Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval were excellent in film Kisi Se Na Kehna.

Actors Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval were a brilliant intellectual pair who stormed Bollywood films in the 1980s. They were cast in different experimental characters after the pair of Naseeruddin Smita Patil and Om Puri Shabana Azmi. Kisi Se Na Kehna was a light-hearted comedy film made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in 1983. The film was produced by Ashok Raut or Jayant Pathare. The music was composed by Bappi Lahiri. In the film Farooq Sheikh became the general manager of the firm run by SN Banerjee. He fell in love with Deepti Naval who was the niece of SN Banerjee. Utpal Dutta, the father of Farooq Sheikh wanted to get him married to girl who knew Indian traditions and did not know the language. Utpal Dutta himself went to see a number of girls and found that the ones who were modern learned poor culture and were disrespectful towards elders. He asked Farooq Sheikh to marry only that girl who knew not a single letter of English. Sayeed Jaffery helped Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval to get married. He asked Deepti Naval and SN Banerjee to pretend that they were from the village and never heard any English word in life. Deepti Naval faced huge trouble as she was a learned doctor, but she managed the false relationship. Deven Verma, her cousin brother was the relief character in the film who was seen with different girlfriends at different times. At the end of the film when Utpal Dutta faced a heart attack, Deepti Naval had to give an injection to save him and told the truth. At the beginning Utpal Dutta told her to leave his house but after hearing the version from Sayeed Jaffery reconciled the situation. Hrishikesh Mukherjee gave a great message in the film. He showed the world that development is not based on roughness created by advanced education but the humbleness earned by traditional knowledge. Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval after creating havoc with brilliant performances in the films Saath Saath, Katha, Chasme Badoor, continued the dream run in the film Kisi Se Na Kehna. Utpal Dutta had a class of his own when it came to acting. Right from negative roles in the films Barsaat Ki Ek Raat to comedy roles in Golmaal and social roles in Kisi Se Na Kehna, he became the pride of the industry in character roles. Sayeed Jaffery was a great actor and showed his class in films like Shatranj Ki Khiladi, Masoom and many other films. The music of Bappi Lahiri was impressive with Asha Bhosle’s song “kisi se na kehna” which was very soft and melodious. The film should be restored and preserved.

Happy birthday to Rajesh Khanna.

Happy birthday to Rajesh Khanna.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Rajesh Khanna on 29^th December, 2011. He had remained one of the most popular actors of 70s, before Amitabh Bacchan entered the film arena and gave birth to action films. The other reason why Rajesh Khanna is remembered even today was for the melodious music that he got from Kalyanji Anandji, RD Burman, Salil Choudhury, Laxmikant Pyarellal and other composers.

Although he started his career with films like Akhri Khat, Raaz, etc., in the late 60s, he got recognition with Shakti Shamanta’s super hit film Aradhana which was released in 1969. In the 70s, Rajesh Khanna had a dream run with films of different directors including Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Asit Sen, Shakti Samanta and others.

Most of his films from 1971 to 1973, were super hit. And the music of these films created history. The songs of the film Anand, composed by Salil Choudhury were super hit, including “kahin door jab din dhal jaye”, “maine tere liye hi saat rang” sung by Mukesh and “zindagi kaisi hai peheli” sung by Manna Dey. The songs of the film Aan Milo Sajna composed by LP became super hit including Rafi’s song “aan milo sajna” and Kishore’s song “accha to hum chalte hai”.

The songs of the film Amar Prem composed by RD Burman became super hit including KK’s song “chingari koi bharke”, “kuch to log kahenge”, etc. Amar Prem was the hindi version of Uttam Kumar’s famour Bengali film Nishipadda. Similarly the songs of the film Kati Patang composed by RD Burman became super hit including songs of KK like “ai shaam mastani”, Mukesh’s song “jis gali me”, etc.

Similarly songs of the film Safar composed by Kalyanji Anandji became super hit. Kishore’s song “zindagi ka safar” can be considered as one of the best songs that he sang during his long career. The songs of the film Namak Haram composed by RD Burman, Roti composed by LP, Raaz composed by Kalyanji Anandji, Bawarchi composed by Madanmohan, were all very successful.

Rajesh Khanna created a romantic image and his films opposite various actresses like Sharmila Tagore in films like Aradhana, Amar Prem, Mumtaz in Aap Ki Kasam, Asha Parekh in Kati Patang, Aan Milo Sajna, Tanuja in Mere Jeevan Saathi, Hema Malini in Mehbooba, and others created an era of romantic films. He became a role model for the younger generation.

Rajesh Khanna was remembered as the next door neighbour’s character. Other than the commercial films he acted in Asit Sen’s Safar, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anand, Shakti Shamanta’s Amar Prem, where the central character was a human being having human feelings.

