Amar Akbar Anthony | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Manmohan Desai |
Written by | Kader Khan (dialogue) K. K. Shukla (scenario) |
Screenplay by | Prayag Raj Sharma |
Story by | Jeevanprabha M. Desai Pushpa Sharma (story idea) |
Produced by | Manmohan Desai |
Starring | Vinod Khanna Rishi Kapoor Amitabh Bachchan Neetu Singh Parveen Babi Shabana Azmi Nirupa Roy Pran Jeevan |
Cinematography | Peter Pereira |
Edited by | Kamlakar Karkhanis |
Music by | Laxmikant–Pyarelal Anand Bakshi (lyrics) |
Distributed by | Hirawat Jain & Co. |
Release date |
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Running time | 184 minutes |
Country | India |
Languages | Hindi Urdu[1][2] |
Box office | est. ₹155 million (equivalent to ₹4.3 billion or US$52 million in 2023)[3] |
Amar Akbar Anthony is a 1977 Indian Hindi-language masala film directed and produced by Manmohan Desai and written by Kader Khan. Released in India on 27 May 1977, the film stars an ensemble cast of Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Neetu Singh, Parveen Babi, Shabana Azmi, Nirupa Roy, Pran and Jeevan. The plot focuses on three brothers separated in childhood who are adopted by families of different faiths; Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. They grow up to be a police officer, a qawwali singer and the owner of a country bar, respectively. The soundtrack album was composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and the lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi. The film earned ₹155 million (US$17.69 million) at the Indian box office, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of that year, alongside Dharam Veer and Hum Kisise Kum Naheen.[3]
Religious tolerance became a landmark theme in Bollywood masala films,[4] building on the masala formula pioneered a few years earlier by Nasir Hussain's Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973).[5][6] Amar Akbar Anthony also had a lasting impact on pop culture with its catchy songs, quotable one-liners, and the character of Anthony Gonsalves (played by Bachchan). It won several awards at the 25th Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor, Best Music Director and Best Editing. It was later remade in Tamil as Shankar Salim Simon (1978), in Telugu as Ram Robert Rahim (1980),[7] and in Malayalam as John Jaffer Janardhanan (1982). In Pakistan, the film was unofficially remade in Punjabi as Akbar Amar Anthony (1978).[8]
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