Teesri Manzil
Teesri Manzil | |
---|---|
Directed by | Vijay Anand |
Produced by | Nasir Hussain |
Written by | Nasir Hussain |
Starring |
Shammi Kapoor Asha Parekh |
Music by | R. D. Burman |
Cinematography | N Srinivas |
Editing by | Vijay Anand |
Release dates | 1966 |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Teesri Manzil (English: "Third Storey") is a 1966 Bollywood thriller directed by Vijay Anand and produced by Nasir Hussain. It starred his regular actors Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh, along with Nazima, Premnath, Prem Chopra, Iftekhar, Helen, K. N. Singh and Salim Khan. The film became a hit at the box office.[1]
Indiatimes Movies ranks the movie amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.[2]
The film's DVD & VCD versions run for 145 minutes, while the theatre version ran for 175 minutes. Between Ruby's jealous sniping at minute 76 and the song "Dekhiye Sahiban Woh Koi Aur Thi", approximately 30 minutes of footage is missing. The last time a full version of this film released was on VHS.
Plot
Anil Kumar "Sona" (Shammi Kapoor) finds a young woman named Roopa who fell from the third storey of the hotel at night where he regularly performs as a musician under the stage name "Rocky." Roopa's younger sister, Sunita (Asha Parekh), believes that her sister committed suicide because of a ruined affair with Rocky, and she comes to seek vengeance. She and Anil fall in love, but he doesn't know how to tell her that he and Rocky are the same person.
Anil takes the help of a rich older man who pretends to be Anil's uncle to help Anil impress Sunita and her father. A police detective reveals that Roopa didn't commit suicide but was actually pushed from the third floor. An expensive shirt button was found clenched in her hand. Is the killer Roopa's jealous fiancee Ramesh, who now has plans for Sunita? Or is it the dancer Ruby who is pining for Rocky? The climax reveals the identity of the murderer.
Cast
- Shammi Kapoor as Anil Kumar "Sona"/Rocky
- Asha Parekh as Sunita
- Prem Chopra as Ramesh
- Helen as Ruby
- Premnath as Kuvar Saab
- Ram Avtar as train passenger
Behind the Scenes
Nasir Hussain produced and wrote the film under his home banner. He approached Vijay Anand to direct and his older brother Dev Anand to star in it. Dev was unavailable, but Vijay came on board to direct and edit the film. Hussain then cast Shammi Kapoor who had earlier starred in Hussain's two big hits, Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957) and Dil Deke Dekho, which introduced Asha Parekh. Asha had starred in two more hits for Hussain Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai (1961) and Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963). Thus, the newcomer for this film would be music composer R.D. Burman (son of music composer S.D. Burman), and he would create phenomenal music for this film. He would compose for all of Hussain's films until Zabardast(1985). Shammi Kapoor, Hussain, and Vijay individually took credit for discovering the supremely talented R.D. Burman. But R.D. Burman gave credit to lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri for recommending him to Hussain, and both of them would create unforgettable songs for Teesri Manzil.[3] The song picturisations were outstanding, with Helen dancing to "Oh Haseena zulfonwaali". Songs like "Aaja aaja" had a rock n' roll base and were extremely popular.
Soundtrack
Music composed by R.D. Burman, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. Choreography was by Herman Benjamin.[4]
Song | Singer(s) |
---|---|
"Tumne Mujhe Dekha Ho Kar" | Mohammad Rafi |
"O Mere Sona Re Sona Re" | Mohammad Rafi & Asha Bhosle |
"O Haseena Zulfonwali Jaane Jahan" | Mohammad Rafi & Asha Bhosle |
"Aaja Aaja Mein Hoon Pyar Tera" | Mohammad Rafi & Asha Bhosle |
"Dekhiye Sahiban Woh Koi Aur Thi" | Mohammad Rafi & Asha Bhosle |
"Deewana Mujhsa Nahin Iss Ambar Ke Neeche" | Mohammad Rafi |
Reception
The film became a hit and remains popular to this day. Although it is a murder mystery, it continues to draw repeat audiences even though the identity of the murderer is no longer a secret. Teesri Manzil was the last time Shammi starred in a Nasir Hussain film. Asha would go on to do four more, three of which she starred in.
Teesri Manzil was also the last Hussain film in which Mohammed Rafi sang all the songs. By Yaadon Ki Baraat, Kishore Kumar had temporarily become the dominant singer in Hussain's movies, but Rafi always had a special place in Hussain's films and would later win major awards for the song "Kya hua tera wada" in Hussain's Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977).
Hussain and Vijay never worked together after Teesri Manzil. Hussain would return to directing all his films again and would only relinquish the director's chair to his son after three of his films flopped in the 1980s. Salim Khan played a small role as Shammi Kapoor's musician friend who pretends to be Rocky in the musical number "Oh Haseena zulfonwaali". In real life, Helen would later become his second wife. Shammi's wife Geeta Bali died during the filming, and Vijay helped Shammi get over the grief.[5]
References
- ↑ BoxOffice India.com
- ↑ India Times Top 25 Must-See Bollywood Films on Lists of Bests), retrieved July 30, 2012
- ↑ R D Burman - My God, That's My Tune
- ↑ "Herman Benjamin". IMDb. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ↑ Screen The Business Of Entertainment-Films-Nostalgia