This Easter, let’s celebrate the long weekend with a trip to the past and laugh ourselves silly with Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s classic, Golmaal. Released in 1979, Golmaal undisputedly is the best Hindi comedy movie. The timeless performances of Amol Palekar and the inimitable Utpal Dutt and the evergreen music of R.D. Burman make this movie a must watch for people of all ages.
The story is of a middle class man, Ram Prasad (played by Amol Palekar), who is forced to constantly mould himself according to the whims of his eccentric boss, Bhavani Shankar (played by Utpal Dutt). This leads to Ram Prasad getting entangled into the complicated web of lies that he has himself woven, including pretending to be his own non-existent twin brother, producing the stereotypical mother (Dina Pathak) for his boss to meet and eventually coping with the boss’ daughter (Bindiya Goswami) falling in love with the nonexistent twin rather than the real Ram Prasad.
What is remarkable about the film is that the story unravels beautifully, with identifiable characters who do not resort to slapstick or annoying facial expressions to make you laugh. Each scene is memorable, with rib-tickling dialogues and impeccable delivery, so that no matter how many times you watch the film, you can’t but help dissolving into gales of laughter.
Then there is the music. Of course, the title song, “Golmaal hai bhai sab golmaal hai” has always been a fun, ever-popular song. “Aane wala pal” is superbly rendered by Kishore Kumar and is a song in which one can lose oneself in the beautiful melody and words. Afterall what can be better than Gulzar’s magic with words set to tune by R.D. Burman.
So this weekend, relive the complete family experience with the perfect laughter therapy that only Golmaal can give you.