Page 44 - Seniorstoday January 2024 Issue
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father Emperor Akbar story with his protégé, the dancer Rosie
(Prithviraj Kapoor) for (Waheeda Rehman) ends with him in
the love of a courtesan, prison. His reluctant transformation into
Anarkali (Madhubala), a spiritual guide to innocent villagers who
the film was the most believe in him, leads to his redemption.
expensive ever for the With a brilliant SD Burman score and
time, and also the top- career best performance by Dev Anand, the
grossing, with exquisite film is as evergreen as its star.
sets, costumes and
12 unforgettable songs composed by Anand (1971):
Naushad. It was a no expense spared work In a long career full
of cinematic brilliance, that filmmaker of wonderful films,
could never surpass. this film is a jewel in
Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s
Ganga Jumna (1961): crown. Anand (Rajesh
Written and produced Khanna), is terminally
by Dilip Kumar, ill with a few months
starring himself, his left to live, but he
brother Nasir Khan brings cheer into the
and Vyjayanthimala, lives of people he encounters, including
directed by Nitin Bose, a dour doctor (Amitabh Bachchan). Only
the film was a strong Mukherjee, with some help from Gulzar’s
portrayal of the evils dialogue, could have made a happy film
of feudalism, that about death. As the protagonist says, life
lead Ganga to become a bandit, while his should be big, not long.
brother Jumna becomes a cop who is tasked
with nabbing the notorious dacoit. The Sholay (1975):
film’s plot about two brothers on opposite Ramesh Sippy and
sides of the law was much imitated. The Salim-Javed at the
film with music by Naushad, was a huge peak of their powers
hit, won several awards and is among the and a curry western
best Hindi films ever made. becomes embedded into
Indian popular culture,
Guide (1965): with lines from the
Vijay Anand turned RK film quoted widely in
Narayan’s novel into an everyday conversations. Two petty crooks
extravagant romantic (Dharmendra-Amitabh Bachchan) are
drama, in which the hired by Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev
flamboyant Raju Guide Kumar) to come to Rampur and fight the
(Dev Anand), due dreaded dacoit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan
to a set of unhappy in a sensational debut). It is rare that a film
circumstances, becomes and its characters remain in the minds of
a guru figure. His love audiences decades later.
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