Jun 03, 2015 02:16 PM
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(Updated Jun 03, 2015 02:17 PM)
Writing back on Mouthshut after a 7 year hiatus and decided to write on one of the hits of 1971 was Andaz.
The film is about a widower(shammi kapoor) who has a kid from his now dead wife(Simi Girewal) and a young widow(Hema Malini) who has a young son from her now dead lover(Rajesh Khanna) and how their lives meet and end up in romance.
The beautiful triangle had many landmarks attached to it.It was the debut film of director Ramesh Sippy and he handled the subject with amazing maturity.It was one of the last hits of Shammi Kapoor as the hero and after a couple of indifferent films, Shammi looked and acted in a very decent manner.
The movie along with Haathi mere saathi, marked the debut of both script writers Salim-Javed -and the subject is totally unlike the latter Salim javed style.Hema Malini apart from looking beautiful was surprisingly very restrained and enacted very well the young widow part.Her roles with Sippy-andaz, seeta aur geeta, Sholay somehow remain special for her fans and for her even now.
Although Shammi kapoor was the hero of the movie the movie had a brilliant cameo by Rajesh Khanna.The romantic superstar comes in the middle of the movie, in the form of a brief flashback but makes a solid hold on the movie.The movie came at a time when Shammi's standing as a top star was on the downslide and Rajesh Khanna was the undisputed superstar. Even though they did not share a frame and to be fair Shammi was good in a mature role which was possibly his last hit as a hero, still Rajesh walked with all the whistles and claps.The song'Zindagi Ek safar.' became a cult and similar songs with entry of the leading hero on a motorcycle was used in many hit songs like'Rote hue.' picturised on Amitabh bachchan in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, 'Ek rastaa.' from Kala Pathar picturised on Shashi kapoor and'Koi na Koi.' from Deewana on Shahrukh were inspired by Khanna's hit number.
The film got shammi kapoor his last hit as a hero and critical acclaim.It also peaked hema malinis carrer and it put the ruling superstar Rajesh Khanna on a pedestal.The music by Shankar Jaikishan was awesum and the song-"zindagi ek safar.' is still popular.
Ironically 2 years later in Namak Haram-1973 there was an exchange of superstardom between Amitabh and Rajesh and though Rajesh was brilliant in Namak haram too, somehow it was Amitabhs act which drove the audience and critics more towards him.Film line they say is really unpredictable!
