Trishul (film)

Trishul () is a 1978 Indian Hindi-language action drama film, directed by Yash Chopra, written by Salim–Javed and produced by Gulshan Rai. It features music by Mohammed Zahur Khayyam, with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. The film features an ensemble cast of Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee Gulzar, Hema Malini, Poonam Dhillon, Sachin and Waheeda Rehman.

Trishul was the second-highest grossing Indian film of 1978, after Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, which also starred Amitabh Bachchan and Raakhee. The movie has been remade in Tamil as Mr. Bharath and in Telugu as Mr. Bharath.

Rishi Kapoor was offered the role of Ravi, which was eventually played by Sachin. Kapoor declined the offer, triggering animosity between him and Salim-Javed.

Plot
Raj Kumar "R.K." Gupta (Sanjeev Kumar) leaves his first love Shanti (Waheeda Rehman) to marry a wealthy heiress, Kamini (Gita Siddharth). Kamini's father, Seth Dindayal, makes him an equal partner in his business. Shanti comes by to wish him success in his marriage, with the news that she is pregnant with his child. She refuses R.K.'s offer of support, telling him that he is only doing so to assuage his guilty conscience, and leaves the city. She gives birth to a boy and names him Vijay Kumar (Amitabh Bachchan). 

25 years later, Shanti dies. The adult Vijay comes to Delhi to take revenge by ruining his father's business and family connections. At the same time, R. K. Gupta's second son, Shekhar (Shashi Kapoor) returns from abroad to take his place in his father's company. Shekhar and his sister Kusum (Poonam Dhillon), who are Vijay's half-siblings, are caught in the crossfire of Vijay's revenge. Vijay crosses paths with Geeta (Raakhee), the devoted secretary to R.K. Gupta. He tries to bribe Geeta to get details of Gupta's tender bids but she refuses. Nevertheless, the two start to get closer to each other. Vijay bribes another R.K. employee, Bhandari, to get his information. Bhandari’s betrayal nets Vijay’s company, Shanti Constructions, a lot of profits and results in losses for R. K. Gupta and Sons. Upon seeing Vijay and Geeta together one day, R.K. assumes that Geeta has sold him out and fires her. When Vijay learns about this, he exposes Bhandari to R.K. and Shekhar as the real culprit to clear Geeta’s name and hires her to work at his own company. 

Vijay becomes successful quickly and is soon celebrating the second anniversary of Shanti Constructions with a huge party. He tells Geeta to invite the crème de la crème of the city, especially R. K. Gupta. At the party, Vijay meets Sheetal Verma (Hema Malini), P. L. Verma's daughter and general manager, who is also Shekhar Gupta's girlfriend. He tries to create differences between Shekhar and Sheetal. A fierce rivalry begins between Vijay and R.K., in which both are willing to sacrifice their wealth and integrity. Vijay even encourages Kusum to marry her lover Ravi (Sachin) against her father's wishes. This angers Shekhar and he ends up fighting with Vijay. Geeta intervenes and reveals to Shekhar that he and Vijay are brothers. Shekhar and Kusum both leave their father's house in shame. Shekhar asks Vijay to give Kusum away at her wedding as her oldest brother. Enraged, R.K. hires Balwant Rai (Prem Chopra) to kill Vijay.

Vijay visits R.K. to claim victory and tells him that he is Shanti's (and R.K.'s) son. Gupta tries to rescind the order that he has given Balwant, but Balwant has already kidnapped Ravi in order to get to Vijay. With the assistance of Shekhar and R.K., Vijay rescues Ravi. During the confrontation, Balwant tries to shoot Vijay but R.K. takes the bullet for him. Balwant and his goons are arrested. With his last breath, R.K. asks Vijay for forgiveness. Vijay forgives him and unites with the family. In addition, Vijay changes the name of his company from Shanti Constructions to Shanti-Raj Constructions.

Cast

 Shashi Kapoor as Shekhar Kumar Gupta
 Sanjeev Kumar as Raj Kumar "R.K" Gupta
 Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Kumar
 Raakhee as Geeta
 Hema Malini as Sheetal Verma
 Poonam Dhillon as Kusum "Babli" Gupta 
 Sachin as Ravi
 Waheeda Rehman as Shanti (Special Appearance)
 Prem Chopra as Balwant Rai
 Iftekhar as P. L. Verma
 Gita Siddharth as Kamini Gupta
 Manmohan Krishna as Seth Dindayal
 Yunus Parvez as Bhandari
 Mohan Sherry as Gangu
 M. B. Shetty as Madhav Singh
 Manik Irani as Gangu's Henchman
 Moolchand as Creditor

Credits
Director – Yash Chopra
Producer – Gulshan Rai
Production company – Trimurti Films
Writer – Salim–Javed
Art director – Desh Mukherjee
Chief assistant director – Ramesh Talwar
Editor – B. Mangeshkar
Lyrics – Sahir Ludhianvi
Singers – Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, K. J. Yesudas, Nitin Mukesh & Pamela Chopra

Soundtrack

All the songs were composed by Khayyam and lyrics were penned by Sahir Ludhianvi.

The soundtrack for this movie is credited for bringing the three legends of Indian film music Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar & K. J. Yesudas together in a single song, "Mohabbat Bade Kaam Ki Cheez Hai".

Reception

Box office
In India, the film grossed  (), with net earnings of . It was declared a 'super hit' at the box office, becoming the second-highest grossing Indian film of 1978, below Muqaddar Ka Sikandar and above Don.

Overseas in the Soviet Union, the film released in May 1980, with 529 prints. It sold  tickets at the Soviet box office, grossing an estimated million Rbls (, or ), bringing the film's worldwide gross to approximately  ().

Adjusted for inflation, its Indian gross is equivalent to  () and its Soviet gross is equivalent to  (), for a total inflation-adjusted worldwide gross of  ().

In terms of footfalls, the film sold an estimated million tickets in India, and  tickets in the Soviet Union, for an estimated total of  tickets sold worldwide.

Awards and nominations
26th Filmfare Awards:

Nominations
Best Film – Gulshan Rai
Best Director – Yash Chopra
Best Actor – Amitabh Bachchan
Best Supporting Actor – Sanjeev Kumar
Best Story – Salim–Javed

Legacy
Ziya Us Salam of The Hindu in his review of Yeh Hai Jalwa (2002) called it "a spoof of Trishul".

Popular culture
The movie was heavily referenced in Anurag Kashyap's 2012 crime film Gangs of Wasseypur. A Sinhala film with a similar story line was made with the title Hello Shyama by Director M.S. Anandan, starring Gamini Fonseka in the role of Sanjeev, and Shyama Anandan, daughter of M.S. Anandan, in the role played by Amitabh Bachchan.

References

External links 
 

1970s Hindi-language films
1970s masala films
1978 films
Films directed by Yash Chopra
Films scored by Khayyam
Films with screenplays by Salim–Javed
Hindi films remade in other languages
Indian films about revenge
Trimurti Films
Urdu films remade in other languages
1970s Urdu-language films
Urdu-language Indian films