Film maker Raj Kapoor’s super hit romantic film ‘Bobby’ has completed 50 years and this occasion takes us down memory lane to recall the success formula of this film. Today, besides the showman even the hero of this film –Rishi Kapoor is not there to witness 50 years of his film and so are other legends like Pran, Premnath, Durga Khote, Radhu Karmakar( cinematographer) and Laxmikant ( from Laxmikant Pyarelal music director duo). But, Dimple Kapadia who played the title role in this film will be happy to witness this happy occasion along with few others like Prem Chpra, Aruna Irani & Farida Jalal.

Even today, if this film is released in theatres, it will invite the young generation in large number. Those days, Filmfare awards were the only popular awards for appreciation and ‘Bobby’ had bagged five filmfare awards at the 21^st Filmfare awards. These awards were for Best actor- Rishi Kapoor, Best actress- Dimple Kapadia, Best Male Playback Singer- Narendra Chanchal, Best Art Direction- A Rangraj & Best Sound Design- Allauddin Khan Qureshi.

The story of this film was about the love between teenagers from Mumbai belonging to different classes i.e.Raj ( Raj Nath) , the son of a rich Hindu businessman ( Pran) and Bobby Braganza (Dimple Kapadia) daughter of Jack Braganza( Premnath) a simple Goan Christian Fisherman. But, the gripping screenplay of this film written by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas and V.P.Sathe, supported by perfect direction of  showman Raj Kapoor and eight memorable songs by music directors Laxmikant-Pyarelal invited all the attention of the audience.

On 10^th of this month, Zee Classic channel  showed Amitabh Bachchan’s super hit film ‘Trishul’ coinciding with his 80^th birthday . Directed by Yash Chopra and produced by Gulshan Rai, this film took me down memory lane, when Mr. Amitabh Bachchan was at the peak of his film career as a super hero and a popular angry young man of Hindi cinema. The character of Vijay Kumar born to a mother ( Waheeda Rehman)  deserted by his rich biological father R.K. Gupta ( Sanjeev Kumar) only to marry a woman, from a rich family.

Having spent his childhood, watching his mother’s struggle, Vijay Kumar decides to teach a lesson to to R.K. Gupta, after his mother’s death. He arrives in Delhi and does all his planning to enter the construction business without a penny in his hand, only with  his determination and self condidence. His famous dialogue written by Salim Javed in this film, while addressing Sanjeev Kumar says a lot of his self confidence.”Mr. R.K. Gupta, Main aap ke saath Panch Lakh ka sauda karne aaya hoon, aur mere Jeb mein panch phuti kavadiyan bhi nahi hai..” This clearly showed the confidence of a promising young man on a mission.”   

‘Trishul’ was a multi starrer film with other popular artistes like Shashi Kapoor, Rakhi, Hema Malini, Sachin, Poonam Dhillon and others, but it was Amitabh Bachchan and his confrontation with Sanjeev Kumar with confident looking dialogues impressed the most .Good music by Khayyam offered some memorable songs like ‘Mohabbat Bade Kaam Ki cheez hai’, ‘Janeman Tum Kamaal Karte ho’,’ Aap Ki Mahekti hui zulf ’, and ‘Gapoochi Gapoochi Gam Gam’ to add more value to this film. Last but not the least, Amitabh Bachchan was nominated in Best Actor’s category for the 26^th Filmfare awards for his performance in this film, besides ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikander’ and ‘Don’ and he bagged the award for ‘Don’. This clearly indicated his rising popularity during that period.

Today, after 44 years, ‘Trishul’ is still remembered as a ‘classic’ film for AB’s performance    , and  is a worth watch on your television screen .

Rating (****)

Directed by Gulzar, written by Kamleshwar and produced by J. Om Prakash & Gulzar, sensible Hindi film ‘Aandhi’ which was a political drama was released on 14^th February 1975. Starring Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen in lead roles, this film celebrates 47 years.

