''Ram Lakhan'' is a 1989 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

-language

masala film Masala films of Indian cinema mix multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. They also tend to b ...

directed by Subhash Ghai and written by Anwar Khan with screenplay by Ram Kelkar. ''Ram Lakhan'' stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

Raakhee Raakhee Gulzar (born Rakhee Majumdar on 15 August 1947 and known as Raakhee) is an Indian actress who has appeared in many Hindi films and Bengali films as well. In four decades of acting, she has won three Filmfare Awards and one National Fil ...

Jackie Shroff Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, besides television and international films and television. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a producer, Kap ...

Dimple Kapadia Dimple Kapadia (born 8 June 1957) is an Indian actress predominantly appearing in Hindi films. Born and raised in Mumbai by wealthy parents, she aspired to become an actress from a young age and received her first opportunity through her father ...

Madhuri Dixit Madhuri Dixit Nene (née Dixit; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. A leading actress of Indian cinema, she has appeared in over 70 films. Noted by critics for her beauty, dancing skills, and character ...

and

Amrish Puri Amrish Puri (22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005) was an Indian actor, who was one of the most notable and important figures in Indian cinema and Theatre. He acted in more than 450 films, established himself as one of the most popular actor ...

in lead roles. The supporting cast includes

Paresh Rawal Paresh Rawal (born 30 May 1955) is an Indian actor, comedian, film producer and politician known for his works notably in Hindi films, and Telugu, and a few Gujarati and a few Tamil films. He has appeared in over 240 films and is the recipie ...

, Anupam Kher,

Gulshan Grover Gulshan Grover (born 21 September 1955) is an Indian actor and producer who has appeared in over 100 films. He is popularly known as the "Bad Man" of Bollywood because of his ability to create an impact with his negative roles in films. Early ...

Saeed Jaffrey Saeed Jaffrey (8 January 1929 – 15 November 2015) was a British-Indian actor. His career covered film, radio, stage and television roles over six decades and more than 150 British, American, and Indian movies. During the 1980s and 1990s he wa ...

and

Satish Kaushik Satish Chandra Kaushik (born 13 April 1956) is an Indian actor, director, producer, comedian and screenwriter. Early life Satish was born on 13 April 1956 in Mahendragarh, Haryana. He graduated from Kirori Mal College, Delhi in 1972. He is a ...

. Music of the film was initially supposed to be composed by R. D. Burman, but later after recording 2 songs, he was replaced by

Laxmikant–Pyarelal Laxmikant–Pyarelal were an Indian composer duo, consisting of Laxmikant Shantaram Patil Kudalkar (1937–1998) and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (born 1940). He is known by the nickname “Pyromaniac” due to his flaming style of music. Laxmikan ...

, while

Anand Bakshi Anand Bakshi (21 July 1930 – 30 March 2002) was an Indian poet and lyricist. He was nominated for the Filmfare award for Best lyricist a total of 40 times, resulting in 4 wins. Early life Anand Bakshi (Bakshi Anand Prakash Vaid) was bor ...

penned the lyrics. Ghai also did a special appearance in the song "Tera Naam Liya Tujhe Yaad Kiya". Made on a budget of including production and marketing costs, ''Ram Lakhan'' was released theatrically on 27 January 1989 on the

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially ca ...

weekend. The film emerged as a major critical and commercial success and earned worldwide, becoming the second highest grossing Bollywood film of 1989. Considered as Ghai's best work till date, ''Ram Lakhan'' has attained a

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

status over the years and is still remembered for its cast, direction and soundtrack. Kapoor's performance as Lakhan was much loved and is regarded as one of his best roles; the song "My Name Is Lakhan" filmed on him has become his trademark and signature song. At the 35th Filmfare Awards, ''Ram Lakhan'' received 9 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Ghai) and Best Music Director (Laxmikant–Pyarelal), and won 2 awards – Best Supporting Actress (Raakhee) and Best Comedian (for both Kher and Kaushik).

Plot

Sharda is happily married in a rich household to Thakur Pratap Singh and they have two young sons, Ram and Lakhan. Pratap's father Veer shows mercy to his nephews Bhishambar and Bhanu after they serve jail time for siphoning the family wealth. Veer is tricked into signing a will that deprives Pratap, Sharda, Ram, and Lakhan of the ok wealth and right to even live in the manor's premises. Veer is then killed in a car bomb. Pratap refuses to bow down to cruel Bhishambar after finding out their master plan; he is later severely beaten up, stabbed brutally, and left on a nearby railway track to be cut to pieces by the next passing train, leaving behind Sharda, Ram, and Lakhan. Sharda vows to avenge Pratap’s death and hopes will get it by visiting the temple every day, praying for justice. She talks about when her sons grow up and ultimately destroy Pratap’s assailants, and it is then and then only that she will disperse Pratap's ashes.

