Laawaris (1981 film)

Laawaris (transl. Orphan or Scoundrel ) is an 1981 Indian drama film directed by Prakash Mehra. The film became known for its song "Mere Angene Mein Tumhara Kya Kaam Hai" (roughly translated as: "In my courtyard, what is your purpose?") rendered twice: the first time by a young Alka Yagnik, who earned her first Filmfare nomination as best female playback singer, and the second time by Amitabh Bachchan. The second version became very popular due to Bachchan's comedic performance in drag. The lyrics pay tribute to every type of wife, be they fat, tall, short, dark, or fair skinned. Even today, the song is popular among audiences.

Laawaris
Film poster
Directed byPrakash Mehra
Produced byPrakash Mehra
Written byShashi Bhushan
Kader Khan
Prakash Mehra
Din Dayal Sharma
StarringAmitabh Bachchan
Zeenat Aman
Music byKalyanji-Anandji
CinematographyN. Satyen
Release date
  • 22 May 1981 (1981-05-22)
Running time
189 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Box office₹9 crores
(equivalent to ₹166 crores in 2020)

Laawaris starred Amitabh Bachchan, Amjad Khan, Zeenat Aman and Raakhee. In Hindi, "Laawaris" loosely means bastard or orphan. Although the word still has negative connotations, they are not as extreme as in English. The story revolves around an orphan who stumbles over reality in search for his parents.

The film was an "All Time Highest Earner" that year, got the highest verdict present at that time from the Trade Guide (Bollywood box office magazine), and was among those rare movies which crossed 2 Crore (2,000,000) per territory.[1] There were only 13 All time earner (Crossing 1 Crore per territory) movies till 1984, and Laawaris was among them.[2]

It earned additional Filmfare nominations for Best Actor (Amitabh Bachchan) and Best Supporting Actor (Suresh Oberoi).[3]

Plot

Laawaris is a story of an orphan Heera, played by Amitabh Bachchan who is disowned by his father (Amjad Khan) before birth and the struggles he goes through to establish his legitimacy in society.

Vidya (Rakhee)[4] is a famous singer and she is in love with Ranvir Singh (Amjad Khan), a leading business man. She gets pregnant with his child but Ranvir Singh wants it to be aborted. Vidya who doesn't want to abort her child decides to break up with Ranvir Singh and she leaves with her brother without informing Ranvir Singh. Vidya dies while giving birth to a baby boy but her brother takes away the baby and gives it to his driver,Gangu Ganpat asking it to be killed. Meanwhile, Gangu Ganpat, a drunkard decides to raise the baby on his own instead of killing with the intention of making some money with the help of baby. He names the baby as Heera. Many years later, when a grown up Heera (Amitabh Bachchan) refuses to give Gangu liqour, an angry Gangu reveals his status as an orphan and an angry Heera leaves him.

Heera gets a job in a factory which is owned by Mahendar Singh (Gopal Bedi), who happens to be the son of Ranvir Singh (with his legally wedded wife and step-brother of Heera) . It is shown that Ranvir Singh leads an unhappy life with his wife in an estate. He feels guilty about his betrayal to Vidya thinking she is dead.

Once employed at Mahendar Singh's factory, Heera understands that workers are not paid properly in Mahendar Singh's factory and decides to fight against it which angers Mahendar Singh. Mohini (Zeenat Aman) the daughter of Kailashnath, falls in love with Heera without knowing his true identity. Mahendar Singh transfers Heera to work in his estate present at a hill station with plans of killing him. Heera meets Ranvir Singh in the estate and gets into his good books. During a function, Mahendar Singh plans to kill Heera, but accidentally Ranvir Singh gets hurt. In the climax Ranvir Singh accepts Heera as his legitimate son and unites with his whole family.

Cast

Soundtrack

The music of this movie was composed by Kalyanji–Anandji, while the lyrics were written by Anjaan and Prakash Mehra. The movie features some popular songs like "Apni Toh Jaise Taise" and "Mere Angne Mein", whose male version was sung by Amitabh Bachchan. The song "Mere Angne Mein" was recreated by Tanishk Bagchi in the year 2020 in the voice of Neha Kakkar and Raja Hassan. The song "Apni Toh Jaise Taise" was recreated by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy in the voice of Mika Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan in the 2010 film Housefull. Both the music videos starred Sri Lankan actress Jacqueline Fernandez.


No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Mere Angne Mein" (Female)AnjaanAlka Yagnik 
2."Jiska Koi Nahin"AnjaanKishore Kumar 
3."Apni To Jaise Taise"Prakash MehraKishore Kumar 
4."Kahe Paise Pe"AnjaanKishore Kumar 
5."Kab Ke Bichhde Hue"AnjaanKishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle 
6."Jiska Koi Nahin"AnjaanManna Dey 
7."Mere Angne Mein" (Male)AnjaanAmitabh Bachchan 

Remakes

Laawaris was remade as

Both films were massive hits in their respective languages.

Awards and nominations
Award & CategoryArtistStatusNotes
Best ActorAmitabh BachchanNominated
Best Supporting ActorSuresh OberoiNominated
Best Female Playback SingerAlka YagnikNominatedfor song "Mere Angne Mein"

References
  1. "Amitabh Movies Verdict (1969–1984) By Trade Guide(Prakash Pange)". 3 December 2011.
  2. "Up to 1984 : Total 13 All time earners , 9 Was Starring Amitabh". 27 August 2010.
  3. "1st Filmfare Awards 1953" (PDF).
  4. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082644/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
  5. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082644/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
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