The Great Gambler

The Great Gambler is a 1979 Indian action thriller film, known in Hindi as Sabse Bada Zuari (), starring Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Neetu Singh and Prem Chopra. It was directed by Shakti Samanta.

Initially, it did poorly at the box office, but it did decent business in Mumbai and has since attained cult status. This film is a thriller, and its story is based on international gangsters, spies and secret agents of different countries' intelligence agencies and their undercover operations. This film had high production costs with a significant portions of it being shot in international locations including Cairo, Lisbon, Venice and Rome, and in India many scenes were shot in Goa. The Great Gambler has been widely appreciated for its action, direction and cinematography.

Synopsis
Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) is an expert gambler, has been for as long as he can remember, and has never lost a game. These skills bring him to the attention of the underworld don Ratan Das (Madan Puri), who is interested in hiring him to win large amounts of money from rich people and then influencing them into doing whatever he wants. Jai agrees to do so, and plays successfully, though unknowingly to entrap Nath (Jagdish Raj), who works for the government. After losing large amounts of money, he is blackmailed into revealing the blueprints of a top-secret military laser weapon that can hit any target within 50 miles and is wanted by another underworld don named Saxena (Utpal Dutt). When the Indian police come to know of this, they assign the case to Inspector Vijay (also Amitabh Bachchan), who is a lookalike of Jai.

Jai and Vijay's paths are soon intertwined when both coincidentally sent to Rome where Vijay is sent to retrieve evidence against underworld don Saxena by his former henchman and Jai is onto a money-making scheme where he would marry Mala (Neetu Singh) to inherit her money. Mala however, meets Vijay at the Rome airport and Vijay decides to go along with this to find out who his lookalike is. Jai meanwhile meets Shabnam (Zeenat Aman), a club dancer who mistakes him for Vijay, and was sent by Saxena to stop him on his mission to discover Saxena's plans. It is later revealed that Jai and Vijay are actually long-lost twin brothers and together they team up to stop Saxena from retrieving the laser weapon.

Cast
Amitabh Bachchan as Jay / C.I.D. Inspector Vijay (Double Role) 
Zeenat Aman as Shabnam
Neetu Singh as Mala
Roopesh Kumar as Sethi
Madan Puri as Ratan Das
Iftekhar as Deepchand
Utpal Dutt as Mr. Saxena
Helen as Monica (Dancer)
Jagdish Raj as Nath
Prem Chopra as Ramesh / Abbasi
Sujit Kumar as Marconi
Om Shivpuri as CID Head Mr. Sen Verma (Inspector Vijay's Boss)
Brahm Bhardwaj as White Haired Elder Indian Secret Agent In Rome.

Music
All lyrics written by Anand Bakshi. Music composed by Rahul Dev Burman.

Notes:

1) The song "Do Lafzon Ki Hai Dil Ki Kahaani" was shot on a Gondola in Venice's Grand Canal.

2) The song "Pehle Pehle Pyaar Ki Mulaqaatein" was shot in Eduardo VII Park, Lisbon.

References

Notes
In 1976, Amjad Khan had a severe accident on the Mumbai-Goa highway which left him with broken ribs and a punctured lung. He was going to participate in the shooting of this movie according to the initial casting but did not materialize. Due to this, his role was given to Utpal Dutt.

External links

 The Great Gambler at Bollywood Hungama

Category:Films scored by R. D. Burman
Category:Indian films
Category:1970s Hindi-language films
Category:Films directed by Shakti Samanta
Category:Indian crime action films
Category:1970s crime action films
Category:1970s action thriller films
Category:Indian action thriller films
Category:Films shot in Lisbon
Category:Films shot in Venice
Category:Films shot in Amsterdam
Category:Indian films with live action and animation
Category:Films shot in Mumbai
Category:Films shot in Egypt
Category:Films shot in Rome
Category:Films shot in Italy