Ram Balram (1980/I)

Director:

Vijay Anand

Writers:

Vijay Anand (screenplay)
Vijay Anand (story)
(more)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Romance | Crime

Plot:

Ram and Balram are 2 young boys who live with their loving parents. Their scheming uncle, Jagatpal, however kills the boy's father and mother...

Plot Keywords:

Smuggler | Mechanic | Police Inspector | Scheme | Revenge

Cast

Zeenat Aman	...	Madhu
Rekha	...	Shobha
Ajit	...	Jaggu / Chowdhary Jagatpal Singh / Baba
Prem Chopra	...	Chandan Singh
Sujit Kumar	...	Daku Satarawala
Amjad Khan	...	Suleiman Seth
Helen	...	Tara Bai
Urmila Bhatt	...	Saraswati
Utpal Dutt	...	Prof. Saran
Ranjan	...	Thekedar Bhanwari
Asit Sen	...	Police Constable A.K. Mukherjee
Mohan Sherry	...	Police Commissioner Gupta
Madhup Sharma
Bharat Kapoor	...	Chandarbhan
Lalita Kumari	...	Gangubai
Master Lucky	...	Young Ram
Master Sandeep
Subroto Mahapatra	...	Pintoo Seth (as Subroto Mahapatre)
Kirti
Oscar
Ranjit Sood
Gopal Bhatnagar
Jaswant Singh
Shefali
Meghdoot
Moolchand		(as Mulchand)
Nazneen	...	Guest Appearance
Dharmendra	...	Ram / Bholuram
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Police Inspector Balram Singh

Directed by
Vijay Anand

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Vijay Anand		screenplay
Vijay Anand		story
Kamleshwar		dialogue
Kamleshwar		screenplay

Produced by
Tito	....	producer

Original Music by
Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar		(as Laxmikant)
Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma		(as Pyarelal)

Cinematography by
Fali Mistry

Film Editing by
Vijay Anand

Production Design by
B.S. Juneja

Art Direction by
T.K. Desai

Makeup Department
Abdul Rahim	....	assistant makeup artist (as Rahim)
Raju	....	makeup artist
Ram	....	assistant makeup artist (as Ram Dada)
Vijay	....	assistant makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
D. Kumar	....	chief assistant director
Swaroop Kumar	....	assistant director
Nirankar Mehra	....	assistant director

Art Department
Abhitkar	....	assistant art director
Bhaskar L. Deokar	....	assistant art director (as Bhaskar Deokar)

Sound Department
Mangesh Desai	....	sound re-recordist
Jyoti Dhawan	....	sound assistant
Kishore S. Rane	....	audiographer (as K.S. Rane)
Gopal Sinha	....	sound assistant
Kuldip Sood	....	associate sound re-recordist

Special Effects by
Harrish Bhakhri	....	main titles
Dahyabhai Patel	....	special effects (as Dahyabhai)
Gordhanbhai Patel	....	special effects (as Gordhanbhai)

Visual Effects by
Anthony Fernandes	....	fire works (as Anthony)
Francis Fernandes	....	fire works (as Francis)

Stunts
Jaswant	....	assistant fights
A. Mansoor	....	stunt director: thrills

Camera and Electrical Department
Hassan Ali	....	assistant electrician (as Hasan)
Raiz Ali	....	assistant electrician (as Rais Ali)
Allaudin	....	assistant electrician
Ansar	....	assistant electrician
S.R. Dabholkar	....	chief assistant camera
Mohan	....	assistant electrician
Kulwant Singh	....	assistant electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ramkrishna	....	assistant dress (as G. Ramkrishna)
Shankar	....	dressman (as Shanker)

Editorial Department
Achyut Gupte	....	color consultant (as A.Y. Gupte)
Kirti Kamble	....	assistant editor
Raju Naik	....	associate editor

Music Department
Asha Bhosle	....	playback singer
Robin Chatterjee	....	song recordist
Gorakh	....	assistant music
Kaleem	....	assistant song recordist
Dilraj Kaur	....	playback singer
Kishore Kumar	....	playback singer
Lata Mangeshkar	....	playback singer
Vasant Mudaliar	....	song recordist
Mohammad Rafi	....	playback singer (as Mohammed Rafi)
Shashikant	....	assistant music
Suhas	....	assistant song recordist
A.N. Tagore	....	assistant song recordist (as Tagore)

