Gumnaam: Difference between revisions

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==Plot==
==Plot==
Khanna, a wealthy man, hires an assassin to murder his rival, Seth Sohanlal. He then makes a few telephone calls to his assistants and to Asha ([[Nanda (actress)|Nanda]]), Seth Sohanlal's niece, to give her the news of her uncle's death. As a shocked Asha screams, an intruder mysteriously enters and shoots Khanna dead. A few days later, Asha wins a trip to a foreign country with six others; Barrister Rakesh ([[Pran (actor)|Pran]]), Dharamdas ([[Dhumal (actor)|Dhumal]]), Kishan (Manmohan), Dr. Acharya ([[Madan Puri]]), Madhusudan Sharma ([[Tarun Bose]]), and Kitty Kelly ([[Helen (actress)|Helen]]). The airplane carrying all the winners and the crew member, Anand ([[Manoj Kumar]]), is forced to make an emergency landing at an unknown island. However, as soon as Anand and the seven passengers alight from the airplane, it shockingly takes off, leaving everyone stranded on the island. At the same time, a mysterious, unseen woman begins singing a song which is heard at different points in time during the film without the woman being seen. The eight persons follow the direction of the woman's voice and reach an eerie mansion that seems to be unoccupied except for a strange butler ([[Mehmood Ali|Mehmood]]).  
Khanna (Hiralal), a wealthy man, hires an assassin to murder his rival, Seth Sohanlal. He then makes a few telephone calls to his assistants and to Asha ([[Nanda (actress)|Nanda]]), Seth Sohanlal's niece, to give her the news of her uncle's death. As a shocked Asha screams, an intruder mysteriously enters and shoots Khanna dead. A few days later, Asha wins a trip to a foreign country with six others; Barrister Rakesh ([[Pran (actor)|Pran]]), Dharamdas ([[Dhumal (actor)|Dhumal]]), Kishan (Manmohan), Dr. Acharya ([[Madan Puri]]), Madhusudan Sharma ([[Tarun Bose]]), and Kitty Kelly ([[Helen (actress)|Helen]]). The airplane carrying all the winners and the crew member, Anand ([[Manoj Kumar]]), is forced to make an emergency landing at an unknown island. However, as soon as Anand and the seven passengers alight from the airplane, it shockingly takes off, leaving everyone stranded on the island. At the same time, a mysterious, unseen woman begins singing a song which is heard at different points in time during the film without the woman being seen. The eight persons follow the direction of the woman's voice and reach an eerie mansion that seems to be unoccupied except for a strange butler ([[Mehmood Ali|Mehmood]]).  


Once inside the mansion, Dharamdas discovers a diary that reveals that they are all connected to a crime and that they will all be killed. Anand discovers Dr. Acharya has brought with him a bottle of poison and Dharamdas has brought a dagger. Anand begins flirting with Asha while Rakesh and Kitty fall in love. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else and the butler's actions indicate the presence of an unknown person in the mansion. Soon, Anand and Asha unexpectedly find Kishan's dead body on the island and the killer has left a note stating that Kishan had murdered Sohanlal. The group deduces that Dharamdas killed Kishan, but he pleads innocence and is too later found dead. Anand concludes the culprit is among them and it becomes clear that everyone in the house was connected to Sohanlal. Kitty was Sohanlal's private secretary while Rakesh wrote Sohanlal's will on Khanna's orders. Kitty sent the will to Rakesh on Khanna's instructions, though neither knew about the other. The following day, Anand notices Rakesh hiding an axe before Dr. Acharya arrives screaming that Sharma has been killed with an axe. The killer leaves another note stating that Sharma was Khanna's co-conspirator in Sohanlal's murder and Anand accuses Rakesh of Sharma's murder.  
Once inside the mansion, Dharamdas discovers a diary that reveals that they are all connected to a crime and that they will all be killed. Anand discovers Dr. Acharya has brought with him a bottle of poison and Dharamdas has brought a dagger. Anand begins flirting with Asha while Rakesh and Kitty fall in love. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else and the butler's actions indicate the presence of an unknown person in the mansion. Soon, Anand and Asha unexpectedly find Kishan's dead body on the island and the killer has left a note stating that Kishan had murdered Sohanlal. The group deduces that Dharamdas killed Kishan, but he pleads innocence and is too later found dead. Anand concludes the culprit is among them and it becomes clear that everyone in the house was connected to Sohanlal. Kitty was Sohanlal's private secretary while Rakesh wrote Sohanlal's will on Khanna's orders. Kitty sent the will to Rakesh on Khanna's instructions, though neither knew about the other. The following day, Anand notices Rakesh hiding an axe before Dr. Acharya arrives screaming that Sharma has been killed with an axe. The killer leaves another note stating that Sharma was Khanna's co-conspirator in Sohanlal's murder and Anand accuses Rakesh of Sharma's murder.  

