40 years of Satte Pe Satta : Amitabh Bachchan film is one of RD Burman’s last great soundtracks

All the songs of this 1982 hit suit their setting and are choreographed with aplomb. It helps that in many of them the comic instincts of actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Paintal and Shakti Kapoor shines through, taking Rahul Dev Burman's composition to a madcap level.

Satte Pe Satta, one of the top grossers of 1982 and the madhouse that gave us some rollicking banter and a crazily innovative soundtrack by RD Burman, turns 40 today. Directed by Raj N Sippy, it starred Amitabh Bachchan as the eldest brother in charge of a family of slobs that live on a ranch with horses, cows and poultry for company. One song describes the seven brothers as “seven wonders of the world.” Instead, they are the blunders of the world, all apparently named after each day of the week starting with Bachchan as Ravi, Shakti Kapoor as Mangal, Sachin as Shani and so on. One day, Ravi brings home a bride (Hema Malini as Indu). All hell breaks loose. At first, the rest of the singletons revolt but soon they accept their new bhabhi. What’s more, the brutes have lucked out, as they have their own romantic alliances going on now. Just when you think there’s no 1980s-style boilerplate antagonist in this happy story, in walks Ranjit Singh (Amjad Khan) who sends a Bachchan look-alike Babu to bump off his handicapped niece so that he can inherit a family fortune.