Monday, January 7, 2008

Joy Mukherjee: The successful actor of 60s.




Joy Mukherjee: The successful actor of 60s.

By: Rumi Chatterji.

Joy Mukherjee can be considered as one of the successful heroes of the 60s. Although his performances are not extra-ordinary if compared with Dilip Kumar or other quality actors of that age, his films are known for their romantic presentations and sweet music. His film Love In Simla, was one of the leading films where composer Iqbal Qureshi had provided notable music. It was also the beginning of journey of Sadhna.

Joy Mukherjee attracted the viewers with his performance in the film Ek Musafir Ek Haseena, opposite Sadhna in 1962. The black and white classic was one of the successful films of Raj Khosla which mainly revolved around the scenic beauty of Kashmir and powerful music of OP Nayyar. Songs of Rafi and Asha including “aap yu hi agar humse milte rahe”, “bahit shukriya bari meherbani”, “humko tumhare isq ne”, “phir tere shahar me”, etc. The next film Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, 1964, opposite Asha Parekh, also is remembered for superlative music of OP Nayyar. Songs like “aji kibla, mohe tarma”, “banda parawar,” “nazni bara rangeen hai wada tera,” “anchal me saja lena kaliya”, “zulf ke chayon me chehere ka ujala lekar”, etc., were masterpieces. Rafi and Asha were at their best and the colourful locations entertained the viewers along with the music.

Jou Mukherjee’s other films with Asha Parekh including Ziddi, 1964, and Love In Tokyo, 1966, were also remembered for their everlasting music. Asha Parekh showed her choreographic skills in both the films and Joy Mukherjee provide prominent lips for Rafi’s quality songs. The well known songs in Ziddi, include “pyar ki aag me tan badan jal gaya” by Manna Dey, “ai dildar ai dildar” by Mohammad Rafi, composed by SD Burman. Shankar Jaikishan improvised with Japanese tunes and blended them with eastern classical in the film Love in Tokyo, and all the songs including “o mere shahe-khuba,” “sayonara, sayonara,” “hume tum mil gaye humdum”, “le gaye dil guriya japan ki”, were super hits. This days, most of the films are picturised in foreign locations, but in the 60s, it was a beginning, so the outdoor shooting in different parts of Japan, provided added attraction for the viewers. Besides, the comedy performance of Mehmood and Rajender Nath in most of the films of Joy Mukherjee, had balanced the outstanding music composed by leading composers.

Joy Mukherjee’s film Shagird, opposite Saira Banu, made in 1967, is also known for its romantic story and powerful music. Laxmikant Pyarellal showed his skills with songs like “bare miya diwane, aise nabano”, “woh hai zara khafa khafa”, “dilvil pyar war”, etc. Rafi and Lata had provided sensational performance in these songs. In the 70s Joy Mukherjee acted in films like “ek baar muskurado”, but it could not create the same magic as his films in the 60s had provided or even the films of the late 60s like Humsaya. Joy Mukherjee faded away from the film arena in the mid-70s but whenever we recollect the soft romantic stories of the 60s Joy Mukherjee’s films are remembered along with quality films of other leading actors of bollywood.

4 comments:

A S MURTY said...

Wonderful article on Joy Mukherjee, who in my opinion was the most handsome of all heroes of Hindi Film world till date. The perfect face, the built, the physique and what lovely hair. In fact, alongwith Devanand's hairstyle, it was Joy Mukherjee who had a very charming hair style and many youngsters then used to copy the same. Among male heroes' hair styles, it was only Rajesh Khanna who could hold sway in much later years.
Coming back to Joy Mukherjee I agree that he was not quite as close to Dilip Kumar and many more where acting skills were concerned. But, it is also due to the fact that while Dilip Kumar got to exhibit his acting skills more because of the films and the scripts therein which Joy Mukherjee was not blessed with. Dilip Kumar acted in scores of historical movies and laced with the Mughal dynasty stories, the dialogues were powerful. Also there were several tragic stories in Dilip Sahab's movies while Joy Mukherjee did mostly romantic roles and easy go-bye stories. But the songs were the mainstay of his songs and Rafi Sahab provided the best of evergreen songs in Joy Mukherjee's movies. I particularly like the Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon songs like - Anchal mein saja lena Kaliyan and the duet Zulf ki chhaon mein sehere ka ujala lekar. The songs from Love in Tokyo were also too good. Good article on a hero who was sported most colourful outfits from red to blue to all-white in most of his movies and had a freshest face ever.

Supriya said...

Joy Mukherjee also performed in those films where the music composers have experimented a lot. OP Nayyar was at his best in Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Ek Musafir Ek Haseena, Shankar Jaikishan had done a marvellous job in Love In Tokyo, SD Burman was extraordinary in Ziddi, Laxmikant Pyarellal was outstanding in Shagird. Rafi also sang the songs in the style of Joy Mukherjee. While hearing the songs the listeners could very easily identify the songs with Joy Mukherjee. He had acted in few other black and white films like Ji Chahata Hai.
Supriya Chatterji.

adnan said...

Joy Mukherjee was very good actor.
he was master of romance.
he worked in one of best romantic films of indian cinema.
he was very good actor also.

sanjay kumar said...

BEST ARTICAL ON JOY....NOT SEEN FROM LONG TIME..WHERE IS HE ? HIS PERIOD, HE WAS MUSICALLY HIT....GOD BLESS HIM....RIOD, HE WAS MUSICALLY HIT....GOD BLESS HIM....