Today is the Birth Anniversary of Shammi Kapoor.
I did a piece of Teesri Manzil but it came out to be a repeat.
So I thought of relookong at Shammi Kapoor's first Directoral
Venture MANORANJAN
There have been numerous Hindi movies which are inspired by English movies.Out of them very few retain the class of the original and are still entertaining.Manoranjan based on Billy Wilder's 'Irma la dounce' is a gem of a movie.the plot as already told is anything Hindi movie had ever seen.The showing of a prostitute as an independent modern woman who is not apologetic about her profession and does not give never ending stories of forced prostitution was unimaginable in the 70's.
Veteran superstar turned director Shammi Kapoor deserves special applause to chose such a subject as his directorial debut after a successful carrier as a leading man.The script although has Indain flavor but regains the essence of the original. He was backed ably his friend and partner
F.C.Mehra.
The film starts in a train journey where Shammi Kapoor tells his
Co Passengers about Manoranjan Street.( Dhoop Chaon is his name )
The movie breaks many stereotypes and shows everything about prostitution in a very light and stylish way.No tear jerking ugly looking ladies,no shabby brothels and no superheros.Manoranjanis a bold movie even 46 years after its release.It is generally seen that in a topic like this the movie out of choice becomes cheap and vulgar but still Shammi makes Manoranjan an amazingly entertaining movie.
Every aspect of the movie be it screenplay, dialogues or editing are excellent.The music by R.D.Burman is amazing.
All the 4 songs 'Goya Ki Chunanche' and 'Aaya Hun Main' 'Dulhan Maike Chali' ( which has the three sisters singing together Lata , Asha, Usha )
are very well composed and sung and the best Chori Chori Sola Singaar Karoongi..
The choreography and song picturisation make these songs even more popular. Sanjeev Kumar gives an amazing performance in the movie.His comic timing,expression and famous dialog delivery are excellent.He is comfortable in the scenes where he is shown as the timid man opposite a rather independent and commanding Zeenat Aman.But my favourite scene is when he has an outburst and blasts Zeenat thus showing that it is only natural for men to behave this way even if he was enjoying taking orders from the lady.I guess Manoranjan is Zeenat Aman finest performance.She actually showed that being bold just did not mean body exposure but acting in movies which are bold in their content also.Her performance is the highlight if the movie. The rendering of her takia Kalam with Sanjeev Kumar ऐसी वैसी is superb,
Unfortunately except for B.R.Chopra who took out an excellent performance from her in 'Insaaf Ka Taraazu', no-one could extract a performance the way Shammi Kapoor did in this movie utilising her acting expression in addition to her oomph(not even Raj Kapoor in the over-hyped Satyam Shivam Sundaram).
Shammi kapoor had put on a lot of weight shows his class and acting weight in some scenes.
Shammi Kapoor wanted to play the role of Sanjeev Kumar .He had seen the film's English version in 60s .But when he directed the film he felt he was to old and cast Sanjeev Kumar. Dev Kumar as the strong villain suited the role to T with his takia Kalam Dunda Kar Doonga (Shammi Kapoor again signed him as a giant in his other directorial dud Bundlebaaz).
Paintal, Madan Puri ,Asit Sen ,Agha are adequate.
Manoranjan marked a departure from the popular cinematic depiction of sex work as something which was ‘forced upon’ women. It was perhaps the first Bollywood film where sex work was presented as an ‘enjoyable’ activity without moralising it. In the film, the lead character choses sex work on her own will. The depiction of women characters as emotional, irrational, weak and dependent on men, was sharply rejected by Zeenat Aman’s portrayal of Nisha. Tnis credit can be given to Shammi Kapoor for breaking the stereotype.
When released in 1974 Manoranjan did not do well at the box- office, probably because it was very bold. However over the years it has formed the position of a classic.
On the whole Manoranjan is an excellent movie but could even today raise eyebrows today 47 years later.
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