Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (film)
1980 film by Umesh Mehra

Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (Hindi: Alibaba aur 40 Chor; Russian: Приключения Али-Бабы и сорока разбойников, romanized: Priklucheniya Ali-Baby i soroka razboynikov) is a 1980 Indo-Soviet fantasy film based on the Arabian Nights story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The film is a joint directorial effort between India's Umesh Mehra and the Soviet Union's Latif Faiziev.
The film stars Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, Yoqub Ahmedov, Rolan Bykov, Sofiko Chiaureli, Elena Sanayeva, and Zakir Mukhamedzhanov. The storyline is slightly altered to extend as a long movie. The writers are Shanti Prakash Bakshi and Boris Saakov.
The background score of the film is composed by Vladimir Milov and the music for the songs is composed by R.D. Burman. The choreographers of the film are Leonid Travitsky and Peter Pereira. It was the most successful Indian-Soviet co-production, becoming a success in both India and the Soviet Union.
Plot
Alibaba, a poor man, lives in the fictional town of Gulabad, somewhere in Central Asia, with his mother and elder brother Qasim, who owns a small shop. Ali's father, Yousuf, is a merchant in a distant land and has not returned to Gulabad since leaving shortly after Ali's birth.
The public source identifies “Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (film)” as 1980 film by Umesh Mehra. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Adventures, Ali-Baba and Forty.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (film)”, the useful work is to connect “1980 film by Umesh Mehra” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q780428. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1980.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (film) primary sources, Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (film) archive and Adventures research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (film)”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.