Yakeen (1969 film)

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Yakeen
Directed by	Brij
Starring	Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore
Release date(s)	1969
Language	Hindi
IMDb profile

Yakeen (Hindi: य़कीन, Urdu: یکین) is a 1969 Indian film directed by Brij.

[edit] Plot

Yakeen is the story of an honest police officer named Rajesh (Dharmendra) and is an expert in explosives and chemicals. His love interest is Gauri (Sharmila Tagore). Rajesh has some talented people (David and Anwar Hussain) in his department. Rajesh lives with his dog and cook (Asit Sen). The department gets word that there are people who want to find some secrets and hence the entire department wants to foil any such plans. However, the enemies are very cunning and they kidnap Rajesh and take him to a foreign land. There they keep him in prison and send his look-alike Jackoss (Dharmendra) in his place to India.

Jackoss is a foreigner with blue eyes and a voice different than Rajesh's. He uses contact lenses to change his eye-color, but cannot do much about his voice, so he plans to deceive the higher authorities by telling them that he is Rajesh and he has lost his voice in the entire kidnapping scenario. Gauri believes him and accepts him as Rajesh although she is not very comfortable with him. Still, the authorities keep an eye on Jackoss as they cannot allow him to enter the high-security zone. Jackoss, with the help of some traitors, manages to prove that he is Rajesh. His dog and cook recognise him and he eliminates them. Meanwhile Rajesh escapes from the foreign land and manages to reach India. Jackoss plans to blow up the laboratory where many secret tests were being conducted but Rajesh reaches on time and foils his plan. After killing Jackoss, Rajesh marries Gauri.

[edit] Analysis

Yakeen, released in 1969, came at a time when romantic hero Rajesh Khanna was flying high with the success of his film Aradhana. At such a point in his career, a double role in an action thriller was a risk, but thanks to a riveting script and Dharmendra’s steady fan following, Yakeen became a hit and proved that Dharmendra was still a top star even with the presence of a new superstar Rajesh Khanna.

The movie was scripted and produced by noted comedian Deven Varma under the one film banner Navratna Films. The concept of 2 people having similar faces but different hair color, eye color and above all a different voice is something still not seen much in double-role movies. The movie predates Manmohan Desai’s Sachcha Jhoota (1971) and so the concept of a double-role with both of them on opposite sides of law was quite novel. China Town had a similar set-up, but in that both Shammi Kapoors were twins. In Yakeen, Deven Varma deliberately broke the same concept of identical twins and instead followed the concept of old Hum Dono, here both Dev Anands were not twins. Research labs, foreign country keen on getting top secrets and a brave Indian hero were there in the 1968 Dharmendra hit Ankhen as well. But Yakeen cashing on Dharmendra’s he-man image also set the cash registers ringing when it was released. The music of Yakeen composed by Shankar-Jaikishan is quite good. In fact one song’’Gar Tum Bhula Na..’’ is still popular and quite well picturised. The movie is ably directed by Brij who also has hits like Professor Pyarelal and Victoria N0.203 to his credit.

Yakeen falls in the category of A-grade action movies like Ankhen, Sholay, Mera Gaon Mera Desh and Ram-Balram which Dharmendra did. Needless to say that he carries this action film on his broad shoulders and is the biggest draw of the movie. As Rajesh, Dharmendra looks dashing and plays the part of a patriotic hero to perfection. His romantic scenes with Sharmila show that even in action movies he could add subtle romance with his charming personality and controlled acting. However it is in the action scenes that he shows his true colours. the fights of the movie are very well composed and performed. The fight with Shetty and the thrilling climax where both Dharmendra battle for life and death against each other deserve special mention. But the biggest surprise of Yakeen is the way Dharmendra has played the character of the villain Jackoss. Unlike Sachcha Jhoota and Satte Pe Satta where the bad guy accepts his deeds and becomes a better person in the end, Yakeen is a movie where the other guy is totally bad till the end. His get up, change of voice and eye colour make Dharmendra a menacing villain. Although he had played a grey character in 1964 hit-Aayee Milan Ki Bela, Dharmendra had never played a villain the way he did in Yakeen. The villain with light colour eyes was re-used in Satte Pe Satta, where the bad Amitabh has blue eyes and wears black contact lens. The way he looks at the dog when it starts barking at him and later picks up a knife to kill it, Dharmendra sends chill down one’s spine. The director has avoided gory sequences and later we see the dead-body of the dog. A similar scene was shot in Khauff where Sanjay Dutt kills a dog.

Sharmila Tagore as the love interest is adequate. Dharamendra and Sharmila were a famous couple and Yakeen is one of the hits they made together. Anwar Hussain, Asit Sen, David and Shetty are okay. It is really disappointing to see how Dharmendra went on a rampage and did several b-grade actioners in 1980s and spoilt his image. Still, if one wants to know why Dharam Paaji is still called the original He-Man of the Hindi Film Industry one must watch Yakeen.