It was projected to be a long weekend of snowstorm in Virginia and the most of the East coast. I had long hours to spend inside the home. It was convenient for me that my American housemate-cum-landlord was out of the country and had left at my disposal his home theater system. With two days to kill, I walk into an Indian store near my office with the intention of renting DVDs. My usual prescription for such weekends is a new movie that does not belong to the mainstream and another one for the child in me. The new movie – ‘Jism’ – on which I had pinned much hopes, being produced by Pooja Bhatt and all, was disappointing.
This one – ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ more than made up for that. It was humorous enough, a good entertainer. The movie is from the late 50s and in black and white. I was always fascinated by the songs from this movie – they still sound fresh – the magic of the Burmans.
Characters:Cast
Brijmohan – Ashok Kumar
Jagmohan aka Jaggu - Anoop Kumar
Manmohan aka Mannu – Kishore Kumar
Renu – Madhubhala
Director: Satyen Bose
Music Director: S D Burman (Assisted by young Rahul Dev and Jaidev)
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
The Plot:
There is no much of a plot to the movie. It is built around three bachelor brothers who run a garage. The eldest – Brijmohan is a ‘once-bitten-hundred-times-shy’ misogynist; the middle one Jaggu is bang in the middle – torn between playing the big brother and being playful; and the youngest, Manmohan aka Manu is the ‘some-people-call-me-pagal’ handy mechanic. Renu dances her way into the life of the youngest. Throw in a villain into the story in the form of a prince who wants to marry her for her wealth and tie him to Brij’s hatred for women, you have the story
Songs - Singers
The film has a liberal dose of songs, all hits after another:-
Babu Samjho Ishare – Kishore Kumar & Manna Dey – introduces the three brothers
Ek Ladki Bheegi bhagi – Kishore Kumar – is all it takes for young Manu to repair Renu’s car
Main Sitaron Ka Tarana – Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar – Manu is chasing Renu to get back Rs.5.75
Hum the woh thi – Kishore Kumar – Manu’s crude attempt to fool Jaggu
Hal Kaisa hai janab – Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar – The famous duet by Manu & Renu
Hum Tumhare hein – Asha Bhosle, Sudha Malhotra
Ruk Jao Na Jee – Asha Bhosle – Renu’s attempt to seduce the “Prince”
Comments
Kishore Kumar & Madhubala’s chemistry is perfect in bringing out their roles. He is comic with his antics and she is charismatic with her giggles. Anup & Ashok Kumar do perfect justice to their roles. The trio are really entertaining in this movie.
Overall a good entertainer worthy of a few good laughs
P.S.:The storm dumped about 2 feet of snow that weekend and I had a bad back the next day after shovelling all of it away