''Boy Friend'' is a 1961
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
directed by Naresh Saigal. The film stars
Shammi Kapoor
Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsher Raj Kapoor; (pronounced ʌmːi kʌpuːɾ 21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards, winning in the categories of Best Actor f ...
,
Madhubala
Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era, ...
,
Dharmendra
Dharam Singh Deol (born 8 December 1935), also known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi films. Known as the first " He-Man" of Bollywood, Dharmendra has worked in over 301 ...
in lead roles. The film's music is composed by
Shankar-Jaikishan. It revolves around Madan, who ran away from his house as a child and becomes a thief.
This film was a remake of India's first blockbuster ''
Kismet'' (1943), starring
Ashok Kumar
Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family.
He ...
along with
Mumtaz Shanti
Mumtaz Shanti (28 May 1926 – 19 October 1994) was a popular actress in Indian and Pakistani Cinema during 1940s and 1950s. She was known as ''The Jubilee Girl'' because of her roles in films '' Basant'' and '' Kismet''. She worked in films in ...
,
Shah Nawaz
Shah Nawaz Khan (January 1914 – 9 December 1983) was an Indian politician who served as an officer in the Indian National Army (INA) during World War II. He was profoundly influenced by Subhas Chandra Bose's speeches asking POWs to join the ...
and
Mehmood
Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''.
Siam Mahmud
*Mahmood (singer) (born 1 ...
. ''Boy Friend'' performed moderately well the box office.
Plot
Eight-year-old Madan is separated from his wealthy parents, Thakur Harcharan Singh (Shivraj) and his wife Rajni. Their other son, Madan's younger brother, Sunil (
Dharmendra
Dharam Singh Deol (born 8 December 1935), also known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi films. Known as the first " He-Man" of Bollywood, Dharmendra has worked in over 301 ...
) grows up to become a police inspector and is searching for his lost brother Madan.
Madan (
Shammi Kapoor
Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsher Raj Kapoor; (pronounced ʌmːi kʌpuːɾ 21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards, winning in the categories of Best Actor f ...
), who now is known by the name Shyam,has managed to survive by becoming a petty thief and has ended up in jail. On his release, he boards a train to Mumbai, where he meets Shantilal, a man he had known earlier in jail. The man, who is old and ill, asks Shyam to find his two daughters, Sangita and Sushma, whom he had abandoned due to poverty and debt years before.
When Shyam arrives in Mumbai, he begins searching for the sisters. He soon finds a young woman named Sushma (Nishi Kohli). When she drives off, he follows her in a taxi to a theater owned by Harcharan Singh, who arrives with his wife.
Sushma's elder sister Sangeeta (
Madhubala
Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era, ...
) is practicing dance for her stage debut in a play called "Boy Friend." The problem is that the play does not have a male lead.
While they are at the theater, Mrs. Singh's necklace is stolen by someone in the crowd. Inspector Sunil has just arrived with his men, and they start chasing the thief. Shyam sees the thief hide the necklace in a case in the sisters' car. That evening, Shyam sneaks into the sisters' house and retrieves the stolen necklace from the case. He also meets Sangita. When he relays their father's message to them, the sisters invite him to stay with them.
Shyam leaves early the next morning to return the stolen necklace to Sunil. But the Singhs' servant Sampat (
Dhumal) steals the necklace from him and sells the necklace to a dealer.
Shyam, deciding to leave the life of crime and seek a job, sees the ad for a hero opposite Sangita in "Boy Friend" and goes to audition in front of Harcharan Singh. He is hired and the show opens in Shimla with great success. When he takes Sangita skiing, she breaks her leg - an operation is expensive, and she cannot appear on stage any longer. Harcharan sends his manager to demand that the sisters pay off their debt to him or lose their house. Shyam is furious at this, and quits his job as hero for the theater company. Without a job, the problem is finding the money that Sangita needs desperately, without resorting to his old thieving ways.
Cast
*
Shammi Kapoor
Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsher Raj Kapoor; (pronounced ʌmːi kʌpuːɾ 21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards, winning in the categories of Best Actor f ...
as Madan / Shyam
*
Madhubala
Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era, ...
as Sangeeta
*
Dharmendra
Dharam Singh Deol (born 8 December 1935), also known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi films. Known as the first " He-Man" of Bollywood, Dharmendra has worked in over 301 ...
as Inspector Sunil
*
Nishi Kohli as Sushma
*
Dhumal as Sampat
*
Marutirao Parab
Marutirao Parab, popularly known simply as Maruti, was an Indian actor and director best known for playing comic roles in Hindi films.
Personal life
Parab was married to Kamal - a small time star in Hindi films who appeared in movies like ''Das ...
as Sevakram
*
Amirbai Karnataki
Amirbai Karnataki (c. 1906 – 3 March 1965) was a famous actress/singer and playback singer of the early Hindi cinema and was famous as ''Kannada Kokila''. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent fan of her song ''Vaishnav Jan To''.
Early life
Amirbai ...
as Rajni Singh
*
Shivraj
Shivraj ( hi, शिवराज; 1920 - 3 June 2017) was an Indian actor.
Selected filmography
*''Singaar'' (1949)
*'' Andolan'' (1951) (He played a key role)
*'' Patita'' (1953)
*''Devdas'' (1955)
*'' Seema'' (1955)
*''Dekh Kabira Roya'' ( ...
as Thakur Harcharan Singh
Soundtrack
Box office
''Boy Friend'' was the twentieth highest-grossing Indian film of 1961.
It grossed ₹0.52
crore
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...
, including a nett of ₹0.26 crore. Adjusted for
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
, its gross was equivalent to ₹58.2 crore in 2016.
Trivia
*
Amirbai Karnataki
Amirbai Karnataki (c. 1906 – 3 March 1965) was a famous actress/singer and playback singer of the early Hindi cinema and was famous as ''Kannada Kokila''. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent fan of her song ''Vaishnav Jan To''.
Early life
Amirbai ...
, who plays the role of
Shammi Kapoor
Shammi Kapoor (born Shamsher Raj Kapoor; (pronounced ʌmːi kʌpuːɾ 21 October 1931 – 14 August 2011) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of two Filmfare Awards, winning in the categories of Best Actor f ...
's mother in the film, had sung the songs of film's original version ''Kismet''.
* While shooting for a song,
Madhubala
Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era, ...
was so fascinated by Kapoor's dance that she would keep one eye open as he serenaded her (she was supposed to be asleep in the sequence). When he chided her for distracting him, she had said, 'I can't help it Shammi, I am fascinated by what you are doing... ;the way you are enacting the song. Where do you learn all this?' He had laughed it away.
* Kapoor had worked with Madhubