his lifelong friends over wife and son, Ramu decides to bring the estranged couple together, but to save the family and the child from the villainous Sarwan Kumar (K.N. Singh), he sacrifices his life. Cast Rajesh Khanna as Raj Kumar "Raju" Tanuja as Tanuja "Tanu" Madan Puri as Ratanlal Sujit Kumar as Gangu K. N. Singh as Sarvan Kumar Mehmood Junior as Chhote Naaz as Paro David as Johny Abhi Bhattacharya as Mr. Kumar Jayakumari Chinnappa Thevar in a cameo appearance Soundtrack Development Javed Akhtar on being questioned as to how the film came about, said "One day, he Rajesh Khanna went to Salimsaab and said that Mr. Devar had given him a huge signing amount with which he could complete the payment for his bungalow Aashirwad. But the film was a remake [of Deiva Cheyal] and the script of the original was far from being satisfactory. He told us that if we could set right the script, he would make sure we got both money and credit. "I can't do such a terrible script," he said. "And I can't leave it because I need the money!'". Box office Haathi Mere Saathi was the highest-grossing Indian film of 1971. In India, its net income was and its total domestic gross was (), equivalent to () with inflation. The film was an overseas blockbuster in the Soviet Union, where it sold 34.8million tickets in 1974. The film's overseas Soviet gross was 8.7millionrubles (, or ), equivalent to US$ million () with inflation. The film's total worldwide gross (including India and the Soviet Union) was (), equivalent to () in 2017. Awards Earlier titled Pyar Ki Duniya, the film also won a special award from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) for lyricist Anand Bakshi. Its music on HMV (as Saregama was known then) won a Silver Disc for its sales, making it the first-ever Indian gramophone record to do so. Reception Times of India noted that 40 years down the line, Haathi Mere Saathi remains unmatched in its enduring magic, and Hindi cinema has yet to make another children's feature to match its stature and success. Quotes on the film In an interview, Tanuja said, "I showed them the film when Kajol was six and Tanishaa around three years old, and for two weeks Kajol did not speak to me!! "Mummy, you killed the elephant! Because of you,