Haathi Mere Saathi (1971): A Classic That Made India Laugh, Cry & Love Animals

Released in 1971, directed by M A Thirumugam and produced by Sandho M M A Chinappa Thevar, this film made people laugh, cry, and introduced the emotions of animals.

"This film is about Raju (Rajesh Khanna) whose best friends are not humans but four elephants, whom he loves more than his life and the elephants also love him very much. Raju and his elephants earn their living by performing circus on the streets. Gradually Raju becomes rich and he builds a small zoo in his bungalow where he gives shelter to every abandoned animal and bird. He calls it 'Pyar Ki Duniya'. They are happy in their little world. One day Raju meets a well educated and beautiful girl named Tanu (Tanuja). Tanu is from a good family and is impressed by Raju's love and care for elephants. Slowly, love blossoms between Raju and Tanu. Tanu's father does not like Raju as he lives with animals. But to keep his daughter happy, he agrees to this marriage. Initially everything goes well but when Raju and Tanu have a child, Tanu feels that Raju pays more attention to animals rather than his child and family. She also fears that animals may harm her child, so she tries to keep Raju away from all animals, which Raju does not agree to and a quarrel begins. The real trouble begins when a greedy villain named Sarvan Kumar (K.N. Singh) enters their lives. He is jealous of Raju's success and love for Tanu and wants to destroy their happiness by snatching away their elephants. One of the elephant sacrifices his life saving Raju and his baby from the enemies. Tanu realises her mistake.

The film has scenes that make you laugh, like when the elephants are mischievous, and scenes that make you cry, like when innocent elephants are in mortal danger. The film has a beautiful message - that animals are our friends, and we should love and protect them.

The other actors in the film are Madan Puri, Sujeet Kumar, Naaz, Junior Mehmood, Abhi Bhattacharya, David, Jayakumari and Chinappa Thevar himself in a cameo role.

The music of the film is given by Laxmikant Pyarelal and lyrics are written by Anand Bakshi. All the songs of the film were hits like 'Sun Ja Ae Thandi Hawa', Dilbar Jaani Chali Hawa Mastani, Dhak Dhak Kaise Chalti Hai Gaadi (Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar) Duniya Mein Rehna Hai To, Chal Chal Chal Mere Hathi (Kishore Kumar) Nafrat Ki Duniya Ko Chhodkar (Mohammad Rafi).

There are many interesting stories behind the scenes of 'Haathi Mere Saathi'.

When Rajesh Khanna signed this film, he was at the top of his career.

Rajesh Khanna was not very comfortable with animals in the beginning. He was a little scared of them . So he spent several weeks with the them. Everyday before the shooting started, He would bring bananas, apples from home and feed the elephants, play with them and even talk to them. The elephants also started loving Rajesh Khanna. This true friendship and chemistry was seen on screen.

The elephants in the film were brought from South India. They were specially trained for the film.

The trainers gave them sugarcane daily to keep them happy.

The producers ensured that no animal was hurt during the shoot.

The elephants became so attached to the crew that when the shoot was over, they were not ready to leave the location.

Tanuja also had a great love for animals. She used to spend her free time with the elephants and other animals on the set. She had once said that working in "Haathi Mere Saathi" was like a picnic for her as she was surrounded by so many cute animals.

There are some more unknown facts about the film that not many people know. The original story of "Haathi Mere Saathi" was inspired by a Tamil film called "Deiva Cheyal", which was also made by Chinnappa Devar. The success of the Tamil film gave him the idea of making a Hindi version with Rajesh Khanna. And impressed by the success of this film, Chinappa Thevar made it again in Tamil named Nalla Neram.

Salim-Javed who wrote the story and screenplay became the most successful writers in Bollywood after this film with films like "Sholay" and "Deewar".

Another interesting fact is that the song "Nafrat Ki Duniya Ko Chhod Ke" was shot in a single take.

In the song with the elephant in the film, the emotions were so real that the director did not want to do a retake. The song became a classic and is played at many animal welfare events even today.

The film also faced some challenges during the shoot. Sometimes, the elephants would not listen to the trainers and would do what they wanted. A funny hilarious incident happened when an elephant refused to come out of the pond because it was enjoying the water. The whole crew had to wait for hours until the elephant decided to come out. But everyone on the set was very patient because they knew that working with animals requires a lot of love and understanding.

After the film was released, many people in India started adopting animals.

Rajesh Khanna liked the story of this film but he felt that the script was not good. He asked the producer to bring the writers with whom he has worked before. The writers Rajesh Khanna talked about were Salim-Javed. Producer Devar called Salim-Javed and the film was a huge hit. Salim-Javed also became famous and successful overnight.

'Haathi Mere Saathi' is Lucy Liu's favorite film since childhood. - She used to sing the song "Chal chal chal mere haathi".

The elephant loved Tanuja so much that he did not want to push Tanu in the final scene. So, they had to shoot separate close-up shots for both of them.

This was the biggest box-office hit of Rajesh Khanna's career.

KN Singh had told that the most frightening scene of his life was when he had to act shooting an elephant in this film. Even though the bullet and gun were fake, his hands still trembled.

The original name of the film was "Pyar Ki Duniya". - The music of the film was given by HMV.

Later, the music was composed not by Shankar-Jaikishan but by LP.

Many years later, when Tanuja took her daughter Kajol to a circus one day, suddenly an elephant caught Tanuja's pallu (dupatta) and was not ready to leave it.

Then Tanuja was told that this elephant had worked in 'Haathi Mere Saathi'. The elephant recognized her even after many years.

The film also received a special award from the SPCA (Animal Cruelty Group).

The gramophone record of the film's music received a silver disc.

-It was the first Indian film to achieve this.

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