General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Jurmana (जुर्माना)

Jurmana (जुर्माना) is a 1979 Hindi-language drama-romance film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and produced by Debesh Ghosh for the banner Shri Lokenath Chitramandir, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhee Gulzar, and Vinod Mehra.¹^•² The title translates as "the fine," the penalty a wrongdoer pays, and the 1980 Coastweek preview in Mombasa framed the film around the idea of the worst fine of all, one paid by someone for another's deeds.³

Key fact	Detail
Director / producer	Hrishikesh Mukherjee; produced by Debesh Ghosh, Shri Lokenath Chitramandir, Bombay¹^•²
Lead cast	Amitabh Bachchan (Inder Saxena), Rakhee Gulzar (Rama Sharma), Vinod Mehra (Prakash), Shreeram Lagoo (Prof. Dayashankar Sharma)¹
Genre / language	Drama, Romance; Hindi, made in India¹
Release	Censor certificate dated 1 May 1979 (Bombay, U-89491); IMDb and Bollywood Hungama list 11 May 1979 for India²^•⁴^•⁵
Runtime	2h 19m (139 min) on most listings; the ShemarooMe stream runs 2h 25m 10s¹^•⁶
Music	R.D. Burman (music), Anand Bakshi (lyrics); six tracks on the HMV label²
Audience rating	IMDb 6.8/10 from about 260 votes¹

Spoilers

Plot

Inder Saxena (Amitabh Bachchan) is a money-minded man from Delhi who believes the whole world can be bought with money. Sent to supervise a project in Pratapgarh, he meets his college mate Prakash (Vinod Mehra), his former teacher Professor Daya Shankar Sharma (Shreeram Lagoo), and the professor's daughter Rama (Rakhee Gulzar), and falls for her at first sight, unaware that Prakash also loves her.⁷ When Prakash argues that Rama is the kind of girl who cannot be lured with the power of money, Inder bets him that he will win her over by the sheer might of his wealth.⁷

Rama is charmed by Inder, but an event forces her to leave the city; the Apple TV synopsis states that Inder's power play and successive events stain Rama's character and propel her to leave.¹^•⁸ The 1980 Coastweek preview, published when the film reached Kenyan cinemas, described Inder spending a great deal of money to win her favors and being rebuffed every time, his ego hurt by her closeness to Prakash and his simplicity.³

Cast and crew

The credited cast places Rakhee Gulzar as Rama Sharma, Amitabh Bachchan as Inder Saxena, Shreeram Lagoo as Professor Dayashankar Sharma, A.K. Hangal as Pt. Prabhakar Chaturvedi (Nandlal's mamaji), Asrani as Nandlal Chaturvedi, Farida Jalal as Laila, Asit Sen as Dr. Kabir, Keshto Mukherjee as Babu Ram, Yunus Parvez as Lalaji, Vinod Mehra as Prem Prakash Trivedi, and Brahm Bhardwaj; Manju Asrani (credited as Manju Bansal) also appears.¹^•⁹

Behind the camera, Bimal Dutta wrote the story and screenplay, Rahi Masoom Reza wrote the dialogue, Jaywant Pathare handled cinematography, and Subhash Gupta edited.¹⁰ The Hindi Film Database records the film as a "social" subject on the GCIL-HMV label, with assistant music directors Sapan Chakravarti, Basu Chakravarti, Manohari Singh, and Maruti Rao Keer.²

Music

R.D. Burman composed the score and Anand Bakshi the lyrics. The database lists six tracks: "Ek Do Teen Char Panch Chha Nachoon Main, Gao Tum" (Asha Bhosle and R.D. Burman), "Savan Ke Jhoole Pade" (Lata Mangeshkar), "He Sakhee Radhike Bavaree Ho Gaee" (Lata Mangeshkar and Manna De), "Chhoti Si Ek Kali Khili Thi" (Lata Mangeshkar), an instrumental version of the same song, and the title music.²

Release and reception

The censor record shows a Bombay U certificate, number U-89491, dated 1 May 1979, with a length of 3,993.47 meters across 15 reels and a listed time of 145m 35s.² IMDb and Bollywood Hungama give the Indian release date as 11 May 1979,⁴^•⁵ while the Times of India movie page states 1 August 1979; the sources disagree on the exact date.¹¹ The film later reached East African audiences: a Coastweek preview announced its "grand gala opening" at the Kenya and Naaz Cinemas in Mombasa in July 1980, calling it a film "not to be missed."³

Audience ratings have stayed modest: IMDb records 6.8/10 from about 260 votes, and Rotten Tomatoes shows no critic reviews and no audience ratings on its Tomatometer and Popcornmeter.¹^•¹² A Letterboxd reviewer in 2025 judged the film's first half romantic and funny before it turns to melodrama, and noted that Mukherjee made a much better film, Bemisaal (1982), with the same core cast.¹³ A Hindi-language film commentary similarly describes Bachchan's role as a selfish, slightly arrogant character whose journey toward sensitivity Mukherjee staged through the actor's face and pauses.¹⁴

Availability and same-title films

The film circulates on Indian streaming services: ShemarooMe streams it in its 2h 25m 10s cut with a U certificate,⁶ Apple TV lists it with English subtitles,⁸ and Tubi carries it in the United States with a TV-PG rating.¹⁵ The censor database remarks that one film each with the same title was passed by the Censor Board in 1947 and 1995; the 1996 Jurmana, directed by T.L.V. Prasad and starring Mithun Chakraborty, is a separate action film that collected ₹23.3 million (₹2.33 crore) net in India.²^•¹⁶

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 1970s › Released 1976 to 1979

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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