Jewel Thief ( 1967)
Star Cast :-Dev Anand,Vyjantimala,Ashok Kumar,Tanuja ,Nasir Khan,Helen,Anju Mahendra
Music:- S.D.Burman
Produced and Directed by Vijaya Ananad
The slick suspense thriller of the sixties is being hailed as one of greatest whodunnits on Indian screen to this day. The film had many greatsof the Hindi cinema coming together like Dev Anand, Ashok Kumar, Vyjayantimala, Vijay Ananad, Helen, S.D.Burman - quite a line up !
It also boasts of one of the most intricate and mesmerising songs picturised on Vyjayantimala ' Honton pe aisi baat... which is also considered to be the best ever picturiesd dance sequence to this day ! Add to this a very suspenseful story that keeps the audince attention throughout..
The story of the film centers round a Jewel Thief , who left his signature after stealing jewellery from prominent jewellers. Amar, a police detective sharing a volatile relationship with his Police Superintendent father ( Nasir Khan ) is determined to get to the bottom of these thefts. He obtains a job with a prominent jeweller where he comes across the Jewellers charming daughter ( Tanuja).
He also gets to meet ( Ashok Kumar ) and his beautiful sister Shalini (Vyjayantimala) at a party. Shalini claims that Amar was her fiance who had left her on some pretext, but , soon she realises that she was wrong.The two become friends and eventually get romantically involved and Amar realises that he is being slowly drawn into a web created and manipulated by the Jewel Thief ... The climax was carefully crafted by Vijay Anand and apparently when the film was released the audience were requested not to reveal who the Jewel Thief was...
My views about this superb film
A beautifully made film, very watchable , interesting and gripping . Film maker Vijay Ananad was a genius much ahead of his times, having come up with stunners like Guide, Teesri Manzil, Teen Deviyan and Jewel Thief.Vijay Ananad is known to take care with his films and Jewel thief was an example of his technical finess. Dev Anand is his usual charming, dashing self totally at ease with his role as the dutiful police officer, loving son and lover.
Vyjayantimala looks ravishing and regal in her well defined role as Shalini . Ashok Kumar has the most unusual role in ths film and one can always expect a fabulous performance from him. Tanuja as usual looks cute,bubbly and very very charming and so does Helen and Anju Mahendra ( a small time actress those days who got fame later because of her involvement with the then superstar Rajesh Khanna ) in a small role.
The music is Burman da's best ever , melodious and at the same time very popular and a real chart buster ! My favorites include Kishore Kumar's solo " Yeh dil na hota bechara' and Lata Mangeshkar solo ' Rulake gaya sapna mera ' and the robust duet ' Aasman ke neeche ' and of course the magical song ' Honton pe aisi baat....Just watching Viju dance to those tunes leaves you amazed and mesmerised . She was the best ever as far as grace ,feminity and beauty was concerned. The picturisation is fabulous shot in the palace at Gangtok - Sikkim, it consisits of 3-4 long shots and a few close shots for the entire dance sequence that lasts for nearly 7 minutes. The canvas is vast covering the entire courtyard of the palace. And what can one say about Lata Mangeshkar? She is at her melodious best and so are Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi...
A complete film, watching which is an experience by itself , with a shocking climax which is totally unexpected adds to the excitement of watching this superb film. I give it a 5 star.j ewel Thief is a special film that had a hand picked star cast and can ewasily be comapred to other great films of Vyjayantimala like Madhumati,Ganaga Jamuna and Sangam..
Phim Sex
