The Great Gambler

This movie is a very special one for Amitabh fans as it is the only good movie in which he plays a set of twins.Other movies where he tried to repeat it namely Mahaan and Toofan,bombed badly. The Great Gambler is a fast paced action thriller which has a taut screenplay and Amitabh in his full form that makes the movie worth watching. The movie starts with Jai(Amitabh) a small time gambler getting engaged in a brawl.As the movie progresses we come to know that he is a great gambler and he always wins the game of cards.Enter bad guy(Madan Puri) who hires Jai to play in his own casino so that he can rob some influential people and later use their services to his own benefit.One such person is Nath(Jagdish Raj) who is working with the intelligence.Jai wins around 75,000 and leaves Mr.Nath bankrupt.Now in order to save himself from disgrace Nath has togive out the secret plan K2 which is actually wanted by Saxena(Utpal Dutt as a humming villain).Saxena has a team of bad men who r Romesh(Prem Chopra),Sethi(Roopesh Kumar) and Marconi(Sujit Kumar).Alongwith them is Romesh's girlfriend Shabnam(Zeenat baby at her best).Due to an internal fight between them Sethi flees to Rome with evidence against Saxena.He contacts the Indian Police who send their trusted man Vijay(Amitabh again) to collect the evidence.Meanwhile Jai is also heading to Lisbon to marry Neetu Singh so that he can win the wealth of her dad(Iftekhar).After a series of action sequences and great location viewing we come to know that Jai and Vijay are twins who got separated in their childhood.They join hands to destroy the evil men and eventually get their respected ladies and their sister(who appears only for 2 and a half scenes). Shakti Samanta is known for his Aradhana and Amar Prem type of movies.He gave many hits with former superstar Rajesh Khanna.So the viewers must be surprised on seeing him direct Khanna's arch-rival Bachchan and that too in and action oriented thriller.Well,for those who do not know Samanta had made some great action stuff like Howrah Bridge, China Town and An Evening In Paris before he made Aradhana. The Great Gambler has shades of both An Evening In Paris and China Town.He has kept the pace of the movie quite fast and aided by a tight screenplay he succeeds in keeping the viewers glued. The locations where the movie is shot are very beautiful The movie boasts of being shot in Cairo,Lisbon,Venice and Rome.The cinematography is excellent.The action sequences form the highlight of the movie and are very well executed. the fight between Amitabh bachchan and Shetty(in a cold storage) is excellent.The music by R.D. Burman is good.The song '' Main Tumko Kya Kahoon....'' is great.But the evergreen ''Do lafzon Ki hai....'' picturised on Amitabh and Zeenat on a boat in Venice is a classic song by all standards.The background score specially the tune when initially Helen and later Zeenat dance while sending secret codes is haunting. The way pyramids,egyptian belle dance,european casinos and Venice are shown in the movie,it has an international look. Amitabh carries the movie very ably on his shoulders. He has looked his best in both the roles.The coats,glasses and shirts he wear go very well with the characters.He acts very naturally and looks very handsome.This is perhaps the only double role film where there is no difference between both the roles.There is absolutely no difference between Jai and Vijay in looks,voice,way of dressing and habits.This leads to some confusion for the viewer as well.Zeenat and Neetu Singh play their part comfortably.Madan Puri,Iftekhar, Om Shiv Puri and Jagdish Raj are adequate in their respective roles. The peculiar and interesting part of the movie is the different type of villainous character namely Saxena,Romesh, Sethi and ofcourse Marconi enacted ably by Utpal Dutt, Prem Chopra,Roopesh Kumar and Sujit Kumar.Utpal Dutt plays an unusual and interesting character Saxena who starts humming tunes even though he is discussing serious topics.Prem Chopra as Romesh is at his menacing best.Roopesh Kumar plays Sethi in a way that it becomes his most famous performance.However it is Sujit Kumar as Marconi, who has an accent and talks funnily, who gets away with the cake with his superb timing. Sujit Kumar was a regular in Shakti Samanta films but this one is really special.Helen shines in a cameo. Another unknown feature about this movie is producer Boney Kapoor shooted for the movie in a fight sequence where he played Amitabh Bachchan's DOUBLE!!! When released in 1979 The Great Gambler met with modest success but it has high repeat value which makes it a must watch for Bachchan fans.Samanta and Bachchan again teamed up for the 1981 blockbuster billingual ''Barsaat Ki Ek Raat''. Still, The Great Gambler although often compared with Don remains a must watch for Samanta's ability to handle an action film with panache and for the class Bachchan generates as JAI and VIJAY.

