanvi accent. To me, this alone is the biggest pull in the movie. The rest all is typical Bollywood screen writing.

Amitabh, by now, had to have some typical comedy scenes in each of his movies. Thanks to Manmohan Desai. This movie had a good dose of them. The shoe caper in the party, the monologue over Vijay Merchant and Vijay Hazare's considerations, The mosquito challenge in the boardroom and the usual drunkard scene that by now has become a standard Amitabh fare.

Shashi Kapoor added an extra mile to the movie with his moody, finicky character (Remember him asking Ranjeet to "Shaaadaaaap" after the poisoned cake incident"). His was the all important role of the master while Amitabh was his loyal servant. But Prakash Mehra knew the Indian mind...and so Shashi had to carry along his act with the rest of the movie. It was one character that could have been more developed to make a serious movie. But this is a caper, remember? And as long as it stayed that way, the people came and saw Amitabh wearing a new hat and went back home happy. The end is always predictable, and the good guys get the gal and the bad ones go to the gaol, the age-old theme of loyalty is once again emphasized and all is well that ends well.

So what is it that makes this movie a near classic? Amitabh Bacchan as the Haryanvi. Prakash Mehra created yet another icon in the name of a story. Chuck the story, the characters and the plot. My marks are for Amitabh alone.

Namak Halaal is one of the funniest movies made practically because of Amitabh's comic timing The film is quite new but with some of the same separated-reunited theme along with vixens, grandfathers, lovers and villains

Amitabh plays a country bumpkin who is told by his Daddu (Om Prakash) to be faithful to the hand that feeds you Amitabh gets a job with Shashi Kapoor and falls in love with Smita Patel who also works with Shashi Kapoor Ranjeet and his dad try to kill Shashi but always fail because of Amitabh

This film is good for Amitabh's acting at his best If you get a chance watch it

Namak Halaal review :

"E lo kar lo baat Babuji, Aisi Angrezi ave hain ke I can leave Angrez behind.

You see sir, I can talk English, I can walk English, I can laugh English Because English is a very phunny language".

This iconic dialogue evoked laughter galore in theatres and transformed the film's hero in to a one man show. Earlier in the '60s and '70s, Bollywood needed a Mehmood or a Rajendra Nath for the comedy track which would run parallel to the main plot. Not anymore!! Superstar Amitabh Bachchan changed the trend and how!! Now the hero would not just sing songs and bash up the villains but he would tickle the audience to lol as well.

Namak Halaal, directed by Prakash Mehra, is Bachchan show all the way. As Arjun Singh, he becomes a one man show stealer - almost a standup entertainer to his audience. Its not that others dont matter here. There is Shashi Kapoor as Big B's employer cum dost and the beautiful Smita Patil as his colleague cum love interest. And yup, who can forget the charming Parveen Babi singing "Raat baaki baat baaki" to an enchanted audience.

Namak Halaal is an out and out masala entertainer blending action, emotion, comedy and drama to perfection which Prakash Mehra was known for in his hey days. His films provided wholesome entertainment for all ages and appealed to class as well as mass audience.

The typical lost and found formula was peppered with awesome music score by Bappi Lahiri. Coming to the much heralded eleven and half minutes 'Pag ghungroo bandh' song, Kishore Kumar is at his best here and Amitabh is equally brilliant performing it on screen. In another chartbuster, Amitabh and Smita Patil literally scorched the screen in the rain number 'Aaj rapat jayen'. The song is so sensous but never vulgar.

Namak Halaal remains my personal favourite Bachchan film. It not only proved his versatility as an actor but re-affirmed his superstar status at the box office. Having seen it multiple times on TV, I watched it recently in a Sunday afternoon re-run at New Excelsior, Mumbai and trust me, the film cheered me just like before. Something lasts forever!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.