Club Nasir Husain's
Tumsa Nahin Dekha,
Dil Deke Dekho and
Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hain, and you get
Pyar ka Mausam. But the astute Husain doesn't cheat you in any way by simply rehashing from his 1957, 1959 and 1961 hits. He throws in more drama, twists, colour and characters to make his 1969 romance thoroughly enjoyable. The segments from the earlier films are stitched so deftly that unless you watch closely, chances are you will miss them. For, the plot flows like a brook, peppered with plenty of action, romance, song and dance. With Nasir Husain at the helm, one thing is certain...thorough cinematic entertainment.
Sardar Ranjit Kumar is lamenting his estrangement from his daughter Yamuna (Nirupa Roy). She has married the commoner Gopal (Bharat Bhushan) and also has a son called Sunder. So he adopts a baby girl called Seema. This angers Sardar's step brother, Shankar (Madan Puri) who wants the entire share of Sardar's property and is always creating trouble for his brother. Shankar also has a son. Soon Yamuna wants to reconcile with her father and writes to him. On the day of Sardar's arrival, Shankar, fearing that the union of father and daughter will spell doom for their evil plans, sets Yamuna's home alight. While Yamuna is away, her husband suffers from an eye injury. In the chaos, Sunder is lost (and later found by a benevolent yet childless couple). Gopal becomes blind. He thinks Yamuna is dead and blames Sardar for destroying his family. He launches a search for his son. Yamuna is aghast at the catastrophe and loses her mind.
Years pass and Sunder (Shashi Kapoor) is now called Sunil. One day his friend comes to take him to Ooty. Soon Sunder recalls that he had met a lovely girl in Ooty the previous year and would love to go there. A flashback takes us to Ooty where Sunder had met Seema (Asha Parekh). The entire premise of their meeting is borrowed from Roop and Neeta's meeting in
Dil Deke Dekho. Sunder, a clever lad, fools Seema's friend Lajwanti (Laxmi Chhaya) to believe that he, named Pyarelal, is bethrothed to Seema. The two leads even sing a lovely song to establish their vocal superiority (just like Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh). What
Bade hain dil ke was to
Dil Deke Dekho, Nisultana rey pyar ka mausam aya is to this film. There is another similarity. Both the songs are splendid... Both Usha Khanna and RD Burman did a fabulous job.
Now on the similarities with
Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hain. On learning that is bethrothed to some Jhatpat Singh, Seema is extremely wary of meeting the man fearing that he would turn out to be a loser, what with a name like that. Hence, Seema and her friends decide to scare him away. Sunder overhears this and conjures up a situation where the original Jhatpat Singh is sent off somewhere else and he comes to meet the gorgeous Seema under a false identity. Seema cannot believe her eyes seeing how handsome and charming Jhatpat is. The scene will remind you instantly of Dev Anand's meeting with Asha Parekh in the earlier film. Interestingly even Dev Anand was called Sunder there while Parekh was Nisha. Then when Parekh beats some Laveena in a dance
jugalbandi, her
Aap chahe mujhko is a more well-choreographed version of a song performed in
Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hain.
While
Pyar ka Mausam borrows little from the Dev Anand starrer, it is sufficiently lifted from
Dil Deke Dekho and
Tumsa Nahin Dekha. Sunder seeking an employment with Sardar as his estate manager reminds me of Shammi Kapoor doing the same in
Tumsa Nahin Dekha. Especially because he goes to find another Sunder already employed there (Pran in the earlier film). And this Sunder is an imposter. Shankar has disguised his own son as Sunder because he is eyeing Sardar's property. He has also sent Gopal to Bangalore for an eye-operation... This portion is a jamboree of both
Dil Deke Dekho and
Tumsa Nahin Dekha.
Okay, so now everything is so muddled up that I leave it to you to find out the similarities yourself. And, if you do not care to, just sit back and enjoy. For, the film has some originals also. For example, the songs. They are marvellous. The best being the title track. Shashi Kapoor's spontaneity and Asha Parekh's charm make for a lovely combination. Though Parekh was by then 27 years-old she still has a luminosity about her face and personality. She looks shapely and dances like a dream. In the song,
Aap se miliye, you get to see her in one resplendent costume after another and she sure enthralls. In
Main na milungi, she is exotic. Her intoxicated eyes belie the attraction she has for this young man and her inebriated moves add to her charisma. I love her costume. Red hot and sparkling, to be precise...
