Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1989


Ram Lakhan

Buy Ram Lakhan now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'Ram Lakhan' is a 1989 Indian Hindi-language masala film directed by Subhash Ghai and written by Anwar Khan with screenplay by Ram Kelkar. 'Ram Lakhan' stars an ensemble cast of Raakhee, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Madhuri Dixit and Amrish Puri in lead roles. The supporting cast includes Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover, Saeed Jaffrey and Satish Kaushik. Music of the film was initially supposed to be composed by R. D. Burman but later after recording 2 songs, he was replaced by LaxmikantPyarelal, while Anand Bakshi 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, the film was released theatrically on 27 January 1989 on the Republic Day 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 status over the years and is still remembered for its cast, direction and songs. 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 most popular song till date. At the 35th Filmfare Awards, the film was nominated for several categories out of which Raakhee won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award and Kher and Kaushik jointly received the Filmfare Best Comedian Award.

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 from 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 Prataps 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 Prataps 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 to 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



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

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

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

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

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

*Amrish Puri as Bhishambar Nath: Thakur Prataps cousin; Bhanu's elder brother; Nirmala's husband

*Gulshan Grover as Kesariya Vilayati / Badman

*Paresh Rawal as Bhanu Nath: Thakur Prataps cousin; Bhishambar's younger brother

*Anupam Kher as Deodhar Shastri: Radha's father

*Saeed Jaffrey as Arun Kashyap: Geeta's father

*Raza Murad as Sir John

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

*Annu Kapoor as Shivcharan Mathur

*Anirudh Agarwal as Jeeva

*Sonika Gill as Vivia

*Anand Balraj as Debrath Nath / Debu

*Mukri as Dhondu Nai

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

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

*Satish Kaushik as Kanshiram Dey

*Lahiri Singh as Veer Pratap Singh: Thakur Prataps 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 LaxmikantPyarelal and the lyrics written by Anand Bakshi. 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 Raakhee

*Best Comedian Anupam Kher and Satish Kaushik

'Nominated'

* Best Film Ashok Ghai

*Best Director Subhash Ghai

*Best Actor Anil Kapoor

*Best Supporting Actor Satish Kaushik

*Best Music Director Laxmikant Pyarelal

*Best Male Playback Singer Mohammed Aziz "My Name is Lakhan"

*Best Female Playback Singer Anuradha Paudwal for "Bekhabar Bewafa"

*Best Female Playback Singer Anuradha Paudwal for "Tera Naam Liya"

References




Buy Ram Lakhan now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 1989



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1098235231.