Golden Era of Bollywood: 50 years of TEESRI MANZIL

Teesri Manzil is a 1966 Bollywood musical thriller directed by Vijay Anand and produced by Nasir Hussain."Teesri Manzil” is one such thriller which has stood the test of time.Nasir Hussain produced and wrote the film under his home banner. The film was released in the month of September.
Vijay Anand is said to have met Husain through his brother Dev Anand and Husain liked his keen eye for detail. Husain originally offered the film to Dev with his brother as a director but after Dev cancelled a few schedules, Husain asked Vijay if he would like to continue to which Vijay seemed to have asked him if the veteran had taken him on board because of his brother. Search for a new actor began and Husain zeroed in on his faithful Shammi Kapoor.

Teesri Manzil is a musical thriller,all the songs of this film were hit. It was Pancham's first brush with a big banner after assisting his father for many years.There is a story behind R D Burman's entry into this film.It was Majrooh Sultanpuri who pushed his candidature with Husain but Shammi Kapoor who was at the prime of his career then, was not too happy having a fresher on board.He sugested Shankar Jaikishan for this film,Vijay Anand who was director of the film wanted Pancham.so a meeting of Pancham and Shammi Kapoor was arranged where Pancham intoduced some of his tunes .Once Pancham opened his Pandora's box, it became hard to resist the temptation of freshness! Kapoor's nod comes through as he goes berserk in his steps in “Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyar Tera”.
Popularly called Goldie, Anand deftly combines the various elements of romance, comedy and mystery into a cohesive unit. The mystery part is particularly well handled keeping the audiences guessing. The red earrings are intelligently interspersed as one tries to guess the identity of the true killer — a near-perfect exercise in shifting moods. Shady dealings, jealousies and murder are set up in contrast to the protagonists Anil and Sunita's bright romance on Mussoorie hills — combining the best of the both worlds to have a profitable equation at the box office.

This was the first movie of Nasir Hussain/Majrooh Sultanpuri/R.D. Burman Combination which went on to produce many musical gems in the future.
Script writer and Salman Khan's father Salim Khan made a brief appearance in the movies as Shammi Kapoor's friend. Incidently the movie also stars Helen who is Salim Khan's second wife
The song O mere sona Re is the first Shammi Kapoor song in which he is angry and the heroine is wooing him.Shammi suggested the idea of using the bag as a prop to keep him occupied while the girl tries to console him
Shammi Kapoor's wife, actress Geeta Bali died during the making of Teesri Manzil.
Teesri Manzil was also the last Hussain film in which Mohammed Rafi sang all the songs. By Yaadon Ki Baraat, Kishore Kumar had temporarily become the dominant singer in Hussain's movies, but Rafi always had a special place in Hussain's films and would later win major awards for the song "Kya hua tera wada" in Hussain's Hum Kisise Kum Naheen.
Teesri Manzil is enjoyment guaranteed: With suspense, drama, thrills, romance and comedy neatly packed in.