Manoranjan

Manoranjan review :

Before Raj Kapoor got besotted by the charming Zeenat Aman to cast her in his Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), younger bro Shammi worked with her in his directorial debut Manoranjan. Featuring Sanjeev Kumar opposite Zeenat, Shammi Kapoor himself played the pivotal role of Cafè owner Dhoop Chaaon who is also the film's narrator.

Based on the musical comedy 'Irma La Douce', the plot revolves around a red light street called Manoranjan where simpleton havaldar (Sanjeev Kumar) is assigned his first duty and gets fired pronto for catching his senior inspector (Madan Puri) red handed with a prostitute.

The havaldar then befriends a kind hearted prostitute (Zeenat) and in a bid to stop her immoral business, disguises as a Lucknowi Nawab to become her regular client. The 'kahaani mein twist' comes when one fine day, the havaldar gets caught for murdering the Nawab!!!

Shammi Kapoor's direction was not to the level of Raj Saahab but he deserves credit for handling such a bold subject in the 70s. A heroine sleeping with the hero without even knowing him properly was something unimaginable in those times and naturally, the film was shunned by the critics and audience alike. Presenting prostitution as an element of fun was another factor which evoked a lot of criticism.

The super gorgeous Zeenat Aman is the highlight of the film and the camera seems to be in love with her whether lingering on her bare back or caressing her beautiful legs in one scene. There are two bathing scenes devoted to her and undoubtedly, Manoranjan is a treat for every Zeenat Aman fan. Satyam Shivam Sundaram was about inner beauty but Manoranjan is all about the exterior....and its in your face!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni

Sanjiv Kumar plays a constable who falls in love with Zeenat Aman, a prostitute. The result is hilarious. This is one of the few Hindi movies which acknowledge the source. In this case the source being Irma La Douce, probably the Billy Wilder movie, not the play written by Alxandre Breffort. Sanjiv Kumar is brilliant as usual. He seems eminently comfortable in comic roles. Zeenat Aman is stiff as usual, but manages to look quite attractive, and naughty. The studio set used is not naturalistic enough but it does not hamper the illusion. One brilliant scene is where Zeenat's room is searched by several policemen. Sanjiv Kumar, as the Nawab, is superb. Shammi Kapur proves to be quite a good director. Its a pity he does not give us more. The film was famous for its 'adult' content. It was famous, but no phenomenon like Sholay.

This movie is remake of Hollywood movie but making remake of this kind in 70's needs guts, there must some reason for shammi kapoor to choose this movie to direct and he did a good job its not a master piece but considering his experience in department of direction this was way much better than all the movies dev anand directed. Zeenat must be very young choosing this subject could have finished her career but through out the movie she looked bubbly and beautiful. Apart from the concept even the set costumes etc are western but still it's a good time pass and sanjeev too accepting this role needs to be applauded. Song picturised on zeenat taking shower is still very popular but the set of bathroom was low budget and it looks funny a beautiful young girl with hot figure taking shower singing this beautiful song in such a run down bathroom i hope some one remake this song again its beautiful even the song koya ke chunanche is nice.

There have been numerous Hindi movies which are inspired by English movies.Out of them very few retain the class of the original and are still entertaining.Manoranjan based on Billy Wilder's 'Irma la dounce' is a gem of a movie.the plot as already told is anything Hindi movie had ever seen.The showing of a prostitute as an independent modern woman who is not apologetic about her profession and does not give never ending stories of forced prostitution was unimaginable in the 70's.Veteransuperstar turned director Shammi Kapoor deserves special applause to chose such a subject as his directorial debut after a successful carrier as a leading man.The script although has Indain flavor but regains the essence of the original.

The movie breaks many stereotypes and shows everything about prostitution in a very light and stylish way.No tear jerking ugly looking ladies,no shabby brothels and no superheros.Manoranjanis a bold movie even 30 years after its release.It is generally seen that in a topic like this the movie out of choice becomes cheap and vulgar but still Shammi makes Manoranjan an amazingly entertaining movie.The producers F.C.Mehra had made some great movies earlier with Shammi Kapoor in the ladylike 'Professor' and 'Singapore'.Now when Shammi's carrier as a leading man was almost over(Thanks to the arrival of superstars Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan) Mehra did a big gamble by choosing such a story and giving the directorial duties to Shammi.The direction is almost flawless.The relationship between Sanjeev Kumar and Zeenat Aman is developed very beautifully.The director does not thrust typical Hindi film ingredients just for the heck of it and that is one of the major reasons that Manoranjan does not lose the charm of its original.Since the movie is set in India so the showing of Bombay as the city where all the action takes place instead of Paris(where the original movie was set) also goes very well with the audience.

Every aspect of the movie be it screenplay,dialog's or editing are excellent.The music by R.D.Burman is amazing.All the songs 'Suno Ji Suno','Goya Ki Chunanche' and 'Aaya Hun Main' are very well composed and sung.The choreography and song picturisation make these songs even more popular. Sanjeev Kumar gives an amazing performance in the movie.His comic timing,expression and famous dialog delivery are excellent.He is comfortable in the scenes where he is shown as the timid man opposite a rather independent and commanding Zeenat Aman.But my favourite scene is when he has an outburst and blasts Zeenat thus showing that it is only natural for men to behave this way even if he was enjoying taking orders from the lady.I guess Manoranjan is Zeenat Aman finest performance.She actually showed that being bold just did not mean body exposure but acting in movies which are bold in their content also.Her performance is the highlight if the movie.Unfortunately except for B.R.Chopra who took out an excellent performance from her in 'Insaaf Ka Taraazu',no-one could extract a performance the way Shammi did in this movie(not even the over-hyped Raj kapoor in Satyam Shivam Sundaram).Shammi kapoor had put on a lot of weight and although he hammed for most of the portion he still shows his class in some scenes.Dev Kumar as the strong villain suited the role to T(Shammi again signed him as a giant in his other directorial dud Bundalbaaz).Paintal,Madan puri and Agha are adequate.

When released in 1974 Manoranjan did not do well at the box- office,probably because it was very bold.However over the years it has formed the position of a classic.On the whole Manoranjan is an excellent movie which though very bold and could still raise eyebrows if seen at home.

The characters, setting, costumes, or the events clearly suggest the western influence in this comedy. The film fails to deliver novelty, meanders a lot, and is overlong feeling you to skip some of the parts. Despite, the film is also interesting in parts with comedies done by Sanjeev Kumar and Shammi Kapoor. The formulaic comedy of disguise by the hero looks a very bad imitation of "Professor" and at least there are moments when you would like to bang your head for the silliness of the movie. The songs, dances, and the performances from the supporting cast (even Zeenat Aman) isn't impressive. What you would like of this movie is its comical situations and wit created towards the second half of the movie. Overall, the film begins well and if you can tolerate the muddled events in the middle, the film ends at a humorous note. Anyway, if you like Shammi kapoor's screen presence, have a try with this one in which he makes a nice role.

Rating: 1 star out of 4