The Great Gambler

The Great Gambler
Film poster
Directed byShakti Samanta
Written byC. J. Pavri (adaptation)
Vrajendra Gaur (dialogues)
Screenplay byShakti Samanta
Ranjan Bose
Story byVikramaditya (Bengali novel)
Produced byC. V. K. Shastri
StarringAmitabh Bachchan
Zeenat Aman
Neetu Singh
CinematographyAloke Dasgupta
Edited byR. P. Bapat
Pran Mehra
Music byR. D. Burman
Release date
  • 6 April 1979 (1979-04-06)
Running time
163 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

The Great Gambler is a 1979 Indian Hindi-language crime action film co-written, directed and produced by Shakti Samanta, under his banner of Shakti Films. Based on Vikramaditya's Bengali novel Great Gambler, the film stars Amitabh Bachchan in dual roles, alongside Zeenat Aman, Neetu Singh, Prem Chopra, Utpal Dutt and Madan Puri in pivotal roles. Its story follows international gangsters, spies, and secret agents of different countries' intelligence agencies and their undercover operations.

The film marks the first collaboration between Samanta and Bachchan, having high production costs with a significant portions being shot in international locations including Cairo, Lisbon, Venice, and Rome, and in India, many scenes were shot in Goa. The film was a box-office flop on initial release due to high distribution price, but has been widely appreciated for its action, direction, and cinematography. Later, it became profitable on repeat releases and attained cult status.