Haathi Mere Saathi

Awards

• No award information available.

Trivia

Album

• This film did very well at the box office and its music was a big hit as well. It is said to be the first Indian film to win a Silver Disc for its record sales.[1]
• Salim - Javed debuted as writers in this film. They had written the script of the film "Adhikar" (1971) earlier but were not credited for it. They were also credited for the "Additional Script Work" of the film "Andaz" (1971) along with Satish Bhatnagar. Salim Khan had made his solo debut earlier as the story writer of the film "Do Bhai" (1969). Javed Akhtar had made his solo debut earlier as the dialogue writer for "Yakeen" (1969).[2][3][4][5][MR34]
• This film was initially titled "Pyar Ki Duniya".
• Rajesh Khanna wasn't quite convinced about the concept of this film but signed up for it since he needed the money to buy a house in Bombay. The house - that would go on to become famous as "Aashirwad" - was being sold by actor Rajendra Kumar. Rajesh Khanna had wanted to retain the name Rajendra Kumar had given the house - "Dimple". However, Kumar had placed a condition that Khanna would have to change the house's name. It was only then that the house was named "Aashirwad". Interestingly, Kumar himself had bought the house after signing up for the songless film "Kanoon" (1960) after having refused it first.[MR36]
• This film was intended as a remake of producer Devar's Tamil film "Deiva Cheyal" (1967). However, unhappy with the film's original script, Rajesh Khanna had brought Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar on board to rewrite the screenplay. He promised to give them credit and pay them more than what they were drawing then if they did a good job on the script. While Tamil original was a flop, this film became a big hit. Devar later remade this film in Tamil as "Nalla Neram" (1972) which was successful as well.[MR36]
• Tanuja's daughter Kajol did not speak to her for days after she saw this film since she held Tanuja responsible for the death of Rajesh Khanna's favourite elephant in the film!

1. ^ The Elephantine hit
2. ^ Adhikar (1971)
3. ^ Andaz (1971)
4. ^ Do Bhai (1969)
5. ^ Yakeen (1969)