Jeene Film

[Karleen Chura]

Shotin the Chambal Valley ravines of Bhind-Morena under police protection in Madhya Pradesh state,[3] and Mohan Studios, Mumbai[4] the film highlights the acting talents of its star cast: Waheeda Rehman and Sunil Dutt.[5] The music is by the composer Jaidev. It was the fourth highest grossing Bollywood film of the year,[6] and the official selection at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.[7] The film was also the second success in a row of actor Sunil Dutt's production banner, Ajanta Arts, after Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke, which had been released earlier that year. Mujhe Jeene Do was India's third "dacoit" film, a genre loosely inspired by Hollywood westerns, but more so by the menace of dacoity in Central India in the early 1960s. The film was a major success, like the earlier two other big films in the same genre, Ganga Jamuna (1961) and Raj Kapoor's Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960).[8]

Dacoits were traditionally shown as a rogue or menace to the society, especially in Hindi cinema, here for the first time film director, tried to show them in a fresh humanist perspective, thereby giving the film its memorability.

The film was film actor Sunil Dutt's second film as a film producer, after Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke (1963),[10] through which he yet again tried to break away from the traditional romantic leads he was offered in the mainstream Hindi cinema. Though, here again, his role turned out to be that of romantic dacoit, though his acting received wide acclaim, and even Filmfare Best Actor Award of 1965.

Mujhe Jeene Do, is a classic dacoit drama from the western films genre,[11] a story about how love can lead to the redemption of even a hardened criminal[12] like Thakhur Jernail Singh (Sunil Dutt), who is a noted dacoit in Chambal Valley.

One night, he happens to meet Chameli (Waheeda Rehman) a courtesan (tawaif), at a wedding she was performing at. They elope and fall in love, later they have a son. But their romance is short-lived as he is about to be captured by the police, that is when Jernail sends Chameli away to a neighbouring village to raise their son, as he is sure of his end.

Unfortunately, the village she goes to has an old grudge with the Jamila to settle and attacks the hapless mother and son as a mob, but the police save them in time, and even promises them the seized property of Jernail.

The music of Jaidev, coupled with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi, add to the tragic nature of the film. Also standing out is the cheerful song Nadi Naare sung by Asha Bhosle, noted for perfect rendition of the high-pitched song.[13]

The film begins with Mohan returning to his village after completing his studies when he finds they encompass the debts. So, he decides to aid his joint family containing his wife Shobha, a 5-year-old daughter, the mother Janki, 3 sisters & 2 brothers. Hence, he moves to the city for a job but fails. Disparate Mohan, fortunately, meets his childhood mate Manohar, who makes his acquaintance with tycoon Kamalrai Mansukh Lal and leaves abroad. Rai offers him a job, provided he is single. Owing to necessity, Mohan claims to be solitary.

Meanwhile, Rai's daughter Radha, a heart patient, is back from a foreign country. Radha feels relief in Mohan's breezy company and gradually recoups her when she falls for him. Now, Mohan is under a dichotomy as he cannot reveal the truth. Moreover, Mohan's virago sister, Durga, expels the family, and they land in the city. Accidentally, Mohan spots and accommodates them at Manohar's house. Eventually, Durga & her husband Ramadas also arrive and, by mischief, take shelter at Sunder's residence, one that aspires to knit Radha. After a while, they reform, and Mohan retrieves them.

Destiny befriends Radha & Shobha when Mohan leads a dual life and daringly tries to avoid all the parties. Then, Rai decides to splice Radha with Mohan, but Mohan denies betrayal. Being aware of it, Shobha collapses, and the family accuses Mohan when he decides to confess his blunder. Parallelly, Sundar envies abducting Radha when Mohan rescues and divulges the actuality to her. Initially, she misconstrues him, but later, she understands his virtue and affirms it to Rai. At last, Manohar checks in and expresses his love towards Radha, which she too accepts. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the marriage of Manohar & Radha.

