A Força do Destino

As a kid, I loved Haathi Mere Saathi. Today, I'm not particularly eager to revisit it though it's definitely a memorable picture. The film portrays a friendship between a young orphaned and wealthy man and his group of elephants, who had once saved him when he was lost in a jungle. The film was generally well made and several Indian movies were inspired by this story afterwards. The script is well written and the movie has its share of enjoyable moments even if the concept itself is hard to believe. The songs, the proceedings and the development were pretty fun to watch, despite being a bit melodramatic at points. Rajesh Khanna stars as Raj and he is a good hero for this film. This was the year when his performance in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand wowed audiences. His work here does not even deserve a comparison to the latter, but he is the main reason the movie works, and frankly speaking I've never been a big fan of his films and liked very few of his performances. Tanuja is very pretty as his wife. The supporting cast is good but the elephants are those who leave a mark. Their loyalty and wisdom were funny and inspiring at the same time. Haathi Mere Saathi is a nice film. It has many moments of comedy, drama and heartwarming fun, and despite having its flaws, it's worth watching, particularly for lovers of Hindi films.

I decided to watch the film on TV because I understood that it had been extremely famous in Bulgaria in the 1970s and lots of people came out from the cinema crying.So I was curious to see "Haathi Mere Saathi" and I really enjoyed it.

The protagonist is Raj Kumar-a young man whose life had been saved by four elephants when he was a kid.Since then he loves them and doesn't think of them as "animals" but as real "friends".He falls in love with the beautiful Tanu.Unfortunately,Raj Kumar loses his fortune and becomes a poor man.But Tanu follows him and they struggle with life with the help of the faithful elephants.

Yes,the story looks naive.But what's more important is that this film made something that few films are capable of nowadays-it proved the great power of friendship and love in a really touching way.The songs are wonderful and the animals are trained incredibly well.Undoubtedly a highly recommendable film!

Haathi Mere Saathi (1971) : Brief Review -

Rajesh Khanna's biggest blockbuster of the 70s decade is an evergreen emotional rollercoaster. Can animal-based films be such tearjerkers? Pet films have a long history, mostly because they were emotionally appealing. Be it the modern films like Charlie 777 (2022) or Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) or Hollywood's golden era classics like "Lassie Came Home" (1943), animated flick "The Lady and the Tramp" (1955), or coming-of-age drama "Old Yeller" (1957), we all cried while watching these films. But Haathi Mere Saathi has epic "Nafarat Duniya Ko," sung by Mohammed Rafi, man. How can any other film challenge that? The lyrics actually put humans at shame for their inhumanity towards animals. They are more loyal than humans, and that's why the lyricist says, "Pyaar ki duniya me khush rehna mere yaar." This is beyond any emotional experience. Beyond a tearjerker segment. The director has so many things to tell and so beautifully. Tanuja tells Ramu, "Jab tak tu Zinda hai me uss Ghar me wapas nahi aaungi," and she actually returns after he is dead. The doctor says, "Bhagwan pe bharosa rakho," and the next moment you have four elephants bathing Lord Ganesha's idol, and they start praying. Which pet/animal-driven film has such brilliant scenes, tell me? Convincing audiences with such films is the most difficult job, and that's why we don't have many blockbusters made on such topics. HMS tops the list. One of the major reasons was superstar Rajesh Khanna's presence and super hit songs, I agree, but convincing Rajesh Khanna to sign a sort of remake of a flop film in his peak period was a task itself. Writers Salim-Javed, director, and producer not only convinced Kaka but also the audience to make it a blockbuster film. It tells a lot about the impact the film must have left on the public. It just leaves you in so much pain and so many emotions that it just stays in your memory.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Review By Kamal K

There are few movies in industry dedicated to human-animal bonding. Tears roll out by seeing care of Elephants towards the lead actor. The movie depicts the struggle for balance of love for animals and family. Surely this Rajesh Khanna classic is a must watch.

Haathi Mere Saathi is drama film directed by Late M. A. Thirumugam. The film stars Late Rajesh Khanna, Tanuja, late Madan Puri, Late Sujit Kumar and Late K. N. Singh.

Raju becomes very attached to his four elephants after they save his life. His wife, however, fears for her child and tells him that he must choose between the animals and his family.

The film which is one of the most entertaining film and was liked by adults and kids at the time of it's release was also considered as one of the biggest hit of not only Hindi cinema but also of the career of Rajesh Khanna and also paved the way for a new genre in Indian cinema.

The plot of the film is unique at the time the film was made and execution is good. The pace of the film is also good and is supported by some good songs which doesn't effects the pace of the film.

Screenplay of the film is decent but the viewers of current era might feel the film long, exhausting and cliched but the era the film was released it was normal and people loved such films.

Acting is decent and none of them were very impressive nor very disappointed as we have seen them doing similar acting in many films.

All the songs of the film are good specially the title track. Climax and the end of the film is emotional and perfect.

Can be watched once and the children will surely like this film.