Gumnaam

Basically an adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians," this film is highlighted by one of the greatest, most euphoric rock 'n' roll dance sequences ever, which was featured in the opening credits of Terry Zwigoff's excellent "Ghost World."

Of course nothing can be taken seriously here, as the characters get murdered one by one, they still find the time to have a beach party and stage elaborate musical numbers. There are some terrific musical fantasy numbers, but of course the "Jan Pehechaan Ho" scene featured in "Ghost World" is by far the best.

HOW could anyone not love GUMNAAM? The most sensational dance number ever to open a serial killer movie "Jan Pennechaan Ho" and the fabulous Glomesh Ganesh in a gold Lame dress, Zorro boys and India's answer to Little Richard kick start GUMNAAM off to a musical start start unmatched in movie history. There even seems to be the wives and aunties of the producers as chorus girls, all out of step in their purple frilly dresses - and Zorro masks. Not even the superb 1955 plaster nightclub decor (made in 1965) or the (laughing bird) Kookaburra sounds (often heard in Tarzan films) clutter this most exuberant of nightclub dance numbers. The lead singer even throws himself on the floor and convulses - all in tune! The "Anything Goes" opening of INDIANA JONES TEMPLE OF DOOM can't even match this for 'out of your seat' shocko bizarro, because from then on GUMNAAM busies itself with a literally 'and then there were none' plot. There is a haunted mansion, ghosts and nooses from nowhere. The Mantan Moreland style kitchen hand Mamood, has the other major dance number, a tiki-himialyan Esther Williams inspired heavenly fantasy of meeting dancing virgins atop a spearmint plaster stairway held up with dancing plaster fish. All to tikka tikka boo bongo music Just beyond belief. What about the Two drunk girls who decide to sing about how funny it is to be drunk in a haunted house with a killer on the loose! Imagine THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT meets 'TEN LITTLE INDIANS' via MURDER ON THE ORIENT-NILE-GANGES and you might get slightly close. Find GUMNAAM. Show it to all your friends. IF only Hollywood was this much fun. Well it was, once wasn't it. This gets a 10 out of 10 just for the two dance numbers alone. The other 145 minutes are a bonus.

Interested in all things related to Ghost World after seeing that great unhyped movie last summer, I recently stumbled across Gumnaam which was available via Indiaweekly.com at a very reasonable price. It arrived yesterday, and I had intended to pop it in the DVD player just to check it out for a minute or two -- instead I was drawn in, and watched the entire 2 1/2 hours straight through.

This colorful movie is basically a routine thriller in which each member of a group of strangers is mysteriously murdered, one after another, until we find out who is ultimately responsible and why. What makes this movie stand out are the very unusual musical numbers, especially the first one entitled "Jaan Pehechaan Ho" which was featured prominently in the opening sequence of Ghost World. I can't recommend this movie overall, but that one particular bizarre Sixties Hindu rock dance number is worthy of praise. Thank you, Ghost World!

7 Stars only because it's a 1964 flick, so not as advance as it has to be. All culprits in the lonely mansion are enjoying, eating and having fun, although they have been made aware that each one of them will be killed!

Except for last 15-20 minutes, grip of this so-called thriller movie is poor. Mehmood's role and comedy are totally insignificant, and boring at times!

Motto of the serial murders is not very convincing. Overall plot and opening sequences are good.

Unlike in today's movies, detailing is very poor, script succums at many places. When secret of the murders us being revealed, it's not at all shown, how all these murders were done!! Each victim was carrying a wrapon or poison! For what?? They were anyway on a sponsored foreign pleasure trip!!

May be it was a novelty movie then, so went on becoming superhit! Music by Shanker Jaikishan is always fabulous, superb here, especially the title song ... mind blowing, suits perfectly to the theme of the movie!👌👍 And yeah, at times, you start wondering, who is the real heroine of this movie, Nanda or Helen?! And, who is hero, Manoj Kumar or Pran??!!😷

Gumnaam (1965) : Brief Review -

Christie's novel "And Then There Were None" was brought to full screen in American cinema in 1945, and after 2 decades, Bollywood woke up with the idea of making it a commercial blockbuster. Yes, we did it. Raja Nawathe gathered an ensemble cast of Manoj Kumar, Nanda, Mehmood, Pran, Helen, Madan Puri, Tarun Bose, Dhumal, and Manmohan. The script remains mostly unchanged, with a few changes here and there. In the novel, the 10 people are invited together, while here they are brought there by a conspiracy. The murder spree is the same, but Gumnaam powers itself with a proper commercial angle and some great musical numbers. "Gumnaam Hai Koi" is an iconic song, and it runs for like throughout the film. "Hum Kaale Hai To" is an evergreen chartbuster, and what a freaking grand setup it has. We have Mehmood nailing his characters and steps, and we have Helen nailing her looks and dance moves in the same song. What a great art design and fantastic choreography! Helen adds her sex appeal to the film, especially in "Gham Chhodke Manaao Rang" and that drunk song, which I didn't like much. Nanda is as gorgeous as ever, and her chemistry with Manoj Kumar is indeed beautiful. How sexy she looks in that rain song! These are the things that Hollywood couldn't have. That's the only way Bollywood got ahead of Hollywood, and I'm glad that we did. However, Gumnaam isn't as pacy as the American adaptation of the novel. Still, we have some great moments here. Who would have imagined that an eerie murder mystery could have been transformed into an audience friendly box office hit? Raja Nawathe and team Gunmaan did it. Today's filmmakers need to learn from old Bollywood how to make Hollywood adaptations in Hindi cinema.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.