Revision as of 14:06, 22 October 2023

Gumnaam
Directed byRaja Nawathe
Produced byN. N. Sippy
Written byCharandas Shokh
Dhruva Chatterjee
Based onAnd Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
StarringManoj Kumar
Nanda
Pran
Helen
Madan Puri
Mehmood
Tarun Bose
Dhumal
Manmohan
Music byShankar-Jaikishan
CinematographyK. H. Kapadia
Edited byD. N. Pai
Production
company
Prithvi Pictures
Distributed byUltra Films
Release date
24 December 1965
Running time
145 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Box officeest. 2.6 crore ($5.46 million)

Gumnaam (translation: Unknown or Anonymous) is a 1965 Indian Bollywood thriller film directed by Raja Nawathe, and produced by N. N. Sippy. The film stars an ensemble cast of Manoj Kumar, Nanda, Pran, Helen, Madan Puri, Mehmood, Tarun Bose, Dhumal and Manmohan. The film is a loosely inspired adaptation of the 1939 mystery novel And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.[1]

The film came to wider attention in the English-speaking world when its opening song "Jaan Pehechan Ho" (a Hindi-Urdu phrase roughly translated as "we should get to know each other") was included in the opening credits of Ghost World and used in the 2011 commercial The Date for Heineken. The song was sung by Bollywood music legend Mohammed Rafi. The lead dancer in the song as shot in the film was Laxmi Chhaya. The psychedelic choreography was done by Herman Benjamin, who also sang the song as picturised in the film.

Plot

Khanna (Hiralal), a wealthy man, hires an assassin to murder his rival, Seth Sohanlal. He then makes a few telephone calls to his assistants and to Asha (Nanda), Seth Sohanlal's niece, to give her the news of her uncle's death. As a shocked Asha screams, an intruder mysteriously enters and shoots Khanna dead. A few days later, Asha wins a trip to a foreign country with six others; Barrister Rakesh (Pran), Dharamdas (Dhumal), Kishan (Manmohan), Dr. Acharya (Madan Puri), Madhusudan Sharma (Tarun Bose), and Kitty Kelly (Helen). The airplane carrying all the winners and the crew member, Anand (Manoj Kumar), is forced to make an emergency landing at an unknown island. However, as soon as Anand and the seven passengers alight from the airplane, it shockingly takes off, leaving everyone stranded on the island. At the same time, a mysterious, unseen woman begins singing a song which is heard at different points in time during the film without the woman being seen. The eight persons follow the direction of the woman's voice and reach an eerie mansion that seems to be unoccupied except for a strange butler (Mehmood).

Once inside the mansion, Dharamdas discovers a diary that reveals that they are all connected to a crime and that they will all be killed. Anand discovers Dr. Acharya has brought with him a bottle of poison and Dharamdas has brought a dagger. Anand begins flirting with Asha while Rakesh and Kitty fall in love. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else and the butler's actions indicate the presence of an unknown person in the mansion. Soon, Anand and Asha unexpectedly find Kishan's dead body on the island and the killer has left a note stating that Kishan had murdered Sohanlal. The group deduces that Dharamdas killed Kishan, but he pleads innocence and is too later found dead. Anand concludes the culprit is among them and it becomes clear that everyone in the house was connected to Sohanlal. Kitty was Sohanlal's private secretary while Rakesh wrote Sohanlal's will on Khanna's orders. Kitty sent the will to Rakesh on Khanna's instructions, though neither knew about the other. The following day, Anand notices Rakesh hiding an axe before Dr. Acharya arrives screaming that Sharma has been killed with an axe. The killer leaves another note stating that Sharma was Khanna's co-conspirator in Sohanlal's murder and Anand accuses Rakesh of Sharma's murder.

That night, Dr. Acharya catches the butler acting suspiciously and learns his secret before a scuffle ensues between them both. In the presence of Asha and Kitty, a stabbed Dr. Acharya enters the dining room, utters Anand's name and breathes his last. Asha begins questioning her faith in Anand. The next morning, Kitty goes for a walk by herself and is strangled. Rakesh and Asha, searching for Kitty, are horrified to find her dead body and Anand's hat lying near it. Rakesh witnesses Anand running away from the crime scene and begins chasing him but loses his trail. In a fit of rage and grief, Rakesh tries to rape Asha inside the mansion in the middle of the night. Asha escapes from Rakesh but runs into him again as Rakesh collapses dead with two daggers in his back. The mansion's lights are switched off, which indicates that the killer has arrived and that Asha is next. The killer approaches Asha and she falls unconscious in fear, before being carried into a secret room and brought back to consciousness.

