50 Years of Johny Mera Naam

 

Released on 11th Nov 1970, Johny Mera Naam was the Biggest Hit of Dev Anand's career. The movie, a thriller all the way, had the stamp of quality from director Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand. He and Dev Anand had begun their association with “Nau Do Gyarah” in 1957 and went a long way to give Indian cinema classics like “Guide”, “Kala Bazaar” and “Tere Ghar Ke Samne”. 

With Johny Mera Naam began a Decade of Action cinema. Though Dev Anand was known for Romance his versatility lay in his desire to experiment. It was the first film of Hema Malini with Dev Anand It was also the first Superhit film of her career. Hema Malini is at her best when romancing with the hero especially in ‘Pal Bhar Ke Liye Koi Hame Pyaar Karle’, a song where the Dev Anand keeps popping up from countless windows in a rest house.

 Dev Anand and Pran play the roles of brothers separated in childhood. Years later, Sohan (Dev Anand) goes on to become a CID officer called Sohan Kumar who solves his cases taking up different guises. He takes the identity of Johny, a petty thief and gets himself in jail, befriends Heera (Jeevan), solves a case wooing Rekha (Hema Malini) and finds the criminal.

Despite being fifty years old, the film does not look outdated, thanks to Vijay Anand. This is also testimony to his skills that despite a run time of around 2 hours 45 minutes, unusually long for a thriller but a norm for Indian movies, you never feel the length

Johny Mera Naam marked some of the best music composed by the duo Kalyanji Anandji.

#	Song	Singer(s)	Picturized On	Duration
1	Title Music (Johny Mera Naam)	Instrumental	Credit Title Sequence	01:59
2	"Vaada Toh Nibhaaya"	Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle	Dev Anand and Hema Malini	05:05
3	"Pal Bhar Ke Liye"	Kishore Kumar, Usha Khanna	Dev Anand and Hema Malini	05:05
4	"Mose Mora Shyam Rootha"	Lata Mangeshkar	Hema Malini	05:38
5	"Babul Pyare"	Lata Mangeshkar	Hema Malini	06:19
6	"Nafrat Karne Walon Ke"	Kishore Kumar	Dev Anand and Hema Malini	03:55
7	"Husn Ke Lakhon Rang"	Asha Bhosle	Premnath and Padma Khanna	05:19
8	Music Instrumental	Instrumental		02:00

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Johny Mera Naam, the film that influenced future Hindi films for decades.

The 1950s and 1960s were the eras of Family dramas but with the release of this film Action and Thriller genre began. This Golden Jubilee thriller was the first Indian film to cross a commercial milestone—it did Rs. 50 lakh business per territory when tickets were priced at a maximum Rs 2.50?

Johny Mera Naam remains the career-biggest hit of brothers Dev Anand and writer-director-editor Vijay Anand, together and separately? It also is Vijay Anand’s last hit as a filmmaker.

The year 1970 was the beginning of a decade that was to give Indian cinema an amazing thrust. The films came in a wide range to suit the interests of all sections. Romance remained paramount but crime thrillers and offbeat subjects dominated the world of Hindi cinema. It was hardly surprising that Dev Anand chose to take the lead with “Johny Mera Naam”, a huge hit with catchy scores from Kalyanji-Anandji and one of the raunchiest numbers ever with bold lyrics and a bolder dance by Padma Khanna.

The movie, a thriller all the way, had the stamp of quality from director Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand. He and Dev Anand had begun their association with “Nau Do Gyarah” in 1957 and went a long way to give Indian cinema classics like “Guide”, “Kala Bazaar” and “Tere Ghar Ke Samne”.

The film was full of entertainment with lots of twist and turns. The music of the film was very popular. Kalyanji-Anandji provided the music. The cabaret, Husn ke lakhon rang, Nafrat karne walon ke and O mere raja are the other popular tunes from the film.Song picturisation was Goldie’s forte and Pal bhar ke liye koi hame pyar kar le, where Dev serenades the dream girl through windows of all shapes and sizes, remains a masterpiece even today. 

When the film released Dev Anand was nearing 50, formed a dazzling pair with fresh as a dewdrop Hema Malini. This was the first of the nine movies including where Dev Anand and Hema Malini worked together followed by Tere Mere Sapne, Shareef Badmash, Joshila, Chhupa Rustam till Censor in 2001.