In the 70s Dev Anand was launching new faces, picking himself to play lead roles against actresses half his age. This film too had Zaheeda, the niece of actress Nargis as his heroine. Though Zaheeda first appeared in Prem Pujari, she was not his heroine. To compensate for that role, she was taken as his heroine for this film. Same was with Shatrughan Sinha who was introduced by Dev Anand in a very small role, was given a parallel role in this film. This film was released on 19th Feb 1971 after the grand success of Johny Mera Naam
The film opened with mad euphoria of Dev Anand, all the shows were full all over India for a few weeks. Though the film did Jubilee but was not a great hit. . It was Dev Anand who carried the movie. He was at his best in the courtroom scenes with Sahu in splendid form as the public prosecutor. Shatrughan Sinha, still trying to establish himself, came up with a nice cameo of a gangster having a change of heart.
The movie, however, fell far below the standards that Dev Anand had set during the first two decades of his career but his fans still love his role as Raja. the man who is taught how to gamble while playing cards, but whose life takes a turn when he finds himself accused of murder. Jeevan is decent in his supporting role as Master, the criminal who cheats whilst participating in cards in order to win the cash.
The music of the film was composed by S D Burman It had 5 tracks and all of them were popular.
| # | Title | Singer(s) | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Apne Honthon Ki Bansi" | Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar | 03:54 |
| 2 | "Choodi Nahin Ye Mera Dil" | Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar | 04:27 |
| 3 | "Dil Aaj Shayar Hai" | Kishore Kumar | 03:33 |
| 4 | '"Mera Man Tera Pyasa" | Mohammed Rafi | 04:14 |
| 5 | "Kaisa Hai Mere Dil Tu Khiladi" | Kishore Kumar | 03:23 |
Overall, Gambler was an enjoyable thriller, thanks to the very good and central performance from Dev Anand, along with the excellent direction, script, technical aspects and tense atmosphere
