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Haathi Mere Saathi
Directed by	M. A. Thirumugam
Screenplay by	Salim–Javed
Story by	Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar
Based on	Deiva Cheyal (1967)
Produced by	Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar
Starring	Rajesh Khanna Tanuja Madan Puri Sujit Kumar K. N. Singh
Cinematography	K. S. Prasad
Edited by	M. A. Thirumugam M. G. Balu Rao
Music by	Laxmikant–Pyarelal
Production company	Devar Films
Distributed by	Devar Films
Release date	28 May 1971 (1971-05-28)
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	est. ₹16.58 crore (equivalent to ₹11 billion or US$130 million in 2023)

Haathi Mere Saathi (transl. Elephants Are My Companions) is a 1971 Indian Hindi-language drama film, directed by M. A. Thirumugam, with screenplay written by Salim–Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar) and dialogues by Inder Raj Anand. The movie has a Disneyesque appeal with an Indian twist. Haathi Mere Saathi was the biggest hit of 1971 going by box office collections, and was also critically acclaimed. The film stars Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja. The film at that point in time was the biggest hit ever made by a South Indian producer in Hindi.

The story was written by producer Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar who is of Tamil origin and owned Devar Films in Tamil Nadu. Thevar also played a small cameo in the film. Directed and edited by Thevar's brother M.A.Thirumugham, it had music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and lyrics by Anand Bakshi. The film was also the first collaboration of Salim-Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar), who were officially credited as screenplay writers. The film was based on Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar's 1967 Tamil movie Deiva Cheyal. After the success of this movie, Thevar remade it in Tamil again in 1972 as Nalla Neram. This film is counted among the 17 consecutive hit films of Rajesh Khanna between 1969 and 1971, by adding the two-hero films Marayada and Andaz to the 15 consecutive solo hits he gave from 1969 to 1971.

Plot

Orphaned Raju, in the company of four elephants, has to perform with them at street corners, in order to survive. The back-story is that as an orphan, they have saved his life from a leopard. In time, he makes it big, and starts Pyar Ki Duniya (The World of Love), a zoo in which various wild animals reside along with his elephants, among whom Ramu is closest to him. Slowly he amasses a fortune, and is able to build his own private zoo, housing tigers, lions, bears, and of course the four elephants. He treats all the animals as his friends. He meets with Tanu, and both fall in love. Tanu's rich dad, Ratanlal, is opposed to this alliance, but subsequently relents, and permits the young couple to get married. However, trouble looms soon after as Tanu feels neglected. Things worsen when their child is born, and Tanu, fearing physical harm to her child from the elephants, tells Raju to choose between the elephants and his family. When Raju chooses his lifelong friends over wife and son, Ramu decides to bring the estranged couple together, but to save the family and the child from the villainous Sarwan Kumar, he sacrifices his life.

Cast

• Rajesh Khanna as Raj Kumar "Raju"
• Tanuja as Tanuja "Tanu"
• Madan Puri as Ratanlal
• Sujit Kumar as Gangu
• K. N. Singh as Sarvan Kumar
• Mehmood Junior as Chhote
• Naaz as Paro
• David as Johny
• Abhi Bhattacharya as Mr. Kumar
• Jayakumari
• Chinnappa Thevar in a cameo appearance

Soundtrack

Development

Javed Akhtar on being questioned as to how the film came about, said "One day, he Rajesh Khanna went to Salimsaab and said that Mr. Devar had given him a huge signing amount with which he could complete the payment for his bungalow Aashirwad. But the film was a remake and the script of the original was far from being satisfactory. He told us that if we could set right the script, he would make sure we got both money and credit. "I can't do such a terrible script," he said. "And I can't leave it because I need the money!'".

Box office

Haathi Mere Saathi was the highest-grossing Indian film of 1971. In India, its net income was ₹35 million and its total domestic gross was ₹70 million (US$9.34 million), equivalent to US$70 million (₹3.65 billion) with inflation.

The film was an overseas blockbuster in the Soviet Union, where it sold 34.8 million tickets in 1974. The film's overseas Soviet gross was 8.7 million rubles (US$11.54 million, or ₹93.5 million), equivalent to US$71 million (₹3.72 billion) with inflation. The film's total worldwide gross (including India and the Soviet Union) was ₹16.35 crore (US$20.88 million), equivalent to US$113 million (₹737 crore) in 2017.

