Namak Haraam

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

1.9K

YOUR RATING

Somnath (Somu) lives in a shanty house in a Delhi slum with his widowed mom, and unmarried sister, Sarla. He is friendly with Calcutta-based wealthy Vikram (Vicky) Maharaj. When Vicky's dad, Damodar, has a heart attack and is advised to take bed-rest for two months, Vicky fills in his father's shoes, has a confrontation with a senior employee and union leader, Bipinlal Pandey, which results in a strike. His father intervenes, asks Vicky to apologize to Bipinlal, which Vicky does, and everything returns to normal. Vicky confides about his humiliation with Somu, and both conspire to teach Bipinlal a lesson. As a result, Somu accompanies Vicky to Calcutta, gets a job as a laborer in his mill, befriends his fellow-workers, gets some monetary relief to injured workers, amongst other benefits, is elected as the union leader replacing Bipinlal. With Somu as the union leader and Vicky as the boss there is no stopping these two - until Damodar finds out and decides to put a stop to Vicky being influenced by Somu's middle-class ideas and ideals. Damodar starts a chain of events that get out of control, events that may well see the death of one of the friends at the hands of the other. Will Vicky's and Somu's friendship see them through or will it also be a casualty?

Play trailer1:17

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Drama

Somnath (Somu) lives in a shanty house in a Delhi slum with his widowed mom, and unmarried sister, Sarla. He is friendly with Calcutta-based wealthy Vikram (Vicky) Maharaj. When Vicky's dad,... Read allSomnath (Somu) lives in a shanty house in a Delhi slum with his widowed mom, and unmarried sister, Sarla. He is friendly with Calcutta-based wealthy Vikram (Vicky) Maharaj. When Vicky's dad, Damodar, has a heart attack and is advised to take bed-rest for two months, Vicky fills i... Read allSomnath (Somu) lives in a shanty house in a Delhi slum with his widowed mom, and unmarried sister, Sarla. He is friendly with Calcutta-based wealthy Vikram (Vicky) Maharaj. When Vicky's dad, Damodar, has a heart attack and is advised to take bed-rest for two months, Vicky fills in his father's shoes, has a confrontation with a senior employee and union leader, Bipinla... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

1.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 1:17

Namak Haraam (1973) Trailer

Photos11

+ 8

User reviews19

7.21.8K

Featured reviews

10sanjay0864

Two of the greatest performances of Indian cinema.

Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachan put in two of the best performances of Indian cinema. Although Amitabh Bachan in a louder role got more praise from the masses, it is Rajesh Khanna in a role that required underplaying, who is the heart of the film and whose acting performance is as good if not better than that of Amitabh. This is not to say that Amitabh puts in a truly great acting performance (one of his best). The film itself is excellent and is another tribute to the greatness and versatility of Hrishikesh Mukherjee (director). Quite simply put, it is in the 'MUST NOT MISS' category. By the way the excellent music is also a real plus.

7harrissajjids

I am impressed

I have just seen the movie Namak Haraam. I am stunned. I cannot understand why this movie is ignored on TV channels. It has everything which makes a movie great. It has story, drama, enchanting songs and above all amazing performance by two great actors Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh. The story is predictable but the plot and presentation make it absorbing. It has some occasions to shed tears also. Character study of Amitabh and Rajesh is quite deep. Both the actors are my favourites. Amitabh with his imposing style and Rajesh with his soft loving style of acting are two poles apart. But they fit like gems in their respective characters. This movies has become my top five favourites of Rajesh Khanna with Dushman, Amar Prem, and Anand.

10alokc

an excellent movie

Namak Haraam is about two friends and how gradually social status comes in between them but they remain friends and sacrifice for each other. This Hrishikesh Mukherjee movie had some excellent music by R D Burman. Whereas in Anand, Amitabh had a small role here he has a parallel role against the Super Star Rajesh Khanna and both have done their role well. Amitabh has a loud role as against the soft role of Superstar and thus Amitabh got noticed in the movie. This is the second and last time that Rajesh and Amitabh acted in a movie ever. However, the movie is a classic epic and tale of two friends which is a must see for both Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan fans and here they will be able to make out what Super Star Rajesh Khanna was all about - the best emotional and romantic hero in India ever.

10sanjaykkhanna

Movie Gold

Two of the ALL time bests on the screen together. Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan and the music of RD Burman and the voice of Kishore Kumar. Excellent writing. Magic like this is gone forever.

9IPyaarCinema

Classic

Review By Kamal K

This film brilliantly depicts the economic depression era of the 70s through the legends such as Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. How well the bad condition of workers has been shown through the medium of Friendship of two persons. It is a must watch film for each and every Indian and hats of to Hrishikesh Da and other actors who excelled in their respective works.

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Trivia
When the film started shooting in 1972, Rajesh Khanna was a super star with barely any dates to spare while Amitabh was free and had nothing but dates. Seeing the situation, Hrisihikesh Mukherjee decided to shoot most of Amitabh's solo scenes with out Rajesh Khanna. When the under production film was shown to the film distributors, they naturally felt Amitabh was the main lead of the film with Rajesh Khanna in a special appearance. They did not want to buy the film despite it being a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film. Finally one distributor told Mukherjee that his "hero" looked like a ape with that hair cut. He went on to add that he should get a hair cut so they could see if he had any ears. When Zanjeer released and was declared a block buster, that very distributor wanted Amitabh's role to be increased and demanded Amitabh be given equal prominence as Rajesh Khanna in the film's poster's