Bees Saal Baad

Bees Saal Baad (1962) : Brief Review -

Takes the soul from Doyle's legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles to build a whole new body of its own. 60 saal baad, still the best in the business. The first ever film in Basil Rathbone's iconic series, "Sherlock Holmes," was based on Arthur Doyle's material, and then Hemant Kumar took the soul of it and made a fresh body of his own in Bengali cinema in the 1950s. Biren Nag remade it and gave it perfect commercial packaging to serve audiences with one of the most popular horror mysteries of all time. I saw this film back in college almost a decade ago; I wasn't aware of old Hollywood movies then. Now, when I rewatched it and realised how much of its content was borrowed, I decided to review it again. Firstly, the title-Bees Saal Baad. Such an apt title to set the mood for a horror movie, and so relatable to the content. Kumar arrived in Chandanghat after 20 years, hence "Bees Saal Baad." The doctor thrills you with an amazing dialogue in the beginning: "Chandaghat ne koi bimari se nahin marta. Maar Diya jata hai." So fukking haunting! Then we have "Kahin Deep Jale," which can be called the greatest horror song of all time, with the only other competitor to argue being "Gumnaam hai Koi." Truly iconic. Hemant Kumar gave another iconic song, but this time a romantic number: "Bekarar Karke Hume." Every character is under suspicion for being the murderer, and the kind of getups they have actually make them look like killers. That frame when we see the House aide for the first time-that zoom-in and horrifying background score. A perfect horror setup. Additionally, Kahin Deeo Jale takes place in a farm at night, with a girl singing and her ghungroo making that sound. The crippled man, the doctor, the naukar, the haveli, the backdoor, the quagmire root, and every single thing in the art of design is highly useful and tactically powerful. When will we get to see something like this again? It's been 60 years already.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

It's a good thriller film. But the film is an adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. C. Doyle.

The main character of the film Biswajeet got the role by chance.This role was supposed to perform by the top Bengali film actor Uttam Kumar,who was the closest friend of the producer Hemanta ,but romantic hero Uttam did not like the character as anti hero and demanded to change the script but Hemanta did not listen to him and recruited another aspiring Bengali actor (who was introduced by Uttam Kumar.....what an irony) Biswajeet...and rest is history,the film was considered as Super Hit.

Its a superb movie with probably the best performance of Biswajeet and as ever, a beautiful and strong performance by Waheeda Rehman.

Other characters are also good enough to not disturb the rhythm and flow of the movie and have done justice to their parts.

Its a captivating movie, making you sit through whole duration and is miles ahead from modern hi-tech thrillers. Its a must watch for all those who want to see a sensible thriller.

Another major reason is its captivating music which is not going to leave you for 2-3 days after watching the movie. Just 3ongs but all so refreshing and melodious.

Vijay returns to his hometown only to be warned to stay away due to a vengeful spirit responsible for killing his ancestors. But Vijay decides to investigate the matter and hires a private detective.

An adaptation of Conon Doyle's Hounds of the Baskerville, Bees Saal baad takes elements from the novel, for one there's no Sherlock Holmes ( that's if you think Jasoos gopichand is an expert detective). Secondly, the focus is on the grandson who inherited a mansion from his grandfather-a scoundrel who raped a village belle - and is hearing the ghost of the village belle, and is romancing another village belle played by Waheeda Rahman. There are classic songs, and light moments in between the atmospheric and eerie parts. It's a well-executed, captiving film with the kind of moodiness that would make Val Lewton proud.

It might be an old black & white film, but modern filmmakers could never make something like this, and would probably put a whole load of gore to compensate a lack of story-telling finesse.