Shammi Kapoor is up to his
usual rambunctous antics in this comic melodrama (80% comedy, 20% melodrama)
that was directed by Shakti Samanta. Samanta had already directed Shammi in
Chinatown and later was to direct him in the wonderful An Evening in Paris.
In that film Shammi co-stars with the impish Sharmila Tagore. Her Hindi film
debut was this film but she had appeared in a few Bengali films. Not just
any Bengali films but two that were directed by Satyajit Ray. The Tagore family
is one of Calcutta's (now Kolkata) most prominant families. Her son is Saif
Ali Khan (who is married to Kareena Kapoor).
Most of the film is a corny light romantic comedy that is filled to the
brim with a number of catchy songs from OP Nayyer. Then in typical Bollywood
style, it is bombarded with absurd co-incidences that turn it on a dime to
even more absurd melodrama. But I have come to like and expect that sort
of thing. There are numerous films with strangers who turn out to be brothers
separated at birth or orphans who later find out the woman who cleans the
house is their mother. A favorite and a fabulous film is the 1973 Yadoon
Ki Baaraat in which three strangers band together to fight the bad guys only
to realize they are brothers. And on an emotional level it usually works
as silly as it is. In this one though, it is so convoluted that it is hard
to buy.
Here the character that Shammi plays is a son who has come of age to run
the family mill. In his speech to the workers he sounds like a communist and
gives them five million rupees. His mother is worried he will give it all
away and decides she must get him married. That will teach him responsibility.
Shammi scares away the first group of potential brides by acting like a crazy
man and then skips off to their summer home in Kashmir. It takes him about
five minutes to fall in love with Sharmila, who is a flower girl.
And of course her father is blind and she supports him. Shammi ptetends
to be the driver of a rich man so that the difference in status won't scare
her off. Lots of songs, near kisses and silliness follows. Till crunch time
and everything gets turned about. The villain is of course Pran who wants
to marry Sharmila as well. What would a film be without Pran's sneering appearance.
Pran was in 380 films from 1949 to 2007 and I would bet he is the bad guy
in nearly all of them.