‘Aandhi’ had won the prestigious Filmfare Best Film (Critics) award, while Sanjeev Kumar won the best actor ( Male) award. The film had received total 7 nominations in different categories. Another highlight of this film was its mesmerising music by Rahul Dev Burman and meaningful lyrics by Gulzar and the combination worked very well. Songs like ‘Tere Bina Zindagi  Se…’ , ‘Tum Aa Gaye Ho Noor…’, Ess Mod Se Jate hai…’ are still fresh in our memory even after 47 years.

After the release of ‘Zanjeer’ Amitabh Bachchan had suddenly emerges as the new angry young man of Hindi films. And therefore, 18 months later when Yash Chopra’s film ‘Deewaar’ was released on 24^th January 1975, all eyes were on this hero, who became more popular with his character of Vijay Verma, who rises from a humble dockyard worker to a powerful smuggler. At one point he faces the challenge from his brother, who comes to know of his deeds and asks him to surrender. Their dear mother also suggests him the same and prefers to stay with her Police Inspector son played by Shashi Kapoor who is a duty bound young police officer.

The film is known for its well presented screenplay and powerful dialogues written by popular pair Salim-Javed. ‘Deewar’ did very good business at the box office and is still watched on social media as one of the best films of director Yash Chopra. Yesterday 24^th January, the film celebrated 47 years since its release and taking us down memory lane with those famous dialogues of Mr. Bachchan in this film. This film had won seven filmfare awards with Amitabh Bachchan declared as best actor and Shashi Kapoor ( who played his brother) and Nirupa Roy ( who played his mother) bagging the best supporting actor and actress awards respectively.

Some films remain in your memory even five decades after their release. ‘Sachha Jhutha’ is one of them. Though this film was released in May 1970 in other territories, it was released in Mumbai on 25^th September 1970. Now, after 51 years, this film reminds us of the good old days of Superstar Rajesh Khanna. This film is also one of those 17 consecutive hit films Rajesh Khanna gave between 1968 and 1971. Produced by Vinod Doshi and directed by Manmohan Desai, this film besides Rajesh Khanna had Mumtaz and Vinod Khanna in lead roles and Naaz played the important emotion filled role of Rajesh Khanna’s sister.  

Rajesh Khanna’s double role was the highlight of this film, as his well wishers enjoyed watching him as Bhola the hero and a Ranjit Kumar as villain on the screen from start till end. But, at the3 same time Vinod Khanna’s CID Inspector Pradhan was equally impressive with Mumtaz also playing a CID inspector for a change. The five songs in this film composed by Kalyanji Anandji also became popular to add to film’s success. Last but not the least, it was the magic of Manmohan Desai who very well knew the taste of the audience those days.

Released on 23^rd July 1971, Sunil Dutt’s film ‘Reshma aur Shera’ has completed 50 years. Produced and directed by Sunil Dutt under his banner Ajanta Arts, this film had Waheeda Rehman and Sunil Dutt playing the title characters of Reshma and Shera respectively. But, this film also had Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan , Rakhee, Ranjeet, K.N.Singh and Sulochana Didi, a in important roles.

This film was acclaimed by national and international critics and was nominated at the 22^nd Berlin International film festival. It was also selected as Indian entry in the best foreign language film at the 44^th Academy Awards. ‘Reshma aur Shera’ won three national awards, i.e. Best actress- Waheeda Rehman, Best music- Jaidev and best Cinematography – Ramachandra; which was a big honour. Most of the shooting of this film had taken place in the deserts of Rajasthan. Though actors Sunil Dutt and Vinod Khanna are no more amongst us today, it’s a big honour for other living legends like Waheeda Rehman, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhee, Ranjeet and Sulochana Didi,  to watch their film celebrating 50 years.

Produced by Lalit Kala Mandir and directed by Arabind Sen film ‘Maryada’ has completed 50^th Golden Jubilee year. This film starring popular artistes Mala Sinha, Rajesh Khanna and Raaj Kumar was released on 16^th July  1971 and was one of the 17 consecutive hit films of Rajesh Khanna between the period 1969 to 1971. Actually, other 15 films were Rajesh Khanna’s solo hero films and this film and Andaz had him in parallel roles with other heroes.