Best amitabh film....surely way ahead of its time. someone mentioned Salim-javed above but fact is this film has nothing to do with salim- javed. For this film Amitabh was teamed up with a totally different and new team. Location showing pyramids and roman COLOSSEUM were mind blowing. a great visual experience full marks to Shakti Samanta. The dance with codes is terrific.

This film was a thriller and its story is based on international gangsters, Spies and secret agents of different countries' intelligence agencies and their undercover operations. This film had high production values and major portion of this film was shot in international locations including Cairo,Lisbon,Venice,Rome and Goa.

I can only admit what previous reviewers have cited: this movie is also my all time favorite Indian film!

The cocktail of the mind-blowing chemistry between Zeenat and Amitabh, some beautiful songs, especially the fun, the rich background music score, the smart one-liners and a bunch of the 70's great stars, is pure magic and a mix for a high repetitive value.

Zeenat is painting the screen with her presence and performance. She enlightens the story and is really a jewel to watch at, while Amitabh is acting pretty natural. Zeenat's performance as the exotic Arabic belly danseuse keeps the highest x-factor of all time. And the action scene with Jaggu as a butcher trying to hit Amitabh is awesome. I've seen this movie as a 12 years old kid in the Christmas holiday of 1979 and I was impressed by the scene where Zeenat is singing the song 'Do lafzon ki'. Currently, still I am when viewing this again. Modern film has all the special effects to impress. Instead, this one has soul!

I've been extremely exposed to Western influences and have seen many Western & Asian movies from my childhood till today. However, the magic of this movie is never surpassed by any other. The story is simple, nice fast paced with lots of fun. That's why it doesn't feel like a 2.5 hours sit. Very exciting! Shakti Samanta and R.D Burman delivered a real present to the Indian Cinema.

Although this movie is just 30 years old, the current DVD release is a restored old Esquire video print with green shades overall, accompanied by very poor sound quality. And also the English subtitle is very poor. It would be great if DVD releasers do justice to this movie and release the restored original widescreen masterreel of it with re-engineered dolby digital soundtrack.

The Great Gambler review :

One of the rare underperforming films of Bachchan from his peak era, The Great Gambler is a high octane espionage thriller which has Amitabh in a double role - the titular character and his doppelganger secret agent who is out to retrieve a code book from hands of the villain brigade.

Conceived by Shakti Samanta in late 60s with Shammi Kapoor in mind, the director went on to make blockbusters with Rajesh Khanna in early 70s and finally, started his ambitious project with the reigning superstar Amitabh Bachchan in 1977. The film was a mega budget production for its time shot extensively across Europe. The song "Do Lafzon Ki Hai Dil ki Kahaani" was shot on a Gondola in Venice's famous Grand Canal.

Of the cast, Amitabh Bachchan was expectedly brilliant in the double role and he played his Bond like character to the gallery. Total ceetis- worthy performance! Zeenat Aman looked sizzling hot as his female lead. Neetu Singh left an impression even in a small role. Prem Chopra was effective as ever in a villainous role. My personal favourite is of course, Sujit Kumar as the Italiano dude called Marconi who answers the phone with a "Aaloooo" instead of a normal Hello. This character later inspired Chunky Pandey's Aakhri Paasta in the Housefull film series.

Fight master Shetty appears in just one brilliant action scene shot in a mutton cold storage. Its the most thrilling fight of Amitabh Bachchan ever.

My review would be incomplete without the mention of Panchamda RD Burman's excellent music. He made optimum use of Asha Bhosle in the songs - "O Deewana Dil Sambhalo", "Raqqasa Mera Naam" and "Do Lafzon Ki Hai". Her voice suited the sexy Zeenat Aman perfectly.

Despite so many positive factors, The Great Gambler didnt do well at the box office on its initial release. Trade analysts cited two primary reasons for the films failure : One was its title which confused the aam junta that it was an English movie and second, was the A certificate granted by the censors (due to the aforementioned mutton store wala action scene) which limited its audience theatrically.

Amusingly, The Great Gambler was re-released in the 80s as Sabse Bada Juaari and the film became a super hit this time. It also started the trend of Amitabh's old films re-releasing with new titles just to pull in the initial audience.

I recommend The Great Gambler or Sabse Bada Juaari - whatever you wanna call it - to all Amitabh Bachchan fans. Its one of his most underrated works which has the superstar in his asli element. Dont miss!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni

Review By Kamal K

Entertainment at its finest, yeah, the script is not good nor the acting. But THOSE VISUALS!! The plot resources are cheap but function to create a cinematic piece so great in color, action and astonishment that never becomes boring.