China Town
Director: Shakti Samanta
Music: Ravi
Year: 1962
Rating: 7.5/10
Length: 150 minutes
Forget it Shekhar, it's China Town.
Ok - the one in Calcutta. Where life is
cheap but musical numbers are plentiful. I haven't seen many black and white
Bollywood films so it took a while before I could adjust my eyesight but
within another year or two all the Bollywood films would be shot in glorious
color. It was directed by Shakti Samanta who was responsible for a few other
terrific films - An Evening in Paris, Aradhana, Kati Patang and The Great
Gambler. He brings a nice light comic touch to this film but when the drama
and action move to the forefront in the final third he hits the mark as well.
One major theme that you come across often
in Bollywood films is the long-term separation of family, siblings, twins
and lookalikes who are through a series of astonishing co-incidences brought
back together. Within this is the sub-genre of brothers who are separated
and as adults find themselves at odds with one another as one has gone good
while the other has taken to a life of crime. I am not sure why this theme
is so popular but it pops up again and again. As it does here.
One might wonder if the classic film "Don"
made in 1978 starring Amitabh Bachchan was influenced by this film though
they go off in different directions once under way. In Calcutta there is
a gangster/ drug dealer named Mike who has seen too many George Raft films
with the white Panama hat and long cigars who treats all around him with
disdain - even the nightclub singer who loves him. Far away in Darjeeling
there is a male nightclub singer named Shekhar who looks a bit like Wayne
Newton and who loves a well-bred girl named Rita but whose father is intent
on marrying her off to a businessman in Calcutta. The father takes her there
and Shekhar follows - in Bollywood films romantic pursuit to the point of
stalking is the operating mode. I don't know if Me too has changed that much.
Once in Calcutta it turns out that Shekhar
is the spitting double of Mike and as the film progresses we find out they
are twins and Mike was kidnapped as a child and brought up the gangster way.
The cops talk Shekhar into taking on Mike's identity, who they have in jail.
After about five minutes of training the mild mannered Shekhar goes into
the lion's den where he has to smoke opium and then breaks into a dance.
It is all rather fun with a bunch of musical numbers, some romance, comedy,
melodrama (when the two brothers realize they are brothers) and a solid bit
of action.
Much of the pleasure is because the dual
role is performed by the charming irresistible Shammi Kapoor. This is a perfect
role for Shammi as he gets to display his comic touch, his dancing moves
and surprisingly some good action bits. He is fairly svelete in the film
but within a few years he was to eat way too many chappatis and put on some
weight but was always light on his feet. He seems to quite enjoy being able
to play the thug brother as it wasn't something he got to do much of once
he became a star. And for the cherry on the top, the nightclub singer Suzie
is played by the great Helen who always got tagged with a foreign name because
of her mixed heritage. But she was the best female dancer in the 60's and
70's though often in Item roles but here she has a large role.
After a puff of opium Shammi dances
The music is fairly low key as are the
numbers with no jumps to the Swiss Alps or Kashmir - all fairly realistic
- but the music from Ravi and Majrooh Sultanpur is excellent. The singing
is by two other legends - Mohammed Rafi & Asha Bhosle. Rafi almost always
did the singing for Shammi throughout his career. This by no means is considered
a classic but it is quite enjoyable. I have a fondness for the Bollywood
films and stars from the 1960's.
Don't expect to see a lot of Chinese in
China Town - a few Chinese motifs and two Indians made up to look sort of
Chinese in the same way that was done in American films.