Other crew
Mukul Agarwal	....	production executive
Vijay Anand	....	presenter
Ashok	....	production assistant
Manas Biswas	....	production assistant (as Vishwas)
Dinesh	....	production assistant
Iqbal	....	production assistant
Kishan	....	production assistant
Kusha	....	production assistant
Ram Lagan	....	production assistant
William Lava	....	production assistant
Michael	....	production assistant
Pir Mohd	....	production assistant (as Mohammed)
Narayan	....	production assistant
Naseem	....	production assistant
Gopal Pandey	....	public relations officer
Suresh Prasad Singh	....	production controller
Umakant	....	production assistant
Oscar Unger	....	choreographer (as Oscar)
Vijay	....	choreographer

Thanks
Fali Mistry	....	film dedicated to (as Shri Fali Mistry)

Production Companies

• Navjeevan Productions

Other Companies

• Belga Restaurant  catering
• Bombay Port Trust  acknowledgement
• Ceat Tyres of India  acknowledgement
• Collector of Customs, Bombay  acknowledgement
• F & B Equipments  outdoor equipments (as F & B Film Equipments)
• Goa Police  acknowledgement
• H.M.V.  discs
• Hiren Industrial Corporation  acknowledgement
• Hotel Oberoi Palace  acknowledgement (as Oberoi Hotels, Srinigar)
• Image  stills
• Ketnav Dubbing and Preview Theatre  dubbing (as Ketnav)
• Motion Picture Equipment Service  outdoor equipments (as Motion Picture Equipments)
• Navjeevan Equipments  outdoor equipments
• Rajkamal Kala Mandir  re-recording (as Rajkamal Kalamandir)
• Shri Krishna Films  outdoor equipments (as Shree Krishna Films)
• Socoin Shipping Agency  acknowledgement
• T.N. Industries  outdoor equipments
• The Indian Air Force  acknowledgement (as Indian Airforce)
• The Taj Group of Hotels  acknowledgement
• Vasant Gandhi & Co  junior artiste supplier

Also Known As:

Ram and Belram

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

India:U

Company:

Navjeevan Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Soundtrack:

Ab toh ram hi jaan bachaaye

Good...in a way.

Okay, I guess if you're a Dharmendra or an Amitabh fan...and if you were really impressed with Sholay (like me), you should see this movie.

Jagatpal (Ajit) causes a misunderstanding between two brothers who he claims as relatives (but obviously not). While they were arguing, Ajit shoots both of them from the window, and frames them for murdering each other. Meanwhile he kills Ram's mother Saraswati who also raises her brother in-law's son Balram as her own (supposedly, but she pops up at the end somehow). Jagatpal forcefully raises Ram to be a thief, and Balram to be educated without the accompaniment of his brother/cousin. He does this with sharp-pointy objects on the ends of his crutches...if they don't listen he threatens to stab them.

Ram (Dharmendra) ends up being a car mechanic, and Balram (Amitabh Bachchan) ends up being a police officer. Jagatpal shares his plan, for Ram to be the best smuggler, and for Balram to be the best police officer. Balram tries to argue, but those annoying pointy things are once again a threat.

The first half of the movie (excluding the evilness of their evil uncle) was pretty entertaining ~ Dharmendra and Amitabh are first shown together and then shown in different scenes separately to show the differences and similarities in their life. Balram falls in love with Shoba (Rekha - a good couple I must say) and Ram falls in love with Madhu (Zeenat - she is very ugly in this movie and her a Dharam don't match). The part where they display their own girls to each other is pretty funny.

But I mean the VIOLENCE is just TOOOO much! I watch action movies, but this was ridiculous! After the first half, one who is watching this movie won't even be able to see the nice acting of the Dharmendra and Amitabh! It's like shooting and blowing up things all the time. And Jagatpal's evilness gets to be too much. It's hard to believe that it was so hard for toughies like Dharmendra and Amitabh to beat up a cripple.

I only rate it a nine because I am an ardent fan of Dharmendra as well as Amitabh and I wasn't particularly disappointed with their powerful performance combo. I recommend this movie if you like the actors, and if you're a fan of Laxmikant Pyarelal who made good songs (like Ek Rasta, Hama Maafi Dai Do, Yaar Ki Khabar, and Ladki Pasand). But if you're not then don't waste your time. I was thoroughly angry with Vijay Anand's violent and perverted direction.

Stick with Sholay.