The fine films of 1957 and beyond!

We look back at 1957 as perhaps the greatest year in Hindi cinema. Some of the finest films such as Mother India, Pyaasa, Naya Daur and Do Aankhen Baarah Haath released in this year. The filmmakers behind these timeless classics broached a range of sensitive subjects in the most delicate way even while being a part of the commercial mainstream. No one single year, be it 1975 (which had films like Deewaar, Sholay, Aandhi, Chupke Chupke) or 2006 (which had Omkara, Rang De Basanti, Lagey Raho Munnabhai, Khosla Ka Ghosla), has been able to match up to the quality of films that released in 1957.

There were lighter films as well. Paying Guest, that showed us the delightful charlatan, advocate Ramesh, played by Dev Anand, released in this year. Then there was Dekh Kabira Roya, a lighthearted comedy about the pitfalls of modern-day love with an ensemble cast. However, besides all these great films that became a part of 1957, there were other developments taking place in Hindi cinema in this year that had a much larger impact on the years and decades that followed.

Take for instance, Vijay Anand’s directorial debut Nau Do Gyaarah. Vijay, whose elder siblings Chetan Anand and Dev Anand were already in the film industry, had made his writing debut with Taxi Driver (1954). But with Nau Do Gyaarah, Vijay gave an early demonstration of his cinematic craft and the deftness with which he directed crime capers Teesri Manzil (1966) and Jewel Thief (1967) in later years. In the most recent episode of The Golden Years: 1950-1975, A Musical Journey, Javed Akhtar recounted the interesting backstory as to how Vijay Anand got the opportunity to direct. Apparently, Vijay was very keen on narrating a script that he had written to Dev Anand. But Dev kept dilly dallying. Some time later, when Dev was travelling from Bombay to Pune by road, he asked Vijay to tag along and narrate the story to him. Vijay narrated his script to Dev in the car during the journey. “Dev sa’ab really liked the script and said it was really good. He told Vijay Anand you will direct this film. This film became Nau Do Gyaarah,” said Akhtar.

Writer-producer- director Nasir Hussain, similarly, made his directorial debut in this very year with Tumsa Nahin Dekha. Hussain had worked as a writer for almost a decade at Filmistan studios. He worked in this capacity on films like Shabnam (1949), Anarkali (1953), Munimji (1955) and Paying Guest (1957). Then with Tumsa Nahin Dekha, he gave Shammi Kapoor’s image a totally new, flamboyant, modern makeover. Before Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Shammi had acted in 19 flop films. But Husain’s Tumsa Nahin Dekha changed Shammi’s fortunes and with the turn of the 1960s, he would become the most successful male actor in the film industry, overtaking the dominant trio of Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. Speaking on Hussain’s role in Shammi’s career, Javed Akhtar said, ‘You will have to give credit to the writer-director that he wrote such a character [for Shammi Kapoor in Tumsa Nahin Dekha], and presented it in such a manner as a director, that he ended up becoming an icon.”

Another prominent filmmaker, whose first film released in 1957, was Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Musafir (1957), which starred Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Usha Kiran and Kishore Kumar among others, was Mukherjee’s directorial debut. In later years, Mukherjee would come to be known as the man whose cinema (essentially about the great Indian middle-class), bridged the commercial cinema-art house films divide. But not everything about 1957 was necessarily good. This was also the year that music composer SD Burman and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi fell out with each other. The duo were responsible for the hit music of around a dozen films, including Baazi (1951), Taxi Driver (1954), House No. 44 (1955), Devdas (1955) and Funtoosh (1956). But Sahir believed himself to be more responsible than Burman for the success of Pyaasa’s music. Burman did not take kindly to Sahir’s comments and the two never worked again.

A more poignant moment from that same year was the death of Amiya Chakravarty. The filmmaker, who had directed Dilip Kumar in the actor’s very first film, Jwar Bhata (1944), had directed Dekh Kabira Roya, which released in 1957. Chakravarty had made some very important films such as Daag (1952), Patita (1953) and Seema (1955), which had very important female characters. But tragedy struck when Chakravarty died early at the age of 44 in March 1957. Who knows what other great work lay ahead of Chakravarty had he lived on for some more years.
 

The next episode of The Golden Years: 1950-1975, A Musical Journey with Javed Akhtar will air on Sunday at 8 p.m. on Zee Classic!