Sharma, the killer, reveals to Asha that he had only employed the butler to make the necessary arrangements on the island, and posing as one of the castaways, he killed Kishan and Dharamdas. He then convinced Dr. Acharya to help him fake his own death, on the pretext that it would help him search for the killer, and later killed the latter as well along with Kitty and Rakesh. At the same time, Anand appears at the scene and reveals that he is an undercover police inspector in search of Sharma, an escaped convict whose real name is Madanlal. Madanlal reveals to Anand and Asha that he, Khanna and Seth Sohanlal were partners in smuggling, but Khanna and Seth Sohanlal betrayed him after he was arrested by the police. Khanna also had Seth Sohanlal killed to usurp his share of the money, but Madanlal escaped from prison and killed Khanna. He then ensured that his targets "won" the lucky draw and took the trip to murder Khanna's remaining five assistants as well. Further, Madanlal ties up Anand and Asha and plays the game of Russian Roulette with them. However, the butler secretly arrives and releases Anand, who attacks Madanlal as he is about to shoot Asha with the only bullet. In the ensuing melee, Madanlal escapes from the mansion and runs towards the seashore, but an airplane full of police officers lands on the island and Madanlal is arrested for his crimes. The "ghost" woman who sings the ominous song turns out to be the butler's mentally ill sister. The film ends with Anand, Asha, the butler and his sister leaving the island on the airplane.

Cast

Soundtrack

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Critic Shahid Khan rated the soundtrack 9 out of 10 stating, "Gumnaam is sometimes unfairly overlooked but I believe that it is one of Shankar-Jaikishan's best albums."[2]

Song Singer(s) Notes
"Jaan Pehechan Ho" Mohammed Rafi Picturised on Laxmi Chhaya and choreographer Herman Benjamin;[3] features in the opening credits of Ghost World. Also featured on the CD Bollywood Steel Guitar,[4] a compilation by various released in 2008 by the Sublime Frequencies record label.
"Gumnaam Hai Koi" Lata Mangeshkar Cover version of the title song by Henry Mancini of the film Charade.[5]
"Ek Ladki Hai Jisne Jeena Mushkil Kar Diya" Mohammed Rafi Picturised on Manoj Kumar and Nanda
"Jaane Chaman Shola Badan" Mohammed Rafi and Sharda Picturised on Manoj Kumar and Nanda
"Peeke Hum Tum Jo" Asha Bhosle and Usha Mangeshkar This comical song was picturised on Nanda and Helen
"Gham Chhodke Manaao Rang" Lata Mangeshkar Picturised on Helen. Also known as "Iss Duniya Mein Jeena Ho Toh Sunlo Meri Baat".
"Aayega Kaun Yahaan" Sharda Unused in the movie, this song was included on the soundtrack album.
"Hum Kaale Hain To" Mohammed Rafi Picturised on Helen and Mehmood

According to film expert Rajesh Subramanian, a cold war prevailed between Mehmood and Manoj Kumar during the making of the film. Kumar tried to convince the director to discard the song "Hum kaale hain toh kya hua", which has picturised on Mehmood, from the film. However, it was kept and went on to become a hit and one of the highlights of the film. An English-language version of the song titled "The She I Love", sung by Mohammed Rafi, was also recorded.[citation needed]

Reception

Box office

Gumnaam became a box office hit. It was the 8th highest-grossing film in India in 1965, grossing 2.6 crore.[6] This was equivalent to $5.46 million in 1965,[n 1] and is equivalent to US$Error when using {{Inflation}}: NaN/calculation error please notify Template talk:Inflation. million or 275 crore[8] in 2016.

Awards and nominations

Notes

  1. 4.7619 Indian rupees per US dollar in 1965[7]

References

  1. https://m.cinemaexpress.com/stories/trends/2017/nov/22/aboard-the-mystery-train-3207.amp
  2. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named pb
  3. "Trivia time #33". Memsaabstory.wordpress.com. 14 December 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  4. "Bollywood Steel Guitar". Amazon.com. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  5. TRIPATHI, ABHISHEK (8 September 2020). Indian Film Music and The Aesthetics of Chords. Zorba Books. p. 109. ISBN 978-93-90011-48-3.
  6. [1]
  7. "PACIFIC Exchange Rate Service : Foreign Currency Units per 1 U.S. Dollar, 1950-2016" (PDF). Fx.sauber.ubc.ca. p. 3. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  8. "Yearly Average Rates". Ofx.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  9. "1st Filmfare Awards 1953" (PDF). Deep750.googlepages.com. Retrieved 30 January 2018.

External links