This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Today’s song is from the film Basant-60. Its namesake film Basant was made in 1942 as well. But in matters of success, both films were opposite to each other. Basant-42, directed by Amiya Chakrawarty , was a successful film, having well known actors and Music Director. Basant-60 in contrast was not so much successful. It was not liked by people, though the lead actors were well known. Nutan was already acclaimed but Shammi Kapoor had yet to come to his elements which he would do with the film Junglee-61. He was still struggling with ‘ Hum sab chor hain ‘ and ‘ Tumsa nahi dekha ‘ acting styles.
Nutan and Shammi Kapor came together for the first time in the film ” Laila Majnu “-53. Basant-60 was their second film. They were yet to become comfortable with each other and it was noticeable in the film too ! Nutan was a fine, talented artiste. She did such films for sustenance. Later this pair was to do yet another film, “Laat sahib “-67, by which time they had beccome seasoned actors.
However, one feels that Nutan was not an actress suited for Shammi’s style. He was suited more for actresses like Sharmila, Asha Parekh, Saira Bano, Kalpana etc. Moreover in the 60s, Shammi Kapoor’s films did not need any story. His films had almost the same story, with few cosmetic changes here and there. Audience went to see the film for Shammi’s antics, his love scenes with New actresses every time and for its Music.
Otherwise also, 1960’s films were escapist films. There was a quantum shift from social issues, reforms, poor farmers, family feuds etc of 1950s to Love, Romance,Music and Dance. Cinema showed us what we always dreamt-Ooty, Shimla, Kashmir, Manali, Musoorie, Himalayas, Villas, Imported cars, Heroines changing clothes 10 times in a day, Heroes stunningly rich or without a job need, or worry of any kind, circling around trees, Bees kissing each other and comic respites with specialist Comedians. In the beginning of such genre of films, a few early films could not develop this technique fully, but it was perfected soon enough and then we had films like Dil deke dekho, Love in Simla,Jab pyar kisise hota hai, Ek Musafir ek haseena etc etc.
The director of this film was B.Mitra or Bibhuti Mitra. Born in 1915 at Calcutta, he joined New Thatres as an assistant in the studio after graduating. Soon he shifted to Bombay and produced two documentaris- V for Victory and Voice of Youth, both in 1941, for British Government as an effort to their war propoganda. These documentaries were shown all over India, in the Theatres.
He tried his hand at film direction. His first film ‘Angoothi’-43 was a resounding Flop. Ashok Kumar was its Hero.when Angoothi was released Ashok’s film Kismet was creating records all over India. Even then, Angoothi ran only for 3 days and it was withdrawn from theatres.
Normally, in Film Industry, an unsuccessful Director is not touched with even a barge pole, but S. Mukherjee selected him as a Director, in Filmistan.
His first film with Filmistan was Safar-46. The director of the film was Bibhuti Mitra. C.Ramchandra was the Music Director. In fact this was his first film after joining Filmistan. Mitra had a nasty habit of interfering in the Music Director’s work. C.Ramchandra did not like it. But because of Shashdhar Mukherjee, he kept quiet. Luckily, halfway through the film, Mitra left and went away to Calcutta.
In late 1950, when the work for film Shabistan started, Bibhuti Mitra came back to Filmistan to direct this movie. The MD was C.Ramchandra. As expected, Mitra started interfering in film’s music. By now, C.Ramchandra was a well known and successful composer and was in great demand from producers. This time he did not tolerate Mitra’s interference. The matter went to S. Mukherjee. Mukherjee took Mitra’s side, as he had brought him back. C.Ramchandra decided to leave Filmistan. Mukherjee was shocked and tried to dissuade CR from leaving,but CR was firm. However he promissed to mukherjee that whenever Filmistan needed him, he will come back and work. True to his word, C.Ramchandra did come back to do Anarkali-53 and Nastik-54 later on. The balance work of Shabistan was done by Madan Mohan.
Bibhuti mitra( 1-1-1915 to 14-3-1989 ), had directed about 12 films from 1941 to 1972 (including phagun-58 and Ji chahta hai-64). He became a producer with his own Mitra productions. he produced Shart-54, Phagun-58 and Basant-60. After Basant’s failure he wound up his production outfit. He directed his last film Mehmil-72, in which he acted also.
Film Basant-60 had music by O P Nayyar. This was a film of Records. One- the film had 14 songs. One duet ‘Raste mein ek haseen’ featured twice in the film, thus effectively making it 15 songs in the film. Two- in all the 14 songs, Asha Bhosle’s voice was there. Three- she had only 1 solo ( and 2 with chorus). Four- there were 10 duets of Rafi and Asha. This was the highest for both of them in any film, in their careers. There was also a triad with Asha, Rafi and Batish. Even Mughal-e-azam had 12 songs. Five- Comedian Johnny Walker had 4 songs, the highest for him as a comedian in any film where he was not the hero.
One of the reasons why Basant-60 flopped was that its story was a mixture of Safar-46 and Shabnam-49 ( both films had their origins in Hollywood films), which were the most successful films of B.Mitra.
Greta memsaab has been writing reviews of Hindi films since some years now. She has reviewed this film also. As per her review, here is an edited synopsis of film Basant-60…..
“Take the plot of It Happened One Night, sprinkle in some ingredients from An Affair To Remember, then stir in a third plot which is completely nuts, and voila! it’s Basant. Two of my favorite Hollywood films and some masala craziness for the price of one Hindi film! Sure, there are huge plot holes and it’s nonsensical at times, but what do I care—especially when the hero and heroine are my beloved Shammi Kapoor and beautiful Nutan. They are great together: his nonchalant silliness complements her feisty character perfectly.
