Golden Era of Bollywood: Taxi Driver -The Film Very Closed To Dev Anand's Heart

Saturday 30 June 2018

Taxi Driver -The Film Very Closed To Dev Anand's Heart

After the debacle of “Aandhiyan” and “Humsafar”, Navketan was in deep financial crisis. To save the company from doldrums, Uma Anand, the wife of Chetan Anand and Vijay Anand, the youngest of the Anand brothers wrote a script which was an ideal quickie. Dev Anand produced the film on a shoe-string budget shooting almost the entire film on the streets of Mumbai. Chetan Anand wrote memorable scenes for “Taxi Driver” and introduced newcomer Sheila Ramani as Silvy, the pub singer.
Dev Anand in an interview said “Taxi Driver remains very close to my heart as it was an objective film with subtle nuances and because the entire Anand family worked in it. I got married to the film’s female protagonist, Kalpana Kartik during the shooting of Taxi Driver.”

The film was released in 1954 and was one of the biggest hit of that year.It was the first Hindi film that was shot outside the studio.After this film the trend of outdoor shooting started.A camera was strapped to the bonnet of a car to shoot the film.

Dev Anand's taxi in the movie was the British made Hillman Minx, a black car with the number 1111. Such became the popularity following the film, that the British made Hillman Minx became a vehicle of choice as a taxi in Bombay until the 1970s.
Speaking about the script of the film, Vijay Anand said, “I never was able to write another screenplay like “Taxi Driver” which was original and portrayed the working class of Mumbai with real dignity.” Uma Anand, Chetan’s wife who collaborated with Vijay for the script says: “The film set various trends. It was humorous as well as an emotionally satisfying venture. For the first time the impact of the mafia on the film industry was shown in Taxi Driver.”
The music of the film was super hit.In fact S D Burman got his first Filmfare Award for the best music director award.

Mohan Churiwala, Dev’s close associate, remembers the song 'Jaayen to jaayen kahan' recorded separately by Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mehmood. “Talat saab was an unusual choice for Dev saab, but Dada (SD Burman) insisted on recording the male version with him and the song won him the Filmfare Award for Best Playback (Male).