Introduction
Dev Anand was India’s one of the earliest superstars. And as Indian superstars usually get away with anything, it was hardly surprising to see him don a lover boy posture well into his forties and even later. But, Dev Anand’s directorial venture Hare Rama Hare Krishna was going to make history for other reasons than himself.
The Plot
Prashant(Dev Anand) and Jasbir(Zeenat Aman) have troubled childhood. Their parents based in Montreal are self centered and divorce, thus separating the kids. Prashant comes to India with his mother while Jasbir stays with her father in Montreal.
Prashant manages to get through the trauma, but Jasbir is badly affected by this. To boot, her father remarries and thus Jasbir soon falls into bad habits. She joins a hippy gang and renames herself Janice and makes her way to the hippy capital of Asia, Nepal. There she falls in for drugs and is lost on the world.
The word somehow reaches Prashant and he sets forth to reunite with his sister. In the process he gets framed with the robbery of a relic and is on the run.
Check out Hare Rama Hare Krishna for the details Prashant and Jasbir’s escapades.
Critic’s Viewpoint
Dev Anand donned the roles of writer, director, actor and producer for this movie. Thus the movie had to be centred around the character of Prashant potrayed by Dev Anand.
India’s answer to Gregory Peck shows his age and looks more a patron rather than a lover boy. Also his style of stretching the dialogs is stale and seems overdone for most part of the movie. But he still looks handsome and is a good actor.
Zeenat Aman became an Indian Idol as she shattered a lot of rules regarding Indian heroines. Her character of Jasbir/Janice was no goody goody character. Instead it was a pot-smoking, belly shaking messed up character with a sensuos smile. Again she was not draped in a all covering saree, instead she was wearing a figure hugging mini and revealed a lot of cleavage. Of course, more was to come of her cleavage display in movies like Satyam Shivam Sundaram. The scene that burnt Zeenat’s image into the hearts of Indias was that pot smoking dance in the song Dum Maaro Dum.
The other characters had more or less part roles which they duly performed. Mumtaz was billed in as the heroine for the movie but is barely visible.
Hare Rama Hare Krishna tackles multiple topics like uncaring parents, drugs and ethics & morals. Dev’s character plays the ultimate good guy with high morality and the rest of the character are more or less spoiled in one way or the other. Though the movie takes a good look at the drug culture, there does not seem to be any message in the movie. What seems to be a social movie fizzles out into an entirely commercial movie with a confused message.
Dev Anand’s high-handedness and obsession with self also weighs heavily on the movie, though Zeenat brings the fresh appeal to the movie.
The movie has been shot in exotic locations in Nepal and we get a good glimpse of the city known as the Las Vegas of the Indian Subcontinent.
Music of Hare Rama Hare Krishna
The music of this movie was given by the legendary R.D. Burman and rates amongst his best works.
The album begins with the lovely brother sister song Phoolon ka taaron ka sung by the legendary Kishore Kumar. To this day it happens to be one of the best if not the best brother sister song in Bollywood. The female version of this song is sung beautifully by The Nightingale of India - Lata Mangeshkar a legend in her own right.
Kaanchi re kaanchi re is the mandatory love song between the hero and heroine and is sung again by Kishore and Lata. The local touch of nepal adds to this song and makes it a evergreen hit.
Ram ka naam badnaam na karo is a song taking a swing at the drug culture singing Hare rama Hare krishna who are Indian gods. The song is sung by Kishore kumar.
But the album would be remembered most for one song, a song that has blitzed Indian hearts for decades and is still one of the biggest hits in the remix albums. The song Dum maaro dum, mit jaaye gum sung by R.D. Burman’s wife Aasha Bhonsle is as much famous for her sensuos voice as for the dance display and picturization of the song on Zeenat Aman in a hip hop form.
Thus, the music album of Hare Rama Hare Krishna was a scorcher and till date remains one of the most popular albums.
Filmfare Awards
Hare Rama Hare Krisha won two Filmfare awards in the 1972 Filmare Award festival. They were:
Best Supporting Actress: Zeenat Aman
Best female playback singer: Aasha Bhonsle for Dum Maaro Dum
Summary
The movie tries to do too much at the same time. It tries to tackle too many topics for a single movie. Again the movie is centered all over Dev Anand which makes it a self-centered effort in the end.
But, the movie was ahead of it’s time in the 70s and would always be remembered for Dum maaro Dum and Zeenat Aman. I give this super hit movie a 3 star rating.
PS: Taken from my review published earlier at https://epinions.com/content_212926369412