''Dharam-Veer'' is a 1977

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language period

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

, directed by

Manmohan Desai Manmohan Desai (26 February 1937 – 1 March 1994) was an Indian film producer and director. He was one of the most successful filmmakers of the 70s and 80s. Desai was an influential and sought-after film director of Bollywood and a pioneer of ...

, produced by Subhas Desai under the Mehboob Studios and R.K. Studios banner, starring

Dharmendra Dharmendra Kewal Krishan Deol (born 8 December 1935), known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer, and politician who is primarily known for his work in Hindi films. Dharmendra is widely considered one of the greatest, most h ...

Jeetendra Jeetendra (born Ravi Kapoor ; 7 April 1942) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Hindi cinema. He is noted for his acting, style and dance. He has worked in more than Je ...

Zeenat Aman Zeenat Amanullah Khan (born 19 November 1951), known professionally as Zeenat Aman, is an Indian actress and model who mainly works in Hindi films. One of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema, she established herself as one of the highest paid ...

, Neetu Singh and Pran. Its music was composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal.

's younger son

Bobby Deol Vijay Singh Deol (born 27 January 1969), better known by his screen name Bobby Deol, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. A member of the List of Hindi film families#Deol family, Deol family, he is the younger son of actor Dha ...

appears briefly playing the childhood version of his father's character. ''Dharam-Veer'' takes place in a mythical kingdom and tells the tale of

twin brothers Twin Brothers is a Navajo Sandstone mountain in Zion National Park in Washington County, Utah, United States. Description Twin Brothers is situated immediately north of The East Temple, and immediately south of Mountain of the Sun, toweri ...

Dharam and Veer played by Dharamendra and Jeetendra respectively, who get separated at birth but still become best friends in childhood, not knowing that they were real brothers, and later turn against each other due to various conspiracies of the villains and in the end reunite. The film became the second highest-grossing film of 1977.

Plot

Maharani Meenakshi is a princess who, one day while out hunting, is rescued from a handful of attackers by a hunter-warrior Jwala Singh, who lives alone in the jungle, accompanied only by his pet

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

, Sheroo. She offers him a reward for saving her life, but he only wants her hand in marriage, which he had been denied by her father. During the night, they are awoken by another tiger, and Jwala goes to slay it. The tiger kills a villager, and Jwala puts his poncho over him to cover his dead body. He wrestles with the tiger, and they both fall over a cliff. The Princess sees the body of the dead villager, and she thinks it is that of Jwala and goes into shock. Her father eventually marries her off into another royal family. Unbeknownst to Jwala, Meenakshi is pregnant by him. King Satpal Singh, Meenakshi's brother, is told in a prophecy that he will be killed by his eldest nephew, Dharam. In order to prevent this, he pleads poverty and moves in with his sister. The Queen gives birth to a healthy baby boy. Satpal takes the baby, minutes after it is born and tosses it out of a window. Instead of falling to its death, though, the baby is caught by Sheroo, who flies him to his master. Jwala has been injured by a tiger and is being healed by a poor arrowsmith and his wife. They are childless and are pleased when the bird brings the baby, believing it to be a gift. They explain what happened to Jwala when he awakes, and he assents to them keeping the child and raising it as their own. In the meanwhile, we learn that the Queen gave birth to twins, and Satpal only dealt with the firstborn. He is satisfied that the prophecy has been averted and now plans to help himself further by swapping his sister's baby with his own. Whilst he is asleep, though, his wife swaps the children back. As the children grow up, Satpal mistreats his own child, who he believes to be the prince, and dotes on the prince whom he thinks is his own son. The twins grow up. The elder is called Dharam and grows up to be an arrowsmith like his father. The younger, Veer is the crown prince. The boys become best friends and do not realize that this is because they are actually twin brothers. Dharam falls in love with a princess, while Veer wins the heart of a gypsy girl, Rupa. They also meet Jwala Singh, who is the master of swordsmanship. Jwala Singh teaches Dharam the skills of swordsmanship and as a result of Dharam also becomes a master swordsman. Once the truth about his son is revealed to Satpal, he attempts to get rid of Veer. Before doing so, he realizes he must first break the bond between him and his staunchest supporter, Dharam. The Kingdom has "an eye for an eye" as the ultimate law. Dharam's father is accused of shoddily preparing a chariot wheel which caused a soldier to lose his hands. In reality, Satpal and his son Ranjeet sabotaged it. The Queen is forced to chop of Dharam's father's hands in retribution. Dharam vows never to forgive Veer for this. Satpal and his son then kill Dharam's mother and use one of the prince's royal arrows. Dharam finds this and accuses the prince of the murder. In retribution for the mother he has lost, Dharam demands the Queen become his mother. Although Veer strongly protests, the Queen submits, stating that she must be seen to uphold the law or no one will. For this act, Veer begins to bitterly hate Dharam. Veer challenges Dharam to a duel, and Dharam accepts. Satpal and his son know that in this duel, Dharam will kill Veer, and they will get Dharam executed for Veer's murder. Whilst the boys are fighting, the poor blacksmith reveals the story of how Dharam came to him and his wife. He shows the Queen the cloth the baby was wrapped in. The queen realizes that this was, in fact, her own child, who she believed to have been carried off by a falcon. She stops the fight just in time to stop the brothers from killing each other and reveals their relationship. Reunited, the brothers now face the challenge of disposing of the forces that Satpal Singh has gathered together. In the end, Satpal is killed by Dharam.