Written by Satish Bhatnagar on the story of Surhid Kar, ‘Maryada’ was a tragedy based film, but Kalyanji Anandji’s music provided musical entertainment with popular singers like Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle providing some memorable songs, which had become very popular those days. Special mention for songs like ‘Zuban Pe dard bhari dastaan…’ by Mukesh, ‘Gussa Itna haseen …’ by Kishoreda, Mohabbat Ke suhane din..’ by Mohammed Rafi and ‘Chupke se Dil de de…’ by Kishore/ Lata; which are still fresh in our memory even after 50 years. Today, both the heroes are no more with us. So, let us wish the lead actress Mala Sinha on this occasion.

15^th June 2001 was a big day for directors Ashutosh Govarikar and Anil Sharma and also two popular actors of that period, namely Aamir Khan and Sunny Deol. Their films ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Gadar- Ek Prem Kahani’ were released on this day. Both were big banner films and had different subjects. It was very difficult to predict which film would achieve success at Box office. But, both the films turned out to be Super hits.

Both these films created new records. Hindi Film lovers enjoyed watching these two films in cinema halls with full house on many occasions, because of their well presented screenplay and music. ‘Lagaan’ was also  India’s entry to Oscars and getting the nomination was a big achievement on Global platform.  Moreover, ‘Lagaan’ also won maximum awards at the prestigious Filmfare awards, in spite of competition from films like ‘Gadar’,’Dil Chahata Hai’ ‘Asoka’ and ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’. 15^th June takes us down memory lane and revives our memories about their joint releases on this day.

Super star of yesteryears Rajesh Khanna’s film ‘Apna Desh’ which was a remake of 1969 Telugu film ‘Kathanayakudu’ has entered its 50^th year, since its release on 26^th May 1972. Now, celebrating its Golden Jubilee year, this film was a box office hit those days and celebrated Silver Jubilee. The reason of the film’s success was obviously Rajesh Khanna’s rising popularity, having given 15 consecutive hit films earlier during the period 1969 to 1971.

Moreover, along with his co star in this film Mumtaz, he had given hit films earlier like ‘Do Raaste’,’Bandhan’,’Sachha Jhutha’, & ‘Dushman’. The songs of this film had also popularised those days with Music director of the film R.D. Burman also offering playback with Asha Bhosle for the hit song  ‘Duniya Mein Logon Ko…’ . Produced by Venus Pictures and directed by Jambu, this film which also stars Om Prakash, Jagdeep, Madan Puri, Manmohan Krishna, Kanhaiyalal and others and is available for viewing on Zee 5 app.

Produced by L.B.Thakur and directed by successful director Hrishikesh Mukherjee , Comedy thriller film ‘Buddha Mil Gaya’ was released on 15^th April 1971 and therefore celebrates 50 years today. Starring handsome Navin Nischol,  Archana( Jayashree Gupta) , Sonia Sahani, Deven Verma , Aruna Irani, Asit Sen, Lalita Pawar and others, the film had successful run at the box office those days. This was because of a different story line and lovely songs which had become very popular. But above all, it was  veteran Om Prakash who played a memorable lifetime role. 

‘Raat Kali Ek Khwab Mein Aayi..’ , ‘Bhali Bhali Si Ek Surat , Bhala Sa Ek Naam…’ ‘Aayo Kahanse Ghanshyam…’ are few songs which had become very popular and are still on our lips. Thanks to R.D. Burman for his brilliant. Ace cinematographer Jaywant Pathare the favourite iof Hrishikesh Mukherjee had shot this film.

Today, while celebrating 50 years of this film, I don’t know how many team members of this film are still alive. With no information available on Archana the lead actress who quit her acting profession to marry her college friend Yogesh Motwani and no whereabouts of Sonia Sahani available, wishing Aruna Iranai one of the artistes of this film, who is still active with her acting profession.