In the three months between April and June 1975, 50 years ago, the filmmaking maestro, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, delivered two diametrically opposite films that were both hits and also gained critical appreciation. Chupke Chupke released on April 11, and Mili on June 22.
Celebrating 50 years of Chupke Chupke and Mili: When Hrishikesh Mukherjee delivered two diametrically opposite films in three months
The former was the remake of a famous Bengali film, Chhadmabeshi starring Uttam Kumar and Madhabi Mukherjee. There was cynical buzz that the latter was similar to Anand, but there were only broad similarities. The story was credited to Bimal Dutta, also its screenplay writer.
The interesting part was that the two films had multiple common points in cast and credits and were shot more or less simultaneously. It is also said that Mili was completed first, though it released later.
Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan (nee Bhaduri, as credited in both films) and Usha Kiran (Saiyami Kher’s grandmother) the common cast members. Asrani acted in both films with the latter film having him in a cameo. Mukherjee directed both films, and co-produced them for Rupam Pictures with long-standing partner and financier, N.N. Sippy. Both films had music by S.D. Burman, Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar as singers, Jaywant Pathare as the cinematographer and Ajit Banerjee as art director.
Chupke Chupke
Storyline: Botany Professor Parimal, falls in love with Sulekha and they soon get married. Parimal loves playing pranks, while Sulekha is in awe of Raghavendra Sharma, the husband of her older sister, and looks upon him as her idol. Sulekha’s excessive praise of Raghavendra irritates Parimal. Raghavendra has written a letter to Sulekha’s brother, instructing him to send a driver for him who can speak good Hindi. Parimal disguises himself as Pyare Mohan Ilahabadi, a motor-mouth driver, who pretends to hate English and speaks only chaste Hindi and goes to Raghavendra.
Sulekha also pretends that she is not happy with her marriage with Parimal, and gives the impression that she is having an extramarital affair with Pyare Mohan. Parimal’s long-time friend, Sukumar, a professor of English Literature, comes in to pose as him. Things snowball after Sukumar too falls in love with Vasudha, sister-in-law of Parimal’s friend, who is privy to the masquerade.
Memorabilia
This film has gone down in history as the nearest Hindi comedy (in both concept and narrative style) to P.G. Wodehouse’s hilarious books. Easily the most inspired and witty of the three comedies made by the filmmaker between 1975 and 1980 (Gol Maal and Khubsoorat being the others) that showed the older generations’ eccentric kinks set right in a light manner, it remains the funniest Hindi movie of that decade.
Dharmendra sparkled as a great comic talent, masquerading as a Hindi zealot and English-hating chauffeur, and Amitabh Bachchan too broke his Angry Young Man image here. But the greatest compliment for Dharmendra came when a Bengali blogger opined, “Uttam Kumar was great in Chhadmabeshi, but Dharmendra is just so much better!” Pyare Mohan’s twang and ‘kinks’ made for chuckles and guffaws aplenty.
What’s more, Dharmendra and Amitabh later came together in the same year in Sholay—until then, Amitabh had done a cameo in Dost and they had also done Guddi (with Dharam in the lead) and Kunwara Baap without sharing frames.
Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore were a popular pair, but their earlier movies for the same filmmaker (Anupama and Dharmendra’s home production, Satyakam) had both been serious subjects. Amitabh and Jaya, who had tasted great success in 1973 with Zanjeer and their own home production, Abhimaan (again helmed by Hrishi-da), also worked together for the only time in a comedy, though Guddi apart, Amitabh had been the narrator in her Bawarchi earlier.
Om Prakash himself was another natural scene-stealer as the eccentric oldie Raghavendra Sharma and anecdotes galore are there about this film, topped by the Dharmendra-Amitabh Kaun Banega Crorepati interaction that has long gone viral as they discussed Hrishi-da, a filmmaker who was more like a headmaster but for whom they would always be ready to do films!
