Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman in Teesri Kasam (1966)

This film script is adapted from Phanishwar Nath’s short story, ‘Mare Gaye Gulfam’. Produced by the great lyricist, Shailendra, it became famous as his nemesis, as the financial strains and stresses of making the film over four years, followed by its box-office failure, led to his early death. However, it won the national award, the President’s Gold Medal for best feature film of 1966.

Hiraman (Raj Kapoor) is a bullock cart-driver who, after escaping from a police raid, makes his first vow in the film, which is that he will not carry stolen goods. After an accident, his second vow is that he will not carry bamboo. He takes a passenger to a mela (fair) who turns out to be a performer in nautanki (popular song and dance shows), Hirabai (Waheeda Rehman). On the way they talk and she is taken with his simplicity and his songs, in particular the tale of Mahua, a girl who is sold by her stepmother. Hiraman is in awe of Hirabai’s beauty and is happy to spend a few days at the fair to see her performances. When another spectator calls her a prostitute, he gets into a brawl and Hirabai tells him he has no right to fight on her behalf, although she is moved by the fact that he regards her as a respectable woman.

When she rejects the advances of the landowner (Iftikhar, unusually in a negative role), she decides that she has to leave the company. Hiraman returns to bid her farewell as her train leaves the village. He makes his third vow (teesri kasam), that he will not carry a nautanki performer again.

Although Raj Kapoor is somewhat old for his character, and both he and Waheeda look too upmarket for the roles, she excels in some wonderful dances and, as the relationship between them develops, in particular the last scenes when they part, we are no longer conscious of any discrepancy between the actors and the roles.

The film was shot by Subrata Mitra, who is most famous as the cameraman on Pather Panchali and many of Ray’s films, as well as several early Merchant—Ivory productions. In the beautiful shots of the country, of the bullock carts, of villages and rivers, as well as of the train and the nautanki performances, the influence of Bimal Roy on Basu Bhattacharya is clear.

The songs by Shankar—Jaikishan and the apposite lyrics of Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri are memorable and well placed within the film. The songs Mukesh has for Raj Kapoor — ‘Sajjan re jhoot mat bolo’ and ‘Duniya bananewaale’ — set the scene and define his character, while those performed by Waheeda such as ‘Paan khaaye saiyan hamaro’, express her image of glamour and fragility – Rachel Dwyer

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1966, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Image Makers, Director –Basu Bhattacharya, Music Director – Shankar Jaikishan, Cast - Iftekhar, Raj Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Dulari, Asit Sen, Dubey, Krishna Dhawan, Vishwa Mehra, Shailendra

C.I.D (1956)

This is one of Hindi cinema’s few experiments with film noir. It engages with the genre fully, down to its rainy night street scenes and relentless emphasis on icons of modernity, such as telephones, cars, guns, newspapers and houses with sliding panels, trapdoors, etc. Inder Raj Anand took elements of film noir and mixed them with many other styles to form a total hybrid in the distinctive style of Hindi movies. The film’s plot is not too exciting but the visuals and music are impressive.

After a network of phone calls, the editor of the Times of India is murdered and Inspector Shekhar (Dev Anand) of the CID brought in to investigate. He hijacks a car driven by a young woman, Rekha (Shakila) to chase the murderer but she throws away the car key. Aided by Master (Johnny Walker), Shekhar captures the murderer but is then taken to see a mysterious woman, Kamini (Waheeda Rehman), who warns him not to pursue his investigation further. Meanwhile, he finds out that Rekha is in fact his superintendent’s daughter, and romance blossoms. Shekhar is framed for the killing of the murderer in jail but escapes, and is helped by Kamini to bring the story to a conclusion.

This film clearly reveals how Dev Anand early in his career established his style as ‘Debonaire Dev’, a persona which was later to become very mannered. This was Waheeda’s debut in Hindi films and she is presented as an image of total female beauty. She would have a long career as a major star, first as a romantic heroine over two decades, then playing older characters. There is also a comic subplot focused on a lower-class couple, with the popular comedian Johnny Walker (who took his name from the whisky) as a tailor and petty crook.

