Chamatkar

Chamatkar
चमत्कार

Promotional Poster
Directed by Rajiv Mehra
Produced by Parvesh C. Mehra
Written by Shaukat Baig
Lilliput
Rajiv Mehra
Starring Naseeruddin Shah
Shah Rukh Khan
Urmila Matondkar
Shammi Kapoor
Music by Anu Malik
Distributed by Eagle Films
Release dates
 8 July 1992
Running time
 171 min
Country India
Language Hindi

Chamatkar (Hindi: चमत्कार, Translation: Miracle) is a Hindi ghost comedy movie which was directed by Rajiv Mehra and released in India in 1992. It cast Naseeruddin Shah and Shah Rukh Khan in pivotal roles. Rajiv Mehra chose to work again with Khan in the future Ram Jaane. The film was quite popular among kids but was a commercial failure. The plot of the movie is similar to the American film Blackbeard's Ghost

Plot

Sunder Srivastava (Shahrukh Khan) is a young graduate whose main ambition in life is to fulfill his father's dream of starting a school on his half-acre property in his village, though he has no funds to execute his plans. Sunder's childhood friend Prem, a seasoned conman in Mumbai, convinces the gullible Sunder to mortgage. When Sunder comes to Mumbai, he is first tricked and loses his luggage, then pick-pocketed and loses his money. He then finds that Prem tricked him and fled to Dubai with his money. Sunder is forced to take shelter in a cemetery. Sunder starts cursing his stars and venting his anger. A voice responds to him and a surprised Sunder asks the person to identify himself. The source of the voice, who cannot be seen, is surprised and asks Sunder whether the latter can really hear him.

Sunder realizes that he has been talking with a ghost and panics. The ghost suddenly becomes visible to Sunder and introduces himself as Amar Kumar alias Marco (Naseeruddin Shah). Marco tells Sunder that only he can help Sunder and vice versa. Marco tells his story. Marco was an underworld gangster who fell in love with one Savitri Kaul (Malvika Tiwari), daughter of one Mr. Kaul (Shammi Kapoor). Savitri declined to marry him if he did not change his ways. To show that he was serious, Marco resolved to give up crime. This did not bode well for his protégé Kunta (Tinu Anand), who wanted to become as big as Marco himself. On his wedding night, Marco was kidnapped and killed by Kunta, after which he was buried in the cemetery. Marco tells Sunder that many crimes taking place in the city under his name are actually done by Kunta and his minions.

Marco tells Sunder that due to his sins, he cannot attain redemption. Marco was foretold that only his savior would be able to see and hear him, so Sunder has to help him. Sunder declines, but Marco surprises him by reminding him of his dream, about which Sunder had not told a thing to Marco. Marco tells him that he wants to see Savitri and Mr. Kaul. He also tells that he cannot touch or harm anybody until time comes. Marco manages to get Sunder a position as a cricket coach in a school run by Mr. Kaul. Marco is angered when he finds out that after his murder, Kunta and his goons came to the Kaul household and told Savitri that Marco was alive and had fled India never to come back, suggesting that Marco only married her in order to sleep with her. Kunta had told them that Marco wanted Savitri and her father to hand over the ownership documents for his hotel to Kunta, but Savitri refused to hand them over unless Marco himself came to ask for them. Kunta then tried to rape Savitri, but was stopped when her father broke down, promising to give them the documents. Hearing all of this, Marco is furious and vows revenge. He is grieved to then find out that Savitri died some time afterwards, but overjoyed when he learns that he has a daughter from the wedding night with Savitri called Mala (Urmila Matondkar).

Sunder and Marco also find out that the school lacks funding and that Kunta is trying to usurp its land. Mala and Sunder start falling in love. Marco helps and keeps Kunta's goons away. Later, Marco shows a secret room to Sunder where he had kept all his loot. The room was not known to Kunta or anybody else, so Marco proposes that an anonymous donation be made, which will be more than enough to save the school and help Sunder. However, due to their oversight, Kunta finds out the location of the room, and Marco loses all his money. In a desperate bid, Marco steals some money and bets to double the money. Sunder is held responsible for the theft, although no proof is present. Marco tells the truth to Sunder, and they have a fall-out.

Sunder agrees to a cricket match between his team and a team headed by Kunta's nephew: if they win the game, they will win funds to keep the school. Initially, Sunder's team is losing, but Marco then steps into the game (still invisible to everyone), sabotages the opponent team and helps Sunder's team, leading Sunder's team to succeed massively.

After a brief meeting between Sunder and Kunta prior to the start of the match where Sunder mentions Marco's ghost, Kunta becomes suspicious. During the match, he abducts Sunder along with Mala and buries them alive in the very place he had buried Marco. Marco manages to lead the police to the cemetery where a fight erupts between Kunta and his goons on the one hand, Marco, Mala, Sunder and the policemen on the other. After succeeding in beating up the goons, Marco starts to strangle Kunta with a rope while Sunder forces Kunta to confess his role in Marco's murder. Marco then pushes Kunta into the empty grave and as he is about to kill him with a large rock, Mala calls out for him to stop, calling him "father" and entreating not to kill and sully his hands with blood because of Kunta. On hearing this, Marco immediately relents and lets Kunta live.

Finally, Sunder succeeds in his mission. Sunder and Mala marry, with Marco attending the wedding. At the wedding, a ray of light falls upon Marco who then ascends to heaven, although not before asking for "a minute" to entreat the viewer to do the right thing while they are alive, because they will not have the chance that he did to set things right after death.

Plot similarity

The plot of Chamatkar has in common with the American film Blackbeard's Ghost.The concept of a sports coach who arrives at a new town where he encounters the reformed ghost of a criminal and aids in that criminal's redemption while courting a nearby woman of his own age. Both films also feature a local band of wrongdoers who act as the villains of the film and a quarrel between the ghost and the protagonist beginning when the ghost places a bet of which the protagonist disapproves. Throughout most or all of both films, the ghost is invisible and inaudible to every character except the protagonist, but is able to handle objects normally, producing the bizarre appearance of objects or people moving without any apparent cause.

Cast

Tracks list

# Title Singer(s) Length
1 Is Pyar Se Meri (Pyaar Ho Jayega) Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik 05:29
2 Is Pyar Se Meri Taraf Na Dekho Kumar Sanu 05:11
3 Yeh Hai Pyaar Pyaar Kumar Sanu, Asha Bhosle 04:52
4 Bichoo O Bichoo Asha Bhosle 05:47
5 O Meri Neendein Churane Wale Kumar Sanu, Asha Bhosle 07:40
6 Dekho Dekho Chamatkar Kumar Sanu, Sukhwinder Singh, Poornima 05:57
7 Dekh Dekh Chamatkaar Kumar Sanu, Asha Bhosle 05:55
8 Jawani Deewani Udit Narayan, Poornima 06:35

See also

References

    External links

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