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The 1960s – Golden Years – Part 10

Laudable Films (Continued)

Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke was based on a scandal that rocked the nation in 1959. Commander K M Nanavati, a naval officer, lived in Bombay with Sylvia, his English-born wife, and their three children. During Nanavati’s frequent and long absences on assignments, Sylvia got involved with Prem Ahuja, a close friend of the Nanavatis. Ahuja promised to marry her if she divorced Nanavati, but she discovered that he was a rake. Unsure of Prem's intention to marry her, Sylvia confessed the affair to her husband when Nanavati returned home from one of his assignments.  Nanavati confronted Ahuja. They had an argument after which Nanavati shot Ahuja dead and surrendered to the police. Nanavati was tried for the murder, and after a long trial, eagerly reported by newspapers across the country, Nanavati was convicted.

The script of Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke was written by Aghajani Kashmiri, and the film was directed by RK Nayyar. Sunil Dutt, Leela Naidu, and Rehman played the lead roles, with Shashikala in a supporting role. Motilal and Ashok Kumar impressed as lawyers. Ravi’s compositions complemented the story. Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle’s duet, Yeh khamoshiyan ye tanhaiyan, Asha Bhonsle’s solos, Yeh rastey hain pyar ke, and Aaj ye meri zindagi,  Mohammed Rafi’s solos, Tum jispe nazar dalo, and Koi mujhse poochhe were all hits.

Chitralekha

When I was in college in Nagpur in the 1950s, one of the must-read books for youth was Bhagavati Charan Varma’s Hindi novel Chitralekha about the philosophy of life, love, sin, and virtue. The opening lines of the book are etched in my mind, Shwetank ne poochha, “Aur paap?" (Shwetank asked, “And sin?”)

The narration begins with a discussion between a sage called Ratnambar and his disciples Shwetank and Vishaldev on the nature of sin, at the end of which, the sage sends his disciples to learn about sin by spending a year with two men of opposite characters, Beejgupt, a nobleman in the Mauryan empire, who is a bhogi, enjoying all the pleasures of life, and Kumargiri, a yogi, who is a symbol of renunciation. Beejgupt is in love with a courtesan of Pataliputra called Chitralekha. As the story progresses, Kumargiri too falls for her charms. When the disciples return to their guru and narrate their experiences, the sage Ratnambar concludes,

“Paap kuchh bhi nahin hai, wah keval manushya ke drishtikon ki vishamta ka doosra naam hai.” (Sin is nothing but another name for man’s abnormal perspective), and finally, “Hum na paap karte hain aur na punya karte hain, hum keval woh karte hain jo hamen karna padta hai.” (We do neither sinful acts nor virtuous acts; we merely do what we have to do).

The story has similarities with Anatole France’s French novel Thaïs, but Bhagavati Charan Varma is quick to deny the link, saying, “My Chitralekha is as different from the Thaïs as I am from Anatole France.

Kidar Sharma made a successful film on Chitralekha in 1941, with Mehtab, who was then a leading star, in the title role. It was a powerful film with music by Ustad Jhande Khan. Among its songs, Neel Kamal muskaye, sung by Ramdulari, was very well picturized in a bathing scene on Mehtab. When Kidar Sharma remade the film in colour in 1963, we looked forward to another good movie, but we were disappointed with the casting. Ashok Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, and Meena Kumari were well past their prime to fit their roles. Meena Kumari was still the best actress around. Never the slimmest heroine in Bollywood, alcoholism arising out of her traumatic personal life had damaged her figure further. Pradeep Kumar was never known for intensive acting. With several new actors available, it was strange to find Kidar Sharma, who had launched many new faces, falling back on senior actors for his prestigious film.

The film failed at the box office, despite its stars and good music by Roshan. Lata Mangeshkar’s Ae ri, jane na doongi, and Sansar se bhage phirte ho - 

In Sansaar se bhaage phirate ho, the poet reflects the philosophy of Bhagavati Charan Varma in the lines,

Ye paap hai kyaa ye punya hai kya
Reeton par dharm ki moharen hain.

(What is sin? What is virtue?
They are the stamps of religion on customs)

... Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar’s duet Kahe tarsaye jiyara and Mohammed Rafi’s Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare, were very popular. Sahir Ludhianvi’s lyrics for Chitralekha need special mention. The Urdu poet, who regaled us with beautiful ghazals, qawwalis, and nazms, with quality Urdu words and expressions, wrote, for a film set in the Mauryan period, songs in pure Hindi with equal facility. In Ae ri jane na doongi, Sahir displays his grasp of the language,

alakon men kundal dalo
aur deh sugandh rachao
jo dekhe mohit ho jaaye
aisa roop sajaao

(Set curls in my forelocks
And perfume my body,
Make me look so beautiful that
Anyone who sees me is enchanted).

And in Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare, the poet advises acceptance of whatever one gets in life.

Utna hi upkar samajh koyi,
Jitna sath nibha de
Janam maran ka mel hai sapna,
Yeh sapna bisra de
Koyi na sang mare.

