|
 |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
By Deepa Gahlot, June 6, 2007 - 10:00 IST
As The Train releases this week, it is fun to take a look at the old movie with the same title. The 1970 film was also a thriller, directed by Ravikant Nagaich and starring then superstar Rajesh Khanna with a visibly over-the-hill Nanda, and a gorgeously sexy Helen.
The murder mystery was obviously inspired in style by like Teesri Manzil , the Vijay Anand classic made just four years earlier, but its fast pace and fabulous RD Burman score made it a hit. It was also the time when Rajesh Khanna career was on his ascendant and anything starring him would work.
He plays Inspector Shyam, who is assigned the job of tracking a gang of thieves, who rob and kill people on trains. The villains Madan Puri and Shetty are mostly in the shadows as the film combines a love triangle and comedy track with Rajendranath.
Even as Shyam is wooing Neeta, a college student (played by Nanda in a beehive bouffant, hilarious!), he submits to the advances of his former college mate and cabaret dancer Lily (Helen), because he believes she is linked to the gang. There is a quarrel between Shyam and Neeta when he gets her innocent father arrested. She is offered a job in the seedy Hotel Hilltop where Lily dances.
Pyarelal (Rajendranath) happens to in the same compartment as one of the gang's victims, and he is lured off the train by a woman who is a dead ringer for Neeta. Shyam now forces the hassles Pyare to stick with him till the killers are apprehended. Imagine his shock then when he finds that his beloved is involved!
For its time, the film was stylish, foreign cars and all, plus Rajesh Khanna getting a fabulous wardrobe and also doing some fight scenes, in which the "dhishoom" is very audible. Way back then, there was the 'mask' trick (an actor passing off as another by wearing a latex mask) which is still being used by both Bollywood and Hollywood films.
The film belonged to the pre-tech time when everybody used rotary phones, traveled by train and trains halted long enough for passengers to disembark and have a meal at the station restaurant. Igatpuri and Nashik stations can be seen as they looked 37 years ago.
The songs included the very memorable Gulabi aankhen, Kis liye maine pyaar kiya, Mujhse bhala yeh kajal tera, Chhaiyan re chhaiyan, O meri jaan maine kaha, and Dil abhi diya nahin.
Interesting Trivia
- The film was produced by Ramesh Behl, father of Goldie and Shristi Behl, who have kept the 'Rose Movies' banner flying.
- Rajendra Kumar presented the film.
- The director Ravikant Nagaich was also a cameraman and special effects man, and known for his thrillers. He made a James Bond of Jeetendra in Farz and created the 'Gunmaster G9' character for Mithun Chakraborty in Surakksha. Fool and Final paid a tribute to this character with Jackie Shroff playing him
- In a scene where the cop and the eyewitness go to a dance school, Aruna Irani appears to do a terrific dance number Chhaiyan re Chhaiyan.
- Tun Tun made a one-scene guest appearance, as a woman who won't give-up the phone when Rajendranath wants to use it badly.
- An actor called Rajpaul was introduced in the film as the man behind the gang's operations, but is it not known if he ever did another film.
- In the year The Train was released, Rajesh Khanna also had a list of hits-- Aan Milo Sajna , Anand , Kati Patang , Sachaa Jhootha and Safar - not for nothing was the word Superstar coined for him.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