It was an amazing experience to say the least. To act in the film Qatra Qatra Jeene Do. The first shot was at Film City. The shot was supposed to be a 'dream sequence' in the film. My co-actor was Abeer Goswami who quit his corporate career to pursue his dreams of being an actor. Abeer is a regular in the TV serials. Good luck to you Abeer - more power to people who chase their dreams.shot shows the character wearing the same shirt in the evening it should be creased and "fatigued". Hmmm... "Sunoh" (meaning Listen). Another suggestion was "Laxman Rekha". That sounded too much like the name of a popular brand of pest repellants. Naah. So finally the name that appeared least controversial and "numerologically appropriate" was Qatra Qatra Jeene Do. That's Barun-da (Barun Mukherjee who had done the photography for the film Baghbaan. He gets a special lunch box from home with all kinds of Bengali delicacies packed in. I sampled some so I know. is "clean" and does not have the sounds of the location where it was shot. Shobana (Full name Shobana Chandrakumaran Pillai) - a veteran of 150 films in five languages, was also dubbing her lines the day I had time booked at the studio. She plays the lead in this film and she was in the studio trying to read Hindi dialogues of the film written in Roman script. That is tough work. To be able to hear the track that has been recorded on the set and to lip sync the same dialogue while keeping the emotion consistent with the film's story and say the words within the same duration as they appear in the film is a challenge. Then for someone who does not speak the language it becomes a bigger hurdle. If I had to dub in Malayalam (or Tamil/ Telugu/ Kannada for that matter) I would have failed miserably for sure.Films is all about precision. There is a Costume Coordinator whose job is to ensure that the clothes follow the chronological continuity in the film. So if the shot is about the character coming in to the office in the morning, the shirt should look appropriately crisp and ironed. If theI was very impressed with Irrfan's no nonsense approach to acting. When he comes to the set, he knows the lines for the entire shot. I would see him getting into elaborate discussions with Kaushik about the character and what was the key aspect of the character a particular scene was supposed to convey while the shot was being composed. All what one heard about temperamental movie stars certainly did not apply to Irrfan (why does he spell his name with RR?). Must be some numerologist's suggestion. Film folks are superstitious to say the least.Kaushik has been agonizing over the title of the film. For a long time the title was "Buddhi" (the word for brain in Hindi) . Then someone put a spanner in the wheel by saying when written in English it could be mistaken as the word meaning old woman. So the suggestion was to change the spelling to "Budhdhi " or even "Budhhi Mera Naam" or "Mera Naam Budhhi". Someone suggested a one word titleAfter shooting the scenes one has to go back to the sound studio to dub the lines so that the soundtrack

The village men bristle and wave guns in the air after he leaves, swearing revenge, and Champa makes them take an oath. They seem to me to be all talk and no action and we discover later that they are very brave in the face of a terrified woman but not so much when faced by bandits.

Chamelijaan continues to refuse to sing and dance for the dacoits, a situation which culminates in a confrontation with Jarnal Singh. He taunts her status as a tawaif, slaps her (boo!), and she responds with a furious but eloquent lecture.

Jarnail Singh must part from his little family to keep them safe and I begin to get more and more depressed by the knowledge that this is a story which CAN ONLY END IN TEARS, although the presence of more of my favorite actors comforts me somewhat.

To me too, the story did seem to lose its way a bit somewhere midway. It did not go completely off-track but it just seemed to lose focus a bit. Some forced comedy scenes did not help. But then it got back on track.

Raja, Tom makes a dark mess look divine again. The way he restores films is magical. I am glad he was able to find someone to give him vhs tapes. Pukar and Sikander sound good too. I remember what a reputation Sohrab Modi had when I was young. His movies were supposed to be grand historicals. I am looking forward to all that good work.

Btw, the shooting for this movie was done in the heart of real-life dacoit territory. There was even a case where the unit was told by the police to pack up early and go back to their place of stay because there was a scare that dacoits would attack. I think this dimension added to the appeal / romance of the movie.

I think generations of film lovers will thank you for your new venture. I have often raved about the poor quality of DVDs of even movies like Kaagaz ke Phool and Pyaasa that are available to Indians.

There is somewhere a video on you tube where Sunil Dutt and WaheedaRehman recollect that slapping scene and Waheeda reiterates that Sunil wanted to be slapped real hard and that they had to take many takes.

If you are willing to share your expertise in writing then we at madaboutmoviez.com will be more than glad to have you as one of our authors and can work mutually in making it a destination for readers with regards to cinema.

LOVELY logo of Proeductions. Ms. Edwina looks absolutely WONDERFUL. Have to wait a while to take a look at the work of Tom and party as I am at my workplace and there has been too many pink slips floating about lately..

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