While Kishore Kumar's
Tum bin jaoon kahaan is picturised on Bharat Bhushan, Mohd Rafi's versions are kept for the dashing lead. But both the versions are sung well and in a very Husain style, this song is dexterously used to re-unite the separated members of the family. It is soulful and melodious. I love the first version of Mohd Rafi, picturised on Shashi Kapoor and Asha Parekh. They both look so good together. Parekh in a white saree, looking so elegant, and Kapoor, with his berret dangling nattily, make for a lovely couple. And with the strains of
kuch na phir chaha sanam, tumko chahkey, you see the duo falling hopelessly in love...
While
Chehkhush nazaarey is passable,
Na ja o mere humdum is haunting. Parekh sure looks sublime in that lavender getup, against those stark mountains...
The only anomaly, like in
Jab Pyar and
Dil Deke Dekho, is Rajindernath. His scenes are superfluous and long. He is not needed. Not here, not anywhere.
Well, seeing Shashi Kapoor play a full-on romantic lead was a bit different. Since I'm more fond of him as the intellectual hero (in the 70s). But he was young and charming and a little song and dance, on hindsight, did add spontaneity to his character. He was good as Sunder/ Sunil (though a bit misplaced in the action sequences) and extremely good looking. But we know where he gets the looks from! After all, he is a Kapoor. Son to the enigmatic Prithviraj and brother to smouldering Raj and inimitabe Shammi!!!
This is far from my favorite Shashi film but it has its moments - and I wish Asha and Shashi had been paired more often because they're so cute together here!
ReplyDelete@Beth: Hello Beth. It's an awesome feeling to have you here. Yes, this is definitely not one of Shashi Kapoor's best. I like him much more in his intense roles later. Have you seen Kanyadaan? That is another film where Shashi Kapoor and Asha Parekh are paired as a couple.
ReplyDeleteI have! http://bethlovesbollywood.blogspot.com/2010/04/kanyadaan.html I liked it a lot better than this one.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, some of his intense roles are sooooo good. Kalyug and Shakespeare-Wallah probably top that list for me, at least of the ones I've seen so far.
You should add another Nasir Hussain classic - Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon - to the list of movies that went into the making of this. In fact, when I watched PWDLH recently, I kept wondering what Joy Mukherjee was doing in Shashi's role! Needless to say, this is my favorite among all the 4 with the same plot, simply because there is SHASHI! :D It's so frothy and fun and Shammi-esque - hard not to like. And the songs are fab. Did you notice Pancham da in the film? He plays Rajendranath's sidekick.
ReplyDeleteLike bollyviewer, I was recalling Phir Wohi Dil Laaya Hoon too - that had a similar story as well, down to Pran being the impostor who pretended to be the son and heir.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I remember reading that someone said that Nasir Hussain arrived in Bombay with one story in his briefcase, and made a series of hits out of it! I must confess I prefer Dil Deke Dekho to all the rest, but they're all very entertaining films.
@Beth: I liked Kanyadaan, too. It had Parekh playing a very different role. And I love Likhey jo khat tumhey.
ReplyDeleteI liked Shashi Kapoor in The Householder. And his cameo in Ijaazat was really good.
@Bollyviewer: Yes, while writing I kept feeling that I was missing out on one film. PWDLH kept coming to me. Now I know that Husain picked from there too. I came to know about Panchamda's role after the film, so did not take much notice of him. It was a miss. Next time I see it (and that will happen because I liked the film) I will watch out for him :)
ReplyDelete@Dustedoff: Ha ha that one story in his briefcase thing is damn funny. Imagine that!!! So many hits out of one story!!
ReplyDeleteOf all these my fav are Dil Deke Dekho, Tumsa Nahin Dekha. Just for Shammi. I like PWDLH also. JOY and ASHa make a nice pair. In fact all these films are quite good just for the entertainment factor. :)
I've never given Shashi as much of a chance as i should, but this seems a great place to start, plus i remember Nasir Hussain making me fall in love with Dev Anand as an actor in Jab Pyar... that scene where he cries when he realises he can't have Asha due to class differences, i can't put my finger on the reason why, but that scene changed how i felt about Dev as an actor for life
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great how a lost child almost always finds a childless, loving, benevolent couple to take care of him/her in Bollywood films? Specially when the lost child is going to grow up to be Shashi Kapoor. :)
ReplyDelete@Bollywooddeewana: Yes, this is a good place to start. YOu can also try Jab Jab Phool Khiley and Kanyadaan.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Hum Dono? Dev Anand was awesome there. He acted really well and sung some great songs. Nasir Husain sure knew the keys to good entertainment (like in Dil Deke Dekho and Tumsa Nahin Dekha).
@Banno: Yes, you've observed right. In fact the same thing happens with Sunil Dutt in Yash Chopra's Waqt. And the dashing man also grows up to a gifted lawyer :)
ReplyDelete