The film’s songs form a superb collection of music, and the collaboration between music director O. P. Nayyar and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri is ideally suited to the modern, urban nature of the movie. As well as having audio value outside the film as great songs, they are also employed skillfully to advance the action as well as being used as themes. The song picturisation is stunning too, whether they are shot as romance in the countryside, as village girls (in film/ costumes) fetch water from the river (‘Nadi kinare gaoun re’), or in the romantic duet ‘Aankhon hi aankhon mein’, or are shot in Bombay’s public spaces. The city is also shown as boasting locations for romance, including the sea fronts, which have long been places where lovers meet. The question of romance is first raised with one of the most popular songs, ‘Leke pehla pehla pyaar’, during which Dev Anand walks along the sea front behind Shakila, accompanied by two professional singers. (This would become Dev Anand’s trademark, walking rather than dancing through songs.) One of the most famous songs from the film is about the city of Bombay itself — ‘E dil hai mushkil’.

These song picturisations reveal that Raj Khosla was very much a disciple of Guru Dutt and the style he took from the Anand brothers’ Navketan banner. He had a rather uneven career in terms of success and genre, as his range included thrillers and cop films but also some huge hits, including Mera gaon mera desh and the ‘woman’s weepie’ Main tulsi tere aangan ki.

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1956, Genre – Crime, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Guru Dutt Films, Director – Raj Khosla, Music Director – O.P Nayyar, Cast - Shakila, Waheeda Rehman, Kumkum, Sheela Vaz, Dev Anand, Bir Sakuja, Johnny Walker, K. N. Singh

Waheeda Rehman, Baby Naaz and Guru Dutt in Kaagaz ke Phool (1959)

This is often said to the be the film that marked Guru Dutt’s mental decline towards suicide, as its failure at the box office led to his refusal to direct another film. Many believe that he actually directed Sahib bibi our ghulam (1961) and Chaudhvin ka chand (1960), in which he starred, but that he did not want to be named as the director. However, this seems to have much to do with the confusion between the author, Guru Dutt, and the character he plays in this film, Suresh Sinha. A further echo of ‘real life’ was the fact that, just as the married Suresh Sinha was in love with Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), so Guru Dutt was said to be in love with his leading actress, with his marriage to playback singer Geeta Dutt breaking down. This whole feel of the film, which exposed too much about the director and the film industry, is sometimes cited to explain why the film did poorly on release but

became a classic in subsequent years. It seems more likely that the film’s dark mood was not initially appealing, but that its other qualities led to its subsequent appreciation.

The film traces the fall of the film director, Sinha, who, as the maker of Devdas, is presumably loosely based on P. C. Barua. His decline is both personal and professional, ending in his death in his director’s chair. Kaagaz ke phool is an unusual film, in that the hero’s marriage has broken down beyond repair. He is separated from his wife, Bina (Veena), at least in part because her snobbish upper-class family look down on his work in the film industry. The relationship between the two is ambiguous. Suresh falls in love with another woman, Shanti (hired to play Paro in the film), who is presented as pure and good. While she seems willing to enter into a relationship with him, even though he is married, his daughter from his first marriage persuades her that this relationship is damaging his family. When she withdraws from the film world to take solace in teaching, Suresh falls into a downward spiral of alcoholism and self-hatred, and his professional life collapses.

It is said that Sahir Ludhianvi had fallen out with S. D. Burman after they both worked on Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, so the pairing could not be repeated. The lyrics of Kaifi Azmi include some happy numbers, but its main songs foreground the betrayal of relationships (‘Dekhi zamaane ki yaari’) and the impermanence of the self and of love (‘Wagt ne kiya’).

The first Indian film to be shot in CinemaScope, it is notable, like most of Guru Dutt’s films, for the superb black-and-white photography of V. K. Murthy. The use of lighting and shots creates an atmosphere of beauty, half in love with death, that is very much in the Romantic tradition as well as that of Urdu poetry.

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1959, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Guru Dutt Films, Director – Guru Dutt, Music Director – S. D. Burman, Cast - Waheeda Rehman, Naaz, Johnny Walker, Mahesh Kaul, Veena, Minoo Mumtaz, Mehmood, Pratima Devi, Nilopher, Sheela Vaz, Bikram Kapoor, Mohan Choti, Tony Walker, Tuntun, Guru Dutt