As Asrani narrated, “When Dharam-ji and Amit-ji were wondering why Dharam-ji was attired in a driver’s uniform and I was in a suit, Hrishi-da had thundered, ‘Why are you asking Asrani about the scene? You guys, if you had the sense for the story, you wouldn’t be playing heroes in films! Get to work!’” The character artiste also added that there would be budgetary restrictions otherwise and actors would be told to come in their own clothes or be given those from old films of the banner! Usha Kiran, David, Keshto Mukherjee and Lily Chakraborty also played important roles.
The script was almost laugh-a-minute. Dharmendra once said that the entire unit never realized when the shooting began and when it ended! And he too, like Amitabh and Jaya, was simultaneously shooting with the director for the delayed (and serious!) Chaitali, which released later and sank without a trace.
But behind all the humour were also sober looks about how certain professions were looked down upon, and the film examined cracks in social behaviour.
It is said that Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan found that Hrishikesh Mukherjee was looking for a new actors for their shorter roles because they had now become famous after Zanjeer. But they convinced him to cast them and did not charge a penny for the film. It turned out to be Jaya’s last film for the maker, though Bachchan was to do Jurmana, a cameo in Gol Maal and also Bemisal later, and Hrishi-da was to also edit his Coolie.
On the other hand, Asha Parekh was promised Sharmila’s role (Hrishi-da had directed her in Chhaya earlier) and reportedly never forgave Hrishi-da! It may be also recalled here that Asha had a flop-free tally of five films by then with Dharmendra!
While Gulzar (who also wrote the screenplay with D.N. Mukherjee)’s dialogues sparkled with wit and the jibes at the English language, this was one of his films for which the lyrics were done by Anand Bakshi (Mehboob Ki Mehndi, Hrishi-da’s Namak Haram, Zara Si Zindagi). Interestingly again, Bakshi wrote only one fun song of the four—the Rafi-Kishore duet, ‘Sa re ga ma’. But though the Lata number, ‘Ab ke sajan sawan mein’’s lyrics were staid, that song too was filmed in a humorous manner.
And therein lay the triumph of this film: uproarious lines and situations abounded in it, and this is one movie that can be watched not just repeatedly, but in the era of OTT, from any point to any point. And most happily, unlike Gol Maal and Khusboorat, which have already had “remakes”, this is one timeless cinema that can never be redone, though at some points, Umesh Shukla and Farah Khan had misguidedly announced separate remakes.
And it was left to the Indian government to pay the film the ultimate tribute: During the February solar eclipse of 1980, the film was broadcast on India’s state broadcaster Doordarshan so that people would stay inside and not venture out to look at the eclipse with the naked eye!
Mili
Storyline: Mili suffers from pernicious anemia, a disorder untreatable at the time. Her cheerful demeanour spreads happiness in everyone’s life and she influences her new neighbour Shekhar, a rich, depressed alcoholic, who soon falls in love with her. But when he learns of her ailment, he wants to go away as he cannot watch her die. But a neighbour makes him reconsider and he marries Mili and takes her abroad for treatment. The film begins with an aircraft taking off, carrying the couple to Switzerland where Mili will hopefully be cured.
A sensitive film with hope in the end, the film won Jaya Bachchan just a Best Actress nomination, but Amitabh Bachchan won the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association’s Best Actor award. Ashok Kumar put in a stellar turn as Mili’s uncle and the film’s dialogues by Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza were an empathetic highlight and won him more work with Hrishi-da, including the splendid comic work in Gol Maal!
Aruna Irani and Usha Kiran also put in skilled performances and though there were only three compositions (‘Badi sooni hai’ was used in three versions), the music was again a highlight. Yogesh’s heartfelt lyrics were indeed beautiful, and he informed me that S.D. Burman composed the frothy ‘Maine kahaa phoolon se’ from a hospital bed! This was the composer’s second-last film for Hrishi-da (Arjun Pandit, released in 1976, was the last) and Yogesh also mentioned that S.D. Burman was a shade unhappy with the way his son, R.D. Burman, orchestrated one of the Kishore Kumar numbers (‘Aaye tum yaad mujhe’ was the other) while he was bedridden and had told him so in Yogesh’s presence.
More Pages: Mili Box Office Collection
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