(Take it as a favour for as long as someone stays with you,
Staying together forever is a dream,
Forget that dream)

Entertainers

Mere Mehboob, HS Rawail’s colour film, merged out of Jubilee Rajendra Kumar’s desire to reprise the success of Dilip Kumar in Andaz, singing a song composed by Naushad, and playing the piano, “to prove that the Andaz of playing Naushad’s piano came as wistfully to one Rajendra Kumar as to the one-and-only Dilip Kumar”. In his career spanning thirteen years till then, despite a series of hits, Naushad was the music director for only Mother India, in which he played a supporting role. Naushad had just completed three Dilip Kumar megahits, Kohinoor, Mughal-e-Azam, and Ganga Jamna, giving the impression that Dilip Kumar was indispensable for his success. Envious C Ramchandra had remarked snidely, referring to the time taken by Naushad to finalise a tune, ‘he’s taken the tune to Yusuf Khan (Dilip Kumar) for him to hear before sitting down to polish it further!’. With Mere Mehboob, Naushad got the chance to disprove his critics.

Mere Mehboob is a Muslim social film, set in the Aligarh Muslim University, where part of the film was shot. When the film unit was shooting in Lucknow, a frenzied mob tore the clothes of some of the stars. So Rawail took only one shot of the crowd and completed the shooting in Hyderabad. Nimmi was offered the leading role, but she preferred the sister's role to pair with Ashok Kumar. HS Rawail gave Sadhna a different look by cutting some hair on Sadhana's forehead, setting the trend for Sadhana hair style.

Mere Mehboob is a romantic film, with elaborate sets, costumes, and locales which create the ambience effectively. Rajendra Kumar and Sadhana make a good romantic pair, and Ashok Kumar and Nimmi, acting opposite each other for the first time, perform well. Naushad’s music fulfilled the aspirations of both Rajendra Kumar and Naushad. All the songs were megahits. Rajendra Kumar played the piano for Mohammed Rafi’s song Ae Ishq zara jaag tujhe ishk pukare. The most popular song was Mere Mehboob Tujhe Meri Mohabbat Ki Qasam. HS Rawail was aghast to find that Naushad used only a few instruments for the song and complained to Rajendra Kumar, at whose instance he had signed up Naushad. The song is rendered by the hero at the farewell function in a college. Naushad explained that using a big orchestra would not have been in line with the situation. At the National Film Awards on 1963 Mere Mehboob was selected as the Second Best Feature Film in Hindi and at the Filmfare Awards, Sudhendu Roy won Best Art Direction Award. 

Taj Mahal is the story of the building of the Taj Mahal by Shah Jahan, mixing history and fiction, adding melodious songs and packaging the whole in gorgeous sets and eye-filling colour. Regal Pradeep Kumar and beautiful Bina Rai look authentic. Roshan’s music is the mainstay of the film, with Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar’s duet Jo wada kiya woh nibhana padega topping the charts. Mohammed Rafi’s solo Jo baat tujhme hai, Lata Mangeshkar’s Jurm-e-ulfat pe, and their duet Paon chhoo lene do were very popular. There was a Rajasthani dance number in which Helen, known for her cabaret dance numbers, danced beautifully, along with Madhumati, to the song Na na na re na na haath na lagana sung by Suman Kalyanpur and Minu Purushottam.

Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon  was a remake of Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957). Nasir Hussain produced the film again in colour, with fresh faces, Joy Mukherjee and Asha Parekh, in place of Shammi Kapoor and Ameeta. The music director remained unchanged. Most of the episodes were repeats, including the song sequences. Thus, Tumsa nahin dekha became Banda paravar tham lo jigar and Jawaniyan ye mast mast bin piye became Lakhon hain nigah mein and so on. All of OP Nayyar’s tunes were hits. My favourite song is Mohammed Rafi’s Aanchal me saja lena kaliyan.

Dil Hi Tho Hai, directed by PL Santoshi's was an enjoyable romantic comedy starring Raj Kapoor and Nutan with a good music score by Roshan. My favourite songs are Tumhari mast nazar, a duet by Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh’s solos Dil jo bhi kahega manenge and Tum agar mujhko na chaho, Asha Bhonsle’s beautifully rendered qawwali, Nigahen milaneko jee chahta hai, and above all, Manna Dey’s expertly sung Laga chunari mein daag.

Bluff Master, directed by Manmohan Desai, was a comedy starring Shammi Kapoor and Saira Banu with music by Kalyanji-Anandji. Ae dil ab kahin le ja sung by Hemant Kumar and Govinda ala re by Mohammed Rafi were hits.

Aayee Milan ki Bela is a romantic musical produced by J Om Prakash and directed by Mohan Kumar, starring Rajendra Kumar, Saira Banu, and Dharmendra with music by Shankar Jaikishan. It has the time-tested love triangle, with the addition of twins separated at birth. Dharmendra appears in a negative role. Mohammed Rafi’s solos, Tum Kamsin Ho Nadaan Ho and Bura Maan Gaye, Lata Mangeshkar’s solos, Main Kamsin Hoon Nadan Hoon and Tumko Hamari Umar Lag Jaye, and their duets O Sanam Tere Ho Gayen Hum and Aa Ha Ayee Milan Ki Bela were hits.

Ziddi, produced and directed by Pramod Chakravorty, starring Joy Mukherjee and Asha Parekh, is a romantic musical with music by SD Burman. Lata Mangeshkar’s Raat ka sama jhoome chandramaa, Manna Dey’s Pyar ki aag mein tan badan jal gaya and Manna Dey and Geeta Dutt’s duet Main tere pyar mein kya kya na bana dilbar were popular.