Plus, there’s Pran! and lovely music from OP Nayyar.Meenakshi Rai (Nutan) is the spoiled daughter of millionaire Rai Bahadur (Murad). We know that she’s a modern girl because she wears trousers and says “My foot!” a lot. She wants to marry Rajesh (Pran), a man of whom her father disapproves strongly.
Her father is escorting her to Calcutta by train to get her away from Rajesh, but she disembarks at another stop in the middle of the night as he is sleeping. Her bag is stolen on the platform by a scoundrel named Billoo (Johnny Walker) and she chases him to a nearby fairground, where she recovers her bag but discovers that her father already has the police after her.
To escape them, she takes to the stage and sings a lovely song (“Raaste Mein”) with a guy named Ashim (Shammi Kapoor). But when she returns to the train station to catch the Bombay train, it’s crawling with police and her father is there! So is Ashim, who has figured out who she is; he’s traveling to Bombay as well.
She decides to take the bus instead and sits next to Billoo—who steals all the money from her purse when she isn’t looking. For some reason never explained, Ashim is on the bus too, and sees a police roadblock ahead. He pushes Billoo aside and saves her from detection.
They enact a hilarious drama of a possessive husband and his shrewish wife, and the policeman flees to avoid getting involved. Shammi and Nutan are really fun to watch as he continues to needle her (and imitates her “My foot!” at every opportunity), and she gives it back to him as good as she gets.
To escape further notice, Meenakshi and Ashim take to the side roads. When Billoo the con man sees a poster with her photo and a Rs 50,000 reward, he starts trailing them. There is a lot of other comic side plot action with Johnny, but I won’t go into it here. He is pretty funny, though.
As Meenakshi and Ashim head towards Bombay by whatever transport they can find, they argue a lot but are getting acquainted too. She tells him that she is headstrong because her father has always been so controlling, and she is longing for a little freedom. They are so CUTE together.
Back in Bombay, Rai Bahadur just wants his daughter back, and is even willing to compromise with Rajesh.
But Ashim and Meenakshi are falling in love.
So true! When the two reach her home in Bombay, she confesses her feelings to Ashim. He tells her to meet him after one month apart, as a test to make sure their love is true. This seemed like a bad idea in An Affair To Remember, and it seems like a bad idea now, but she happily agrees.
Unfortunately, Rajesh is waiting in the wings, and he needs her money. On Meenakshi’s birthday—which Ashim attends in disguise—Rai Bahadur announces her engagement to Rajesh, as promised. Ashim is furious and confronts her, but she reassures him that she loves him. Rajesh overhears them, and sends his thugs to kill Ashim when he goes on a trip to deliver a valuable necklace in this place (our lunatic third plot development):
On the night when they are to meet, Meenakshi has a car accident and is paralyzed from her waist down. Rai Bahadur dies of a heart attack when he hears the news. When she recovers enough to leave the hospital in a wheelchair, Rajesh tells her that Ashim is dead too.
Poor Meenakshi is bereft. Is Ashim really dead? If not, where is he? Did he show up for their rendezvous and think her absence meant she had decided to marry Rajesh? Will she marry Rajesh? Will she ever walk again?
Oh, the drama! The tears! The beauty of Shammi! ”
Thank you Greta Memsaab. ( Do you find traces of ‘Chori- Chori’ and ‘Dil hai ki manata hi nahin ‘-91 in this film too ? )
Let us now enjoy one of the funny duets, filmed on Johnny Walker in the film Basant-60.
Song-Duniya pakki four twenty(Basant)(1960) Singers-Rafi, Asha Bhonsle, Lyrics-Qamar Jalalabadi, MD-O P Nayyar
Lyrics
duniya pakki four twenty
duniya pakki four twenty
maar maar ke
are maar mar ke chappal
meri kardi chaplam chanty
duniya four twenty
duniya pakki four twenty
aashiq ki hai reet niraali
bin tabley ke kare qawwaqli
akal ka andha gaanthh ka poora
dil mein mohabbat pocket khaali
jimijimijimijimi
jahaan bhi dekhe koi haseena
wahin baja di ghanty
duniya four twenty
duniya pakki four twenty
chhokariyaan baanki mastaani
sab hai paise ki diwani
inko chaahiye mota bakra
motor saadi surmedaani
jaha bhi tagda engine dekha
karti thamtham thanti
duniya four twenty
duniya pakki four twenty
waah re teri mohabbat ka
len den ke sar par haath
haan tu agar hai chalte purje
mister hum bhi hain chaalaak
aha
bhookhe pet mohabbat kaisi
chhodo tantam tanti
duniya four twenty
duniya pakki four twenty
biwi bachche bahan aur bhaai
sab hain matlab ke shaidaayi
jeb garam to yaara hazaro
kadki ho to kaun ho bhai
haan
biwi bache bahan aur bhai
sab hai matlab ke shaidayi
jeb garam to yara hazaro
kadki ho to kaun ho bhai
ik din inko maal na do to phir
dekho phantam ??
duniya four twenty
duniya pakki four twenty
hahah
hahahwah
duniya pakki four twenty
maar maar ke
haa haha
maar maar ke chappal meri
kar di chaplam ??
duniya four twenty
duniya pakki four twenty
