How costly would a India-Pakistan hockey test prove to be? Besides the obvious ticket price, not much you would say.. You cannot imagine how much it cost our protagonist, namely Mr.Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma (Amol Palekar)... To know what it cost him, how it benefited him, how it benefit us.. just read on...
Well, before the incident just mentioned, Ramprasad was a normal Indian youth, sports crazy, waking up early morning to listen to the radio commentary of the Indian cricket series down under, egging Bishen Singh and Prasanna and the others in the spin quartet, while also doing his graduation in commerce.. Eventually the degree exams come around, and Ramprasad passes with first class.. Now, Ramprasad, orphaned at a young age, lives with his unmarried sister and begins his lookout for a well paying job... At this point, his uncle tells him about Bhavani Shankar (Utpal Dutt), the proprietor of Urmila traders, a private firm..
Now, Bhavani is, well, a very strange character.. He hates recommendations, he hates men without moustache, he hates people who do not say their full name, he hates people who love sports or music, or for that matter, anything besides work.. leading Ramprasad to wonder if Bhavani actually liked anything.. So, Ramprasad ends up at Urmila traders for an interview dressed in a very traditional khadi, well oiled hair, denies knowing anything about sports, uses his full name every time and praises his moustache and that of every other man in the world.. In other words, he impresses Bhavani beyond any limits and lands up a very high paying job..
Then, happens the most unfortunate even I described at the start, the India Pakistan hockey test, which fell upon a working day for Ramprasad.. Being the sports fanatic that he is, he cannot ask a half day leave on the basis of the match, that would mean a tragic goodbye to the good paying job.. So his friends decide to phone up the office and tell Ramprasad that his mother (who in actuality had expired long ago), had suddenly fallen ill.. upon which Ramprasad would be able leave office and attend the match.... Well, all that happens and he attends the match..
Unfortunately for Ramprasad, Bhavani is also present at the hockey test and sees him cheering the Indian team.. Well, now you all know how costly a match can prove for someone... So, dawn the next day and Ramprasad is confronted by a very angry Bhavani and facing impeding unemployment, he comes up with an ingenious idea, ... he invents a twin brother, a moustache-less, sports loving, carefree, useless vagabond.. and says that it was the twin whom Bhanavi say the day before...
From here begins a mad caper of mistaken identities.. Now, Bhavani, in order to set things right with Ramprasad, asks Ramprasad to send his brother to his house to teach music to Urmila (Bindiya Goswami), Bhavani’s daughter... So, to make for the moustache-less vagabond twin, Ramprasad has to shave off the foundation of his job and proclaim himself to be Lucky, i.e. Laxmanprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma, and tries his best to rid himself of Bhavani by insulting him on the first meeting, however he ends up unsuccessful on that front, while he succeeds in winning the love of Urmila, who is ignorant of all the goings on...
To complicate things further, Bhavani decides to meet Ramprasad’s mother, who is supposed to be dead.. So, Ramprasad manages to get Kamla(Dina Pathak) to act as his mother.. Add to this an unfortunate event, which makes Kamla invent a twin sister, Vimla and you can understand the kind of confusion I am talking about...
So, we have a Ramprasad who is not the real Ramprasad in character, we have a non-existent Laxmanprasad who is the real Ramprasad in character, we have Urmila who loves a non-existent Lucky but hates the very sight of Ramprasad, we have Bhavani who hates Lucky but praises Ramprasad to the earth’s end.. So how does the confusion dissolve to give some sense to this howlarious plot? Well, it must be watched and seen for the essence of the magic to set it...
Released in 1979, directed by the genius Hrishidaa aka Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Golmaal is undoubtedly the best sitcom ever made in India.. No other movie ever made could even rival the simplicity and the complexity achieved by Golmaal.. Performance-wise, Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt are unbelievable, Amol Palekar is funny and loveable as the confused Ramprasad and as the vagabond Lucky.. while Utpal Dutt is amazing with his eccentric behaviour and his anger, he is just plain great...
The music by R.D.Burman and lyrics by Gulzar may seem wasted in this classic.. But I don’t think so, I still love to pass my lazy Sunday afternoons listening to Kishore Kumar singing that most beautiful melody, Aanewala Pal, Jaane waala hai.. the song will shock you out of your humour and make you ponder over life.. life, as it is in the centre of a great clock, watching the endless seconds ticking away.. with moments and memories thrown in...
Golmaal, was, is and will always remain a classic..