Johny Mera Naam

Review By Kamal K

What a director vijay anand was..magnificent editing and direction and still looks super fast movie. He was genious. Superb acting from Dev Anand Saab and premnath and is johar. Unforntunetly dev Anand took direction in his hands for his latter movies and the golden partnership ends. But before that they gave masterpieces like guide jwel thief and Johnny mera naam.

Johnny Mera Naam is perhaps Vijay Anand's best directed movie. Released in 1970, this movie went on to cause a stir as did the music as it was considered to be beyond its time.

Two brothers,Sohan and Mohan, both studying in the same school, have entered the school boxing competition. When the final comes it the two brothers find out that they are fighting each other. Sohan is declared winner but the match is continued at home and the mother tells them that they should wait for their father. Mohan, the elder, being impatient, goes to see his father - a police officer. Instead he witnesses a smuggler by the name of Heera murdering his father. He then tries to catch him by chasing him and lends up hiding in his car.

Years pass by and Sohan becomes an Police inspector and wanting to catch smugglers, he lands himself in a cell with the man who had murdered his father, Heera and introduces himself as "Johnny." He later escapes and meets up with a contact that he had been informed about by Heera - a female by the name of Rekha.

The movie stars the ever green Dev Anand, Hema Malini, Pran, Premnath, Ifteqar and I.S. Johar. The story is good but more than that is the direction by the late Vijay Anand. But the acting by all and especially the comic side by the late I.S. Johar, is absolutely brilliant. The songs to listen out for are "O Mere Raja," "Baabul Pyaare," "Nafrat Karne Waaloh" and "Parbhal Keliye" - they are most memorable as is the music by Kalyanji - Anandji.

I recently saw this movie after a very long time and was in tears as it brought back floods of memories and especially especially childhood ones. This is a movie that is worth watching.

-aa very good film.The cast was brilliant so was the direction. One of the best film Vijay Anand directed. The movie stars Dev Anand, Pran, Hema, Prem Nath, Padma khanna,etc. Dev Anand is brilliant, so is Pran. It's a great story and lovely music. Hema Malini looks gorgeous and her dresses r great. Padma has a small role but she have done great job. Her dance number with Prem Nath is brilliant also. Prem Nath as usual a great villain. I saw this film long time ago when I was a kid but even today I see it still enjoy the film. It has a great suspense, action, comedy and romance. The music that you can never forget. But as far as trimurti films concerns, I think Dewaar was better but this film was not bad at all. The scenes from this film has been copied in many latest films but this was the best film of original. I give it 9.3 /10

This this a Hindi film starring Dev Anand, Pran and Hema Malini.

I began watching the film with low expectations. And ended up being amazed by the script, direction, music and comedy. What a complete entertainer!!

Do not get bogged by the 2hr 45 min length. Watch the full version with all the twists in the tale. Time also has gone into the songs, but they are all hummable tunes and each fitting into the storyline. Note that this was the biggest box office hit of the year!!

IS Johar is a laugh riot in the film and Dev Anand, Pran and Premnath perform well. But I think the biggest credit goes into the direction by Vijay Anand and it's a tragedy that the industry didn't get many many more creations from him after this.

Johny Mera Naam review :

After Guide (1965) and Jewel Thief (1967), Dev and Vijay Anand jodi completed their hatrick with this superhit film. Johny Mera Naam is a complete entertainer and perfect mixture of emotions, drama, action, music and sex. In short, the film had everything to satisfy the varied taste of the moviegoers.

A typical lost and found formula of brothers (Dev Anand and Pran) separating in childhood and then re-uniting years later to fight a common enemy (Premnath); Vijay Anand's outstanding execution elevated the film to an altogether different level. Dev Saahab's magnetic charm and Hema Malini's beauty was utilised perfectly here and the song "Pal bhar ke liye koi hume pyaar karle" is still memorable for its imaginative use of window panes.

Another number "Husn ke lakhon rang" attained notoriety of sorts due to the sexy Padma Khanna doing a strip tease dance for the amorous Premnath. Reportedly, the theatres used to be replete with ceetis and catcalls from the front bencher crowd as Padma removed her clothes one by one through the song. The way Premnath just pounces on her in the end still gives me chills!!

Expectedly, Dev Saahab owned the film through his sheer style and swag. Pran and Premnath excelled in their roles. IS Johar had a triple role of Pehle Ram, Dooje Ram and Teeje Ram - triplets who Dev Anand keeps bumping in to one after another throughout the film.

Johny Mera Naam was seen as direct competition to Raj Kapoor's Mera Naam Joker (1970) and Kapoor had requested producer Gulshan Rai to change the title to Johny. Refusing point blank, Rai asked Raj Kapoor to name his film Joker instead. We all know the box office fate of both the films but today, both are regarded as cult classics and I personally love both of them.

Johny Mera Naam not only influenced the formulaic cinema of '70s and '80s but also made director Sriram Raghavan pay a rich tribute to the movie in his neo noir thriller Johnny Gaddar (2007) in which some clips of the film are also seen.

One of the finest entertainers of Hindi cinema; Johny Mera Naam is Dev Saahab's biggest success of the '70s. It is an evergreen film. Just like him!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.