Mere Sanam – Good; but could have been GREAT with Shammi Kapoor

The movie opens indicating that the hero (Biswajeet) is very rich. He drives a big pink car (not sure if it is a Cadillac :-)) to his office.



Pink Car - Is that a cadillac...?

In the office he has multiple phones on the table (and very little of anything else) which in the 60s movies showed that this was the office of a rich guy. He gets a call from his “uncle” (Nassir Hussein) and drives home where his uncle informs him that his marriage has been “fixed”. Pretty cheesy opening, if you ask me. The uncle is actually hero’s father’s friend who has taken care of the hero after his father died.
But then the hero goes to Kashmir on work – don’t know what work, since once he goes there you don’t see him do any of it – but the movie definitely takes a big turn for the good.

The road in Kashmir...

 He runs into the heroine (Asha Parekh) and her friends –all of whom are on bicycles – the hero is in the jeep – and he sings “Pukarata chala hoon main” – one of Rafi’s wonderful romantic songs… This scene is filmed on a road which has been seen in many movies from the 60s – there is this wonderful road somewhere in Kashmir, with poplar trees on both sides, very quiet and idyllic – I want to go and see that road someday…

Anyway, but from this point onwards, the movie is a lot of fun – hero has a bungalow in Kashmir which the estate manager(Pran – so obviously the villain :-)) has turned into a hotel – (The origin of this concept is “Come September”, but then it got picked up for Kashmir Ki Kali too – though neither Mere Sanam nor Kashmir Ki Kali are copies of Come September in any way except this concept of the manager converting hero’s house/chateau/bungalow into a hotel. ) – Heroine’s mother (Achala Sachdev) is a matron for girls’ hostel and she is staying at this hotel with the heroine and 10 other girls for summer. The hotel’s manager (Dhumal) and his son (Rajendranath) are there to add to the craziness. What a wonderful setting for hero and heroine to get to know each other!

Hum dum mere maan bhi jao

Our hero, of course falls in love with the heroine and runs after her singling wonderful songs like “Hue hai tum pe ashiq hum bura maano bhala maano” and “Humdum mere maan bhi jao kehna mere pyaar ka” The heroine first resists and then falls in love with the hero and they sing “Roka kai baar maine dil ki umang ko”.

Hue hai tum pe ashiq hum - Doesnt Biswajeet seem to be trying too hard?

Things are all good; but then enters the vamp – a very young and chubby Mumtaaz, playing the sultry seductress – and boy! She has such oomph!!! She is drop dead gorgeous. And she sings “Yeh hai reshami zulfon ka andhera” – one of Asha’s best!

But of course hero being this “good guy” she can’t really do much. But the villain manages to click some photos of the two together and show them to the heroine…

On the other hand, hero’s uncle, who has arrived in Kashmir is living on finding out that the hero is now refusing to go ahead with the fixed marriage and is in love with the heroine, who does not know who her father is. He goes to the place where the heroine is staying and says nasty things to her.
In the meantime, an old servant recognizes the heroine’s mother to be wife of the hero’s uncle – which makes the heroine, the hero’s uncle’s daughter. Good that they tell us in the beginning itself that the hero and the uncle are not actually related to each other. :-)

Anyway – after a lot of running around, after the villain has committed a couple of murders and tried to put the blame on the hero; after he has also tried to kill the here; and the clincher – after he has kidnapped the heroine with the intention of marrying her (of course against her will!) for her estate – finally the hero and the heroine get together; the uncle and his estranged wife get together and give their blessings to the young couple!

Only Rajendranath could do this...

The movie has some wonderful scenes and dialogs – heroine and her friends get to crack some good jokes at the expense of the hero as well as the villain. The humor in the movie is good with Rajendranath playing a big role in it but supported well by likes of Asit Sen and Dhumal  – the scene in the hotel where Rajendranath is trying to hide or get away from the people chasing him is absolutely crazy – its over the top but quite clean comedy – the kind that only Rajendranath could do.
Even Biswajeet and Asha Parekh get good comedy scenes – like the one where the heroine and the gang tamper with the hero’s jeep right in the beginning; like the way Biswajeet is mistaken to be a thief right after “Hue hain tume ashiq hum”

The movie is not made by Nassir Hussein (the producer director and not the actor mentioned above) but it has the same feel.

Haji haji haji aray haji baba - with that thin vail, she is disguised and not recognized - only in Hindi movie land

Music is by O. P. Nayyar and Rafi and Asha have sung some of their best songs for this movie. Asha gets to sing three solos – “Jaaiye aap kaha jaaenge”  and “Haji haji haji aray haji baba” right at the end for Asha Parekh and “Yeh hai reshami zulfon ka andhera” for Mumtaaz. And while all three are good – Yeh hai reshami is definitely the winner – both for the singing and the visuals. Rafi sings “Pukarata chala hoon main” –  that is the first song in the movie and it sets the mood absolutely beautifully. The other two light hearted solos he sings – “Hue hain tum pe ashiq hum” and “Hum dum mere” are also wonderful but pukarata is definitely the best. Towards the end there is “tukade hai mere dil kai” – a very soulful song – sung very softly by Rafi. And of course there is mandatory duet – “roka kai baar” – which too is good. Like many movies from this period – the music is really good and definitely adds to the overall appeal of the movie.

Biswajeet - Shammi style out and out!

I guess after Shammi Kapoor became successful, a lot of movies were “written” for him. I think this is definitely one of those. The hero’s role has Shammi Kapoor written all over it. In fact, I think Biswajeet was asked “to be like” Shammi for this movie – the way he moves, his expressions, even the songs he does – he seems to be doing all these the way Shammi would do them. When he sings “Hue hai tum pe ashiq hum” on a motor boat, the way he stands, the way he claps – it is ALL Shammi style. I think this was a movie made for Shammi but for some reason he could not do it and so was made with Biswajeet.

Tukade hai mere dil ke - this should have been a Shammi Kapoor song

This is a good, fun movie with a lot of things working for it and I really enjoy it for most part. BUT! But, every time I watch it, I can’t help but think how GREAT the movie would have been if Shammi had played the hero’s role. How I wish “pukarata chala hoon main”  and “tukade hai mere dil ke” were Shammi’s songs…
This is one of those Shammi Kapoor movies for me, without Shammi Kapoor. That means, you have to “imagine” him in the hero’s place. :-)

So watch this movie – for the music; for Asha Parekh – for her pertness; for Rajendranath  and the kind of humor that only he could bring; definitely for Mumtaaz and her oomph – and last but not the least to imagine Shammi Kapoor doing the lead role :-)…