But from the time Amitabh Bacchan entered the film arena he not only dethroned Rajesh Khanna but more than that changed the dimension of bollywood films. He played anti-establishment characters and persuaded other superstars like Vinod Khanna, Shatrughun Sinha, Dharmender, Firoz Khan, Sunil Dutt and others to play similar type of roles.

Action films dominated bollywood industry and films like Sholay, Deewar, Kalicharan, Burning Train, Jugnu, Zakhmee, Dharmatma faded away Rajesh Khanna’s romantic films like Soutan, Prem Nagar and other films.

Rajesh Khanna’s wife Dimple Kapadia established herself into one of the most powerful actresses of bollywood films with success in Saagar, Jaanbaaz, Rudaali, Lekin, Krantiveer, etc.

Even then Rajesh Khanna continued acting for another 20 years and is even seen in a recent film in a role of an old person. Even Rishi Kapoor did cast him in his directorial venture title A ab laut chale. He had received filmfare best actor award a number of times and also received lifetime achievement award.

                        Rajesh Khanna Sharmila Tagore in Aradhana.

The viewers expect Rajesh Khanna to contribute in character roles the way Big B, Vinod Khanna and other veteran actors have done over the years.

Shankar Jaikishan was sublime in Anari.

Shankar Jaikishan was sublime in Anari.

Shankar Jaikishan was brilliant in almost all the films of Raj Kapoor, right from Barsaat to Mera Naam Joker, during a span of 22 years. Among them Anari was one of the films where Shankar Jaikishan’s work stands out.

Anari was producedby Raj Kapoor and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Raj Kapoor, Nutan, Motilal, Lalita Power and Subha Khote were the main actors and actresses in the film. Raj Kapoor received the filmfare award for the best actor for his performance in the film.

Shankar Jaikishan’s compositions were unique and meaningful. Mukesh’s song “kisiki muskurahaton pe ho nisar” reminded the viewers of Raj Kapoor’s prelude oriented beginning. Shankar Jaikishan did the same thing in Awara in the song “awara hoon”.

The use of accordion was outstanding in the song “sab kuch sikha humne na sikhi hoshieri”. Mukesh received the filmfare award for the same song. Manna Dey’s song 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 was a fast number where Helen showed her dancing skills.

Lata Mangeshkar’ s song “banke panchi gaye pyar ka tarana” was very melodious followed by the chorus group. Nutan was riding in bicycle along with her friends. All of them gave able lips and the song was as good as the picturization.

Two romantic duets were sung by Mukesh and Lata including “dil kis nazar se” and “yeh chand khila” were the soft orchestration of Shankar Jaikishan was very touching. Lata’s solo song “tera jaana” was brilliant by every musical standard.

The film had a great message to give, that the honest, innocent persons in the metros were susceptible to be cheated in the complex world. Raj Kapoor represented one of those characters. While the direction, editing, dialogues, every part of the film was par excellence the music was superf.

Shankar Jaikishan rose up to the standard expected in RK films. The film and the music should be preserved.

Songs in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films.

Songs in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s films

Hrishikesh Mukherjee had directed successful films from the 50s to 90s, and in most of his films music played a significant part. In Anari, Shankar Jaikishan composed music for the film, where Raj Kapoor and Nutan played the leading roles. Songs like “sub kuch sikha humne”, “kisiki muskarahato pe ho nisar”, “banke panchi”, etc., sung by Mukesh and Lata became landmark hits in the late 50s.

In Anand, Salil Chowdhury’s composition “zindagi kasi hai paheli”, “kahi door jab din dhal jaye”, sung by Manna Dey and Mukesh and picturised on Rajesh Khanna became extremely popular and the film also became hit. In Abhimaan, the songs “tere mere Milan ki”, “meet na mila”, sung by Kishore Kumar and composed by SD Burman, became hits. Big B and Jaya Bachhan did their best in the film.

In Chupke Chupke, the songs “chupke chupke”, “saregama”, sung by KK, Rafi and Lata, and composed by SD Burman, became very successful. Dharmender, Sharmila Tagore, Big B and Jaya Bacchan were successful to show their comedy impulse in the film which was remake of Uttam Kumar’s hit film Chaddobeshi.

In Golmaal, the songs “anewala pal”, sung by Kishore and composed by RD Burman, became extremely popular in the early 80s. It was picturised on Amol Palekar and he balanced the strong personality of Utpal Dutt in the seriocomic film.

Also in the film Milli, the songs “bari suni suni”, and “maine kahan phulo se” became big hits. The songs were composed by SD Burman and picturised on Big B and Jaya Bacchan.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee maintained the same standard of music even in the film Jhoot Bole Cowa Kate, in the 90s, where Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla played the leading roles. The songs sung by Udit Narayan became very successful.


The films and the songs should be restored as the songs were used very well by Hrishikesh Mukherjee according to the requirements of the sequences in his films.


By: CR Chatterji.