Classic Comedy GOL MAAL completes 26 years

26 Years back on 19, April, 1979, eminent filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s GOL MAAL was released, a movie regarded as a milestone in comedy genre. 

The movie till date remains a tour de force and has inspired many filmmakers to make comedies. The biggest compliment for the movie is that it has been remade in all the south language viz. THILLU MULLU (Tamil) in 1981 with Thalaiva Rajnikanth playing the dual role to perfection. Interestingly in 2013 it was again remade in Tamil by the same name! It was remade in Kannada as AASEGOBBA MEESEGOBBA (1990) and as SIMHAVALAN MENON (1995) in Malayalam. Speaking about Bollywood it was remade as BOL BACHCHAN (2012)

However what may stun readers is that the movie that has been super hit in whichever language it was made was declared a flop on day one! According to its lead actor Amol Palekar when the movie was released in 1979, it had opened to a lukewarm response because that was an action era dominated by Superstar Amitabh Bachchan. However with the mouth publicity the movie picked up in the next week and soon went on to become a rage. 

The highlight of this classic is the mesmerizing performance by Amol Palekar, playing the dual characters of an introvert Ram Prasad and that of an extrovert Laxman Prasad with a panache. 

To add cherry on cake the veteran actor Utpal Dutt, playing Bhavani Prasad, who has an obsession for men with moustache left the audience in peals of laughter. Every interaction between Ram and Bhavani is hilarious, whether showcasing Bhavani's over-the-top paternal affection for Ram Prasad, or his equally extreme contempt for Lakshman.

The movie has truly made Amol Palekar immortal because he went on to give a tough competition to the great actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna and Rishi Kapoor by stealing the prestigious Filmfare Bes Actor Award that year. 

Bachchan was nominated for KAALA PATTHAR and MR. NATWARLAL, Rajesh Khanna for AMAR DEEP and Rishi Kapoor for SARGAM.

Likewise Utpal Dutt won the well deserved Filmfare Best Comedian award giving competition to comedy greats like Mehmood (NAUKER), Deven Verma (LOK PARLOK) and Asrani (SARGAM). 

Over all GOL MAAL had won 8 Filmfare award nominations that included Filmfare Nomination for Best Director-Hrishikesh Mukherjee and for Best Story-Sailesh Dey!