Ram Aur Shyam

Ram Aur Shyam
Soundtrack album by Naushad
Released	1967
Genre	Feature Film Soundtrack
Label	HMV, Saregama
Producer	Naushad

Ram Aur Shyam
	Ram Aur Syam poster
Directed by	Tapi Chanakya
Produced by	Chakrapani; B. Nagi Reddi
Written by	Kaushal Bharati; D.V. Narasaraju
Starring	Dilip Kumar; Mumtaz; Waheeda Rehman; Pran; Nazir Hussain
Music by	Naushad (composer) ; Shakeel Badayuni (lyrics)
Cinematography	Marcus Bartley
Edited by	C. P. Jambulingam
Release date	April 7, 1967
Running time	171 min.
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	est. ?10.43 crore ($13.8 million)

Ram Aur Shyam (English: Ram And Shyam) is a 1967 Indian Hindi feature film, directed by Tapi Chanakya. It stars Dilip Kumar in a double role as twins separated at birth, along with Mumtaz, Waheeda Rehman, Pran, and Nirupa Roy. Ram Aur Shyam features music by Naushad, with lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni.

Its producer was B. Nagi Reddy. It was previously produced as Ramudu Bheemudu by D. Ramanaidu under Suresh Productions Banner, a Telugu film starring N.T. Rama Rao, in 1964. The movie was a blockbuster. Ram Aur Shyam was one of 1967's highest-grossing Indian films, domestically in India and overseas in the Soviet Union. Originally, Vyjayanthimala and Mala Sinha were supposed to star in the roles portrayed by Waheeda Rehman and Mumtaz, but were replaced for unknown reasons.

Plot

Ram (Dilip Kumar) lives with his sister Sulakshna (Nirupa Roy) and niece Kuku in his family estate. His brother-in-law Gajendra (Pran) looks after his factories and controls his property with an iron hand. Ram is shy and cowardly in nature. He is always abused and brutally beaten by Gajendra. Sulakshna and Kuku try to protect Ram from Gajendra whenever he whips Ram. Everybody decides to get Ram married for his well being. Gajendra finds a rich girl Anjana (Waheeda Rehman) with the aim of getting a huge dowry. Anjana dislikes Ram after he spills tea over her due to nervousness. Gajendra, angry at Ram's behaviour, conspires with the support of his mother and cunning Munimji to kill Ram and take over his property. Ram overhears this and escapes to the city to save his life. Meanwhile, Ram's long lost twin brother Shyam (Dilip Kumar) lives in a village with his adopted mother Ganga, whom he believes to be his birth mother. No one other than Ganga knows the truth about the twin brothers. Shyam is strong, brave and mischievous, unlike his brother. He has a love-hate relationship with Shanta (Mumtaz). Shyam escapes to the city, after a mischievous conflict with Ganga, and meets Anjana, who is impressed by his personality. Anjana and her father confuse Shyam with Ram. Ram meets Shanta, who thinks he is Shyam and takes him forcefully to his mother. Ram and Shanta develop feelings for each other. Meanwhile, Shyam decides to take the place of Ram to face Gajendra. Shyam refuses to sign his property over, after which angry Gajendra attacks him. Shyam retaliates and whips Gajendra hard, shocking everybody. Sulakshna stops her brother to protect her husband. Gajendra is startled after being beaten up by Shyam, whom everybody believes as Ram. Shanta and Anjana meet and both claim the picture of Ram as their fiancé. Gajendra learns that Shyam has taken the place of Ram. He abducts Ram and Shanta, and plans to kill Ram. He frames Shyam for the murder of Ram though Ram is alive. Shyam is arrested by police. Anjana and her father learn from Ganga that Ram and Shyam are twin brothers lost in a village fair. Shyam escapes from police custody and battles Gajendra and his henchmen. Gajendra tries to shoot them, but both the brothers and Shanta manage to defeat him. At the end, the twin brothers are happily married and the family reunited.

Reception

Dilip Kumar, who was known as tragedy king surprised the audience with his comedy act. Dilip Kumar won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Ram Aur Shyam, while Upkar got most of the other awards, at the 15th Filmfare Awards in 1968.

Box office

At the domestic Indian box office, Ram Aur Shyam grossed ?2.75 crore ($3.7 million). Adjusted for inflation, the film's domestic gross is equivalent to $27 million (?184 crore) in 2016. It was 1967's second highest-grossing film in India, after Upkar.

Overseas at the Soviet box office, Ram Aur Shyam was released with 1,160 prints and sold 33.4 million tickets in 1972.^[3] At the average Soviet ticket price of 25 kopecks at the time,^[8]^[9] the film grossed 8.35 million rubles ($10.1 million,^[10] ?7.68 crore).^[11] Adjusted for inflation, the film's overseas Soviet gross is equivalent to $59 million (?396 crore) in 2016.^[7] It was the second highest-grossing 1967 Indian film in the Soviet Union, after Hamraaz.^[3]

Worldwide, the film grossed ?10.43 crore ($13.8 million) by 1972. Adjusted for inflation, its worldwide gross is equivalent to ?580 crore ($85 million) in 2016.

Legacy

Dilip Kumar stated in an interview "The script of Ram Aur Shyam (1967) offered me endless stimulation. Each scene was sharply written to highlight the contrast between the characters and their predicaments."^[12] Ram Aur Shyam has inspired remakes among Hindi movies, with Seeta Aur Geeta, (featuring female twins, played by Hema Malini) in 1972; Chaalbaaz, (starring Sridevi) in 1989; Kishen Kanhaiya, (starring Anil Kapoor) in 1990, Gopi Kishan, (featuring male twins, played by Sunil Shetty) in 1994 and Judwaa, (featuring male twins, played by Salman Khan) in 1997.