Cast

as Dharam Singh *

as Young Dharam *

as Veer Singh *

as Rajkumari Pallavi * Neetu Singh as Roopa * Pran as Jwala Singh * Indrani Mukherjee as

Maharani Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a prince. However, in late ancient India ...

Meenakshi * Jeevan as Satpal Singh *

Ranjeet Ranjeet (born as Gopal Bedi; 12 September 1942) is an Indian actor and film director. He has mostly played villain roles in over 200 Hindi films. He has also played a positive character in the TV series '' Aisa Des Hai Mera''. He has also ...

as Ranjeet Singh *

Sujit Kumar Sujit Kumar (7 February 1934 – 5 February 2010) was an Indian actor and producer. He appeared in over 150 Hindi films in the 1960s through the 1990s, and in at least 20 Bhojpuri films. Sujit played the major lead actor in many films in ...

as Rajkumar Sujan Singh * Dev Kumar as Dev Singh *

Pradeep Kumar Pradeep Kumar (4 January 1925 – 27 October 2001) was an Indian actor who is recognized for his work in Hindi, Punjabi and English-language films. (Dinesh RahejaEver the royalRediff.com website, Published 2 June 2003, Retrieved 16 February 2 ...

Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

Pratap Singh * B. M. Vyas as Rajguru * Azad as Azad Singh *

D. K. Sapru Daya Kishan Sapru (16 March 1916 – 20 October 1979), was an Indian actor famed for a variety of character roles in Hindi cinema, particularly villains, judges and aristocrats in crime thrillers and dramas. His most notable performances were in ...

as Maharaja *

Chand Usmani Chand Usmani (3 January 1933 – 26 November 1989) was an Indian actress in Hindi films from the 1950s to the late 1980s. She won the 1971 Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is best remembered for playing self-sacrificing wives an ...

as Roopmati Singh * Neelam as Dhano *Hercules as Ramdin Lohar

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal, and the lyrics were penned by the veteran Anand Bakshi and Vitthalbhai Patel. The soundtrack of the movie proved to be as popular and successful as the movie itself.

Box office

In India, the film grossed . This made it the second highest-grossing film of 1977 at the Indian box office, below ''

Amar Akbar Anthony ''Amar Akbar Anthony'' is a 1977 Indian Hindi-language masala film directed and produced by Manmohan Desai and written by Kader Khan. Released in India on 27 May 1977, the film stars an ensemble cast of Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Amitabh Bac ...

''. Overseas in the United Kingdom, the film had 23 shows in 5 cities. Driven by the success of Mohammad Rafi's songs, the film grossed £50,000 in the UK, equivalent to . Combined, the film grossed an estimated in India and the United Kingdom. In addition, the film sold 32 million tickets in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dharam Veer (Film) 1977 films 1970s Hindi-language films 1970s Indian films Films directed by Manmohan Desai Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal Indian fantasy action films 1970s historical fantasy films 1970s fantasy action films Films about royalty Films set in the British Raj Indian epic films Historical epic films Indian historical fantasy films Indian buddy drama films Indian historical action films Films based on Indian folklore Films about birds Films about princesses Films about princes Films about kings Films about queens Films about brothers Indian action drama films Indian historical drama films 1977 fantasy films