Shalimar

Awards

• No award information available.

Trivia

Album

• This was the most expensive Bollywood movie of its time. It was touted as an Indo-US production with its cast and crew from the Hindi film industry as well as from Hollywood. The film featured the English actor Rex Harrison and the Hollywood actors John Saxon and Sylvia Miles. It was shot in just six months in two languages - English and Hindi - with a few minor differences between the two versions. Titled "Raiders of the Sacred Stone", the English version had no songs. Despite being promoted widely, the film was a flop. It remained the only Hindi feature film of director Krishna Shah and producer Suresh Shah. Krishna Shah went on to direct the dramatised documentary "Cinema Cinema" (1979) about the experience of watching Hindi films in theatres. He also directed two English language films after this film.[1]
• Although the film was a flop, its music, composed by R.D. Burman, did very well. With sales of more than 5 lakh records, the film album turned Gold even before the film's release. The film opened with a frame of the film's Golden Disc. The soundtrack of this film was listed in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" published by Universe Publishing in 2005.
• The makers of this film signed a deal with Vikas Publishing House for two books - a novel based on the film written by Manohar Mulgaonkar, and a book on the making of this film written by Bunny Reuben and Anil Grover. These books were promoted in a frame in the film after its closing scene and before the end credits.[2]
• The film underwent a couple of key cast changes before its shooting started. Amitabh Bachchan had signed up for the film initially. Dharmendra was brought in when Amitabh left the film. Similarly, Sylvia Miles came on board when Gina Lollobrigida quit.[3]
• The plot of this film may have been inspired by the James Hadley Chase novel "The Vulture is a Patient Bird".
• A safe featured prominently in the Hindi film "Happy New Year" (2014) was named after this film.[4]
• The closing shot of Dharmendra and Zeenat Aman in this film featured something very unusual for Hindi films of the time - a kiss!
• Actor Rex Harrison's lines in this film were dubbed by Kadar Khan, who wrote the film's Hindi dialogues.

Song

• Title Music - Kersi Lord was credited for arranging and conducting the background music of this film, but according to him, he also composed this theme track.[5]
• Title Music - The musician playing the French horn in this song walked across the studio while playing it to create a stereophonic effect.[6]

1. ^ Krishna Shah's Shalimar most expensive movie ever made in India
2. ^ Krishna Shah's Shalimar most expensive movie ever made in India
3. ^ Krishna Shah's Shalimar most expensive movie ever made in India
4. ^ Happy New Year (2014)
5. ^ Kersi Lord obituary
6. ^ 25 Fun Facts And Trivia On RD Burman