Suraj

Excellent music by Shankar Jaikishan... Baharon Phool Barsao, Titlee Udi, Dekho mera dil machal gaya, and Kaise samjhaoon.. Story is ok. Ajit is quite charming. Photography is good.

Yes, this has a tremendous colour on a par with ye olde Hollywood Technicolor. Also with splendid production values, atmospheric photography and plot, albeit rather familiar.

Hundreds of years ago a king makes an enemy of his servant, who in revenge swaps his own infant boy for that of the king and teaches him to be a bandit, while his son is brought up as the dashing prince. The dashing prince is foredained to marry the beautiful princess Vyjayanthimala, who also apparently enjoys swapping places with her servant which leads to dark consequences. Guess whom she fancies? Correct, she can instinctively tell the innate aristocratic breeding of the bandit's son and the hopeless boorishness of the king's. It's a bit more complicated than that of course but enjoyable fun all the same. In 2013 UK BBC Asian Network listeners voted the main song Baharon Phool Barsao sung by Rafi as their favourite Bollywood song of all time, I wouldn't dispute that - it's a gorgeously romantic few minutes in the moonlight with flower petals raining down. And I always liked the equally vibrant Dekho Mera Dil Machal Gaya and Titli Udi both sung by Sharda here.

Johnny Walker was a little more subdued than usual, except in colour. Vyjayanthimala was exquisite to look at as usual, except I excuse her brazen dancing. Rajendra Kumar was as dignified as usual, except he was no Errol Flynn. If you decide to watch it prepare to be dazzled!

Maharaja Vikram decides to marry his daughter Anuradha to his commander's son, Pratap. However, years later, Anuradha is abducted by bandit Suraj while on her way to Pratap's coronation.

Rajendra Kumar cuts a swashbuckling figure in Suraj, a classy period swordfighting epic that is famous for abundant of evergreen songs, melodies that, unlike modern songs of today, caresses your mind persistently, and the picturisation of the songs are just as superb, the scenery and colour is exquisite.

As for the film, it's highly entertaining film that conjured up a romantic image of good triumphing evil, and there's not a boring moment. Ajit started his villainy here and is dastardly foe against Rajendra Kumar who really suits this type of film. Vyjantimala and Mumtaz are great.

Suraj (1966) : Brief Review -

The British Ruritanian romance formula meets Indian swashbuckling in a near-perfect masala flick. You might be aware of the son-swap formula that has been used in many Bollywood movies over the years. For the sake of revenge, the newly born son of the king is swiped by a poor man, and he keeps his son at his place. Dharam Veer (1977) did that too, but with a return trick. Anyway, we all know that this kind-hearted boy from the poor Dacoit family is the prince and will meet his destiny one day. Handsome Rajendra Kumar with that cute hairdo portrays Suraj, a prince swiped by a dacoit, whereas Ajit plays the son of the dacoit (by bad luck), who turns out to be a bad fella. The princess is committed to being married to the fake prince, but eventually falls in love with the dacoit's son, who happens to be the real prince. You might remember the trick of a rich girl pretending to be a maid/aide just to find true love from Rajkumar Santoshi's Andaz Apna Apna (1994). Well, Suraj did it long ago. It wasn't original itself, though. I have seen many rich girls doing the same trick in many Hollywood rom-coms/screwball comedies from the 40s and 50s. Suraj copies those ideas but puts up a nice show on its own. It seems original on many occasions, especially the animal stuff. So cute. The entire music album of the film on one side, and Baharon Phool Barsao is on the other. It's a magical song when you hear just the audio, but when you watch it in the movie, the video leaves you spellbound. The words are like diamonds, Rajendra and Vyjayanthimala's expressions are enchanting, Rafi's voice makes it an eternal melody, and the visuals are breathtaking. We don't actually make songs, characters, and entertainment movies like this, which have tremendous repeat value and so many likeable moments in the masala genre. Formulaic, but stands as a winner on its own.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.