Hum Dono: Double Barrelled

Developed from Nirmal Sircars story by Vijay Anand,Hum Dono revolved around two lookalikes,Major Verma and Captain Mahesh Anand,both from the Indian Army. When Major Verma goes missing in action in the Burmese War and is later believed dead,Mahesh is asked to convey the tragic news to Majors wife Ruma Nanda and mother. But not only is Mahesh unable to break the news when he sees them,but because of the physical resemblance he is also mistaken for Major Verma.

Complications obviously arise Maheshs sweetheart Meeta Sadhana thinks that he no longer loves her. Ruma,on the other hand,thinks that her husband is in love with another woman,Meeta. Maheshs problems thus seem to have no solution because Major Verma is dead8230;

The Golden chapter

Hum Dono returns to the big screen in dazzling color,Cinemascope,and Dolby Digital! enthuses its actor and producer Dev Anand,speaking characteristically in exclamation marks. The international release is fixed for January 28,and the all-India release either a week or a fortnight later. The excellence of the final result has convinced me to sacrifice the release of my latest film Chargesheet that will now follow it after a few weeks!

Dev reveals that it was Goldstone Technologies,USA,with an Indian base in Hyderabad,who approached him with the idea of colorising the film. The few reels that they did were spectacular indeed way ahead of the calibre of the earlier colorised films in India. Thats when I decided to go ahead. The entire film was brought to me in 2008,a distribution deal went wrong in 2009,and finally,I paid a good sum to acquire it in 2010! The film is now the property of Navketan,and while it was the second-last black-and-white film from my banner then,it is now releasing as the first of Navketans two releases in the 62nd year of the company! And the legendary actor-writer-filmmaker is thrilled when we point out that the epic film will now release 50 years after it first hit the screen in 1961 and became a super-hit.

The technical aspects,says the actor,have been completely looked after by Goldstone. They have processed the sound wonderfully. The songs which are iconic retain the music and the magical voices of Lata Mangeshkar,Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle,but have been converted into Stereophonic Sound. Some music has been added to the background score. The Cinemascope format necessitated some cropping of the 35 mm frame,but that has been done magnificently too. Thrilled at the great reaction to the colorised Hum Dono internationally,he raves that the response is unique. The original was a craze and still is! The new one will be a craze too!

The response in India was also gratifying. Exults Dev,We held a screening in New Delhi. I was sitting in one of the front rows. And three or four times,someone from the audience that was clapping all the while would come up to me,silently touch my feet and go back. It was a touching moment for me! Because this is what an actor works for all his life!

That magical quality

That the film was always special even among the many classics from the banner needs no endorsement. Apart from the technological leap,the film has a modern quality today its not back-dated. War is modern! The love story is modern! And Dev Anand is modern!! And the films song Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chalaa gaya is Dev Anands philosophy. It was also my first dual role. Yes! Hum Dono is special.

Going down memory lane,Dev recollects the film being Indias official entry to the 1962 Berlin Film Festival. I remember how we took permission from the Ministry of Defence Krishna Menon was heading it then to shoot the Army sequences. Indians were then fighting for the British in the Burmese War against the Japanese,but my film was not about war but love! The Burmese war was just the backdrop.

A high that the actor-producer experienced was when he invited Lt.-General Choudhary,chief of Southern Command,who was based in Pune,for the premiere that was held at Mumbais Eros cinema. The General actually wrote to me,asked me to come and dine at the Gun House and travel back with him to the premiere in the official Army car! During the screening,he drew the attention of the entire audience by laughing loudly exactly in the way Major Verma did in the film.

The film holds a rare significance for Dev and his brother Vijay Anand,who scripted the film and ghost-directed it,as it proved to be the genesis of their acclaimed masterpiece,Guide 1965. It was at Berlin that I met Pearl S.Buck,who expressed a desire to make a film on R.K.Narayans novel with me in the lead. And thus was born Guide.

The making of the film

Nirmal Sircars story,says Dev,was believable fiction. But Vijay Anand,my younger brother,developed and designed the entire film. Technically,the film was edited by Dharamvir,but it was Goldies vision all through,in terms of the shots and sequences. Dharamvir executed his cuts.

Why was Amarjeet credited with the films direction when it was Goldie in charge there as well? Amarjeet was one of the loyal men in Navketan. He did a terrific job of the publicity designs of our films. He wanted a break and for Goldie,it did not matter,such things were never given importance. Later,we launched Amarjeet as a producer with Teen Deviyan and he also produced and directed Gambler and produced Prem Shastra.

Sahir Ludhianvis lyrics are as much remembered today as five decades ago. What a level of work that man did! Whether it was Main zindagi ka saath,or Allah tero naam,which spoke of peace and universal brotherhood in a war story,or the epitome of romantic thought like Abhi na jaao chhodkar,ke dil abhi bharaa nahin,his songs were all masterpieces.

The selection of Jaidev as the films composer in place of Navketan stalwart S.D.Burman was another interesting feature of the film. Jaidev was Ali Akbar Khans assistant when he worked with us. After he left,Jaidev stayed back and began to assist Dada S.D.Burman even while doing some films outside. He was on our payroll but we thought that he deserved a break. So we took the moral permission of Dada and today,Jaidev is remembered primarily for the fabulous songs that he did for us. Later,Jaidev went a shade too classical,and classical music does not agree with cinema!

The music was teamwork,notes the actor,but he adds,But no song could go into my film without the sanction of Dev Anand! Songs are an integral part of an Indian film and I had a sense of music.

No compromise

The detailing that went in was one of the indicators that the word compromise does not exist in Dev Anands lexicon. In no film of mine have I compromised in any creative aspect, says Dev. We shot most of the outdoors in Mumbai at the Army Headquarters in Santa Cruz a suburb where we recreated the Burmese jungle and terrain. Col. Montgomery Kee,a Scot,guided us in the intricacies of army manouevres as we could not afford to go wrong. Major Verma was patterned on a real major related to my wife who was posted in Khadki near Pune. I would drive down there and meet and observe him. The laugh and the moustache were both modelled after him.

The casting was another meticulous job. Nanda,a top heroine,had played Devs sister in Navketans Kala Bazar and was considered perfect as the Majors wife. Sadhana,then very new,was a great choice as Meeta,Maheshs sweetheart. Lalita Pawar as the Majors and Leela Chitnis as the captains mothers respectively and Jagirdar as Sadhanas father all gave memorable performances.

I miss them all! thunders Dev about Pawar,Chitnis,Jagirdar,his cameraman V.Ratra He did some amazing lighting for the film,Sahir,Jaidev and Rafi. But above all I miss my younger brother Vijay Anand who gave this immortal motion picture to me! But now,for the Indian premiere,I will invite Nanda and Sadhana as well as Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle!

Did he not feel upset at missing the acting awards for his performance? I did at first,but then I realised that awards are also about prejudices,contacts and handshakes. After Hum Dono,I never bothered about them!