20 years later

Ram is now the police inspector, being the major obstacle in Bhishambar's illegal activities. He is also in love with Geeta, the daughter of commissioner Arun Kashyap. Lakhan is the fun-loving millionaire, precocious young man, still living in Ram's shadow and Sharda's love. When Lakhan finds out there is a big reward for the arrest of notorious gangster Kesariya Vilayti, he single-handedly captures him and claims the reward. Thinking police work is quite easy, Lakhan applies for the job, begins training, and eventually becomes an inspector also. He too seeks to use this to woo his childhood sweetheart Radha and deal with her stingy, eccentric but easily fooled father, Deodhar Shastri. Sharda heads on a religious pilgrimage. When she returns, she finds that Ram and Lakhan have quarreled and no longer speak with each other based on their ideological differences. Lakhan uses his power to make extra money in an attempt to raise his clout so he can take revenge against Bhishambar and Bhanu. While Ram creates obstacles for Bhishambar, Lakhan joins his gang and is on their payroll. However, after he is tricked by Bhishamber and the ruthless, womanizing, and dastardly Sir John, Ram has to come to terms and save him and finish what was once started.

Cast

as Inspector Ram Pratap Singh: Sharda and Thakur Pratap’s elder son; Lakhan's elder brother; Geeta's lover *

as Sub-Inspector Lakhan Pratap Singh: Sharda and Thakur Pratap’s younger son; Ram's younger brother; Radha's lover *

as Sharda Pratap Singh: Thakur Pratap’s wife; Ram and Lakhan's mother *

as Geeta Kashyap: Arun's daughter; Ram's lover *

as Radha Shastri: Deodhar's daughter; Lakhan's lover *

as Bhishambar Nath: Thakur Pratap’s cousin; Bhanu's elder brother; Nirmala's husband *

as Kesariya Vilayati / Badman *

as Bhanu Nath: Thakur Pratap’s cousin; Bhishambar's younger brother * Anupam Kher as Deodhar Shastri: Radha's father *

as Arun Kashyap: Geeta's father *

Raza Murad Raza Murad (born 23 November 1950) is an Indian actor who appears primarily in Hindi films. He has over 250 Bollywood film credits. Murad has also appeared in Bhojpuri and other regional-language films and on Hindi television. Early life He ...

as Sir John *

Dalip Tahil Dalip Tahil (born as Dalip Tahilramani; 30 October 1952) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor. He studied at Sherwood College in Nainital, India. After attending Aligarh Muslim University for a year, he graduated from St. Xavier's ...

as Thakur Pratap Singh: Veer's son; Bhishambar and Bhanu's cousin; Sharda's husband; Ram and Lakhan's father *

Annu Kapoor Annu Kapoor (born Anil Kapoor; 20 February 1956) is an Indian actor, singer, director, radio disc jockey, and television presenter who has appeared in over a hundred films, as well as television series. His career has spanned over 40 years as ...

as Shivcharan Mathur * Anirudh Agarwal as Jeeva *Sonika Gill as Vivia *Anand Balraj as Debrath Nath / Debu *

Mukri Mohammed Umar Mukri (5 January 1922 – 4 September 2000), popularly known as Mukri, was an Indian actor, who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. Born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Uran, in Kokani Muslim Family. He started his film career with t ...

as Dhondu Nai *Lalita Kumari as Nirmala Bhishambar Nath: Bhishambar's wife *

Subhash Ghai Subhash may refer to: People * Subhash Agarwal, Indian professional player and coach of English billiards and snooker * Subhash Awchat (born 1960), Indian artist and author based in Mumbai * Subhash Bapurao Wankhede (born 1963), Indian politician ...

as Manmohan Mhatre (special appearance in song "Tera Naam Liya Tujhe Yaad Kiya") *

as Kanshiram Dey *Lahiri Singh as Veer Pratap Singh: Thakur Pratap’s father; Sharda's father-in-law; Bhishambar and Bhanu's uncle; Ram and Lakhan's grandfather * Mukesh Rawal as Mukund Trivedi: Lakhan's friend

Track list

The soundtrack was composed by

and the lyrics written by

. The songs were extremely popular and remain popular even today. The cathy numbers like "My Name Is Lakhan" and "tera naam liya, tujhe yaad kiya" were playing almost in every street in Northern India, the album also includes melodious and soulful tracks like "O Ram ji! bada dukh deena" with mythological cannotations and the title track "mere do Anmol Ratan" .

Awards

; 35th Filmfare Awards: Won * Best Supporting Actress –

* Best Comedian – Anupam Kher and

(tie) Nominated * Best Film – Ashok Ghai * Best Director –

* Best Music Director – Laxmikant Pyarelal * Best Male Playback Singer –

Mohammed Aziz Mohammed Aziz (born as Sayeed Mohammed Aziz-Un-Nabi; 2 July 1954 – 27 November 2018), also known as Munna (Name Given By Legendary Music Composer Akshaya Mohanty, was an Indian multilingual playback singer who primarily sang for the Bollywoo ...

– "My Name is Lakhan" * Best Female Playback Singer –

Anuradha Paudwal Anuradha Paudwal (born 27 October 1954) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema. She has been described in media as one of the most prominent Bhajan singer and also as one of the most successful playback singers of ...

for "Bekhabar Bewafa" * Best Female Playback Singer –

for "Tera Naam Liya"

References

External links

* {{Subhash Ghai 1980s Hindi-language films 1980s masala films 1989 films Fictional portrayals of the Maharashtra Police Films directed by Subhash Ghai Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal