More of Jubilee Kumar (Hamrahi)

My tryst with Rajendra Kumar continues...

This time I encountered Kumar playing a philanderer turned good husband. Did he do it well? I didn't get to reason that out because I kept feeling let down by the director's decision to cast Jamuna in the role of the leading lady. A good actress she is, but certainly not gorgeous in the looks department. And definitely not the person for whom Shekhar might be forced to rid himself of his frivolous ways, his penchant for girls and for plunging into total depression when she tells him how unfortunate she is that she had to marry this rich and spoilt individual. Throughout the film, I kept missing Sadhana, who would have added so much meat to the role of this defiant girl. And maybe then Hamrahi would have been so much more pleasing. Great cast, good story but the fun fizzles out in many parts...

This 1963 drama from the stable of T Prakash Rao starts well. Shekhar (Rajendra Kumar) is seen singing a jaunty song while driving by in his car. He is paying an ode to the plethora of beauty around him, concentrating mostly on the women that abound. He is a flamboyant philander who loves to enjoy life, love and girls, never really taxing his brain about the consequences. One of his conquests is Hema (Shashikala), who blackmails him to marry him or else she would complain to his father that she is pregnant with Shekhar's offspring. Shekhar is least bothered and shoes Hema away.

Soon the scene shifts to Mumbai where Shekhar's father, Public prosecutor Dharamdas (Nasir Hussain) calls for him as he is fed up of his gallivanting ways. But the rogue boy is his mother's apple of the eye and gets away because of her (Lalita Pawar). One day, while dropping his sister to school, he notices a young woman who is his sister's teacher. She is Sharda (Jamuna). Shekhar instantly falls for her and even devises a plan so that Sharda can come to his house everyday to teach his sister. His incessant advances towards Sharda bear no fruit. Sharda despises him and makes it very clear to him. He tries wooing her with Woh chaley jhatak ke daman (naughty Mohd Rafi and good music by Shankar Jaikishan). But Sharda's remonstrances make him more adamant. He creates such a misunderstanding between his parents and Sharda's father (Agha) that Dharamdas is forced to ask Agha for Sharda's hand. So the two get married. Shekhar feels that Sharda agreed to get married to him because she loved him, but is devastated to learn otherwise. Sharda weeps in front of him and declares that she can never love a fallen man like him! And in turn he vows that he will never touch her unless one day she realises her folly and begs of him to accept her!! So much drama!!!
While the newly-weds maintain their self-inflicted vows of celibacy, Shekhar's elder brother, Mahesh (Mehmood), who is an unsuccessful and fumbling lawyer, has problems staying away from his wife, Shanti (Shobha Khote). Their comic sub plot is somewhat funny, and somewhat tedious. So, let's not waste words on that.

While Shekar is having a tough time staying away from his wife (I don't get this: she is not even that good looking and carries that melancholic expression wherever she goes!), his mother decides to send them for their honeymoon. He imagines himself romancing her in the song Mujhko apne gale lagalo. Then, on location, Sharda catches him frolicking with his friends singing Dil tu bhi gaa, and immediately draws a conclusion that he is just not trying to mend his ways. So the fight is back to where it started. They return home to a function where Shekhar's birthday is being celebrated. In the gathering Sharda sings Manre tu bhi bata kya gawun (Lata Mangeshkar) and Shekhar is just not pleased. Me too. How can she wash her dirty linen in public and come to think of it, she has inflicted all this sorrow on herself. She should have really had a gala time. After all, Shekhar is not a bad partner, he could be so much fun, if she allowed him a chance!
Things turn for the better when Sharda falls ill and Shekhar has to take care of her. Gradually she realises that her husband is a reformed man. But it takes some more time before the two can regale in their new found love. And just when that is happening with Karke jiska intezar, the police come knocking to take Shekhar away. They charge him for the murder of Hema, who was brutally killed in her house. Everyone is befuddled except Dharamdas, who actually believes that his son is capable of this heinous crime... And the legal fireworks start...
Hamrahi is not a very bad film after all. Only there are some cliches that sometimes pull it down. There is a short stint by O P Ralhan that needed development. Shashikala should have been exploited to the hilt and Rajendra Kumar should have been given a more meatier role. Instead Jamuna was harped upon--- her sorrows, her predicaments, her misfortune...blah blah!!!
The best thing about the film is how the murder mystery is sorted out. You get to see the stereotyped characters move out of their comfort zone to depict dark shades. For instance, the director etches Rajindernath in totally different shades from his popular image. Kumar is shown to be a womaniser before. That is quite a bold thing to do, considering that Jubilee Kumar had always been a Goody Two Shoes!!