During the early sixties, two brothers Chetan Anand and Dev Anand, the owners of Navketan Studios parted their ways professionally, and in stepped the third brother, Vijay Anand. He worked on a story written by Nirmal Sircar and directed it. For some unknown reason, Amarjeet, who was a publicist of Navketan films, was credited as the film’s director and Vijay Anand was credited as screenplay and dialogue writer. The film was Hum Dono, which was released in 1961 and went on to become India’s official entry at the 1962 Berlin Film Festival.
Starring Dev Anand, Nanda and Sadhana, Hum Dono revolves around Mahesh Anand and Major Verma, who are look-alikes and are in the army. When Major Verma is missing in action in Burma Campaign during World War II, believed dead during the battle, Mahesh is asked to convey this news to his family. Confusion ensues due to mistaken identities, which creates complications in lives of the key characters.
After 50 years, the film is being re-released in colour as Hum Dono Rangeen, thanks to Goldstone Technologies Ltd. As the film is about to hit the theatres, I wondered what Dev Anand had to say about this film and I picked up his biography to discover some interesting trivia that I would love to share with you, straight from the horse’s mouth:
Major Verma
“In Hum Dono, besides playing a captain of the army, I also played his look-alike major. For this role I put on the haw-haw British accent and mannerism suiting his carriage and hearing, all of which went down marvelously with the audiences. I patterned the character after an almost similarly mustachioed major I had known in a British army cantonment at Kirkee, near Poona.
I had often dropped by at his military bungalow on weekends for a glass of beer, and emulated his style in my portrayal of Major Verma. The performance got so strikingly imprinted in the hearts of my fans, that wherever I am amongst them, in India or abroad, they never fail to remind me of that image of me that had stayed in their minds.
In an army hospital somewhere in the border area, an amputated jawan got up from his bed as I was visiting the patient, and said with great pride, ‘I still have one leg to walk on,’ referring to Major Verma’s famous line in the film, when he is on his crutches. The doctor attending on him told me later that he found the jawan’s morale boosted after meeting me, and his spirits restored enough to encourage him to move out of the hospital.
The popularity of Major Verma’s character rose to phenomenal heights. I specially invited Lt. Gen. Chaudhary, the General Officer Commanding Southern Command, Poona, to attend the premiere of the film at the Eros cinema in Bombay. Seeing Major Verma perform on the screen, he could not help breaking all norms of decorum and social etiquette when he shouted at the top of his voice in the middle of a scene, ‘Doesn’t he remind you of ___?’ And he mentioned a certain army officer’s name, simultaneously letting out a guffaw aping Major Verma as rowdily as any front bencher would. Everybody in the balcony looked at the general, pleased to see he was enjoying himself.”
The music
Jaidev is the music director and Sahir Ludhianvi has penned the songs. Jaidev used to work with Ali Akbar Khan, who was a part of Navketan team. After Ali Akbar Khan left, SD Burman joined the team and Jaidev became SD Burman’s assistant. Once he expressed his interest in composing music for Hum Dono to Dev Anand. He asked him to seek SD Burman’s blessings and go ahead. Here’s what Dev Anand writes on the film’s music:
“The philosophy of Captain Anand, played by me as well, also touched the hearts of people when he sang:
Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya
Har fiqr ko dhuye mein udaata chala gaya
I kept on giving life my company
And blew every weary thought away like smoke-rings
They took inspiration from those lines, so stirringly written by Sahir Ludhianvi, and often quoted them back to me in private or public gatherings. I came to be associated with this wonderfully philosophical attitude towards life, which rings true for everyone who believes that life is worth living.
All the songs of Hum Dono had a rare ageless quality and came from the depth of the heart. The composer-lyricist duo Jaidev and Sahir wove a special magic with each song. Rafi and Lata and Asha, singing at their best, made the songs immortal. ‘Allah tero naam, Ishwar tero naam’ will always stay on people’s lips as long as the spirit of the divine stays in their hearts. And ‘Abhi na jaao’ will be sung as long as romance lives in those very hearts.”
Hum Dono Rangeen releases on 4th Feb.’11, don’t miss this opportunity to indulge in the cinematic pleasures of the yore.
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