Awards

Earlier titled Pyar Ki Duniya, the film also won a special award from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) for lyricist Anand Bakshi. Its music on HMV (as Saregama was known then) won a Silver Disc for its sales, making it the first-ever Indian gramophone record to do so.

Reception

Times of India noted that 40 years down the line, Haathi Mere Saathi remains unmatched in its enduring magic, and Hindi cinema has yet to make another children's feature to match its stature and success.

Quotes on the film

In an interview, Tanuja said, "I showed them the film when Kajol was six and Tanishaa around three years old, and for two weeks Kajol did not speak to me!! "Mummy, you killed the elephant! Because of you, he had to die!" screamed Kajol! "And Tanishaa was annoyed too!" Tanuja loved working with the elephants after some initial apprehensions. "They really began to like me, especially the she-elephant who played Ramu. There is a sequence where he had to push me through a door and fight a snake that was about to bite the baby, but the elephant had got so fond of me that he refused to do so! Finally, they had to shoot separate close-ups of the elephant and my back and of me falling down!"

On its 40th anniversary on 5 May 2011, Pyarelal recalled, "Laxmi (Laxmikant) and Devar got along fabulously well! Devar had an innate music sense and a feel for rhythm, and he loved our title-track. But the tussle came up over the sad song, "Nafrat Ki Duniya", which was the only song sung by (Mohammed) Rafisaab in the film. I recall voicing my doubts. But Laxmi, the director and Rajesh Khanna were staunchly in favour of keeping that song. And the audience cried with the song and Anand Bakshisaab's lyrics."

Notes

1. 7.4919 Indian rupees per US dollar in 1971
2. 34.8 million Soviet tickets sold, average Soviet ticket price of 25 kopecks)
3. 0.7536 Soviet rubles per US dollar in 1974
4. 8.1016 Indian rupees per US dollar in 1974
5. ^ Haathi Mere Saathi:
   • India: ₹70 million (US$9.34 million) in 1971 (equivalent to US$70 million or ₹3.65 billion in 2017)
   • Soviet Union: 8.7 million SUR (US$11.54 million, ₹93.5 million) in 1974 (US$71 million or ₹9.48 billion in 2024)

References

1. Rachel Dwyer; British Film Institute (2005). One hundred Bollywood films (reprint, illustrated ed.). Michigan: BFI. p. 258. ISBN 978-1-84457-098-0. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
2. "the closest Hindi film to Disney". Screen India. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
3. Rajiv, Vijayakar (13 May 2011). "The story was written in relevant way". The Indian Express. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
4. "Sandow and superstars". The Hindu. 24 July 2012. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
5. m.imdb.com/name/nm0004435/trivia
6. "Hindustan Times". Archived from the original on 29 August 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
7. Rajiv, Vijayakar (13 May 2011). "Thanks to Rajesh Khanna". The Indian Express. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
8. ^ "Box Office 1971". Box Office India. 20 October 2013. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013.
9. ^ "Pacific Exchange Rate Service" (PDF). UBC Sauder School of Business. University of British Columbia. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
10. ^ "Yearly Average Rates (65.11 INR per USD)". OFX. 31 December 2017. Archived from the original on 13 July 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
11. ^ Sergey Kudryavtsev (3 August 2008). "Зарубежные популярные фильмы в советском кинопрокате (Индия)". Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
12. Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War, page 48 Archived 10 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Cornell University Press, 2011
13. The Routledge Handbook of the Cold War, page 357 Archived 8 October 2024 at the Wayback Machine, Routledge, 2014
14. "Archive". Central Bank of Russia. 1992. Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
15. Kobita Sarkar (1975). Indian cinema to-day: an analysis. Michigan: Sterling Publishers. p. 167. ISBN 9780883865972. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
16. Rajiv, Vijayakar (13 May 2011). "The Elephantine hit". The Indian Express. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
17. Rajiv, Vijayakar (13 May 2011). "The elephants after some initial apprehensions". The Indian Express. Retrieved 25 July 2012.

External links

• Haathi Mere Saathi at IMDb 

• 1971 films
• 1970s Hindi-language films
• 1970s Indian films
• Elephants in India
• Films about elephants
• Films directed by M. A. Thirumugam
• Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal
• Films with screenplays by Salim–Javed
• Hindi films remade in other languages
• Indian children's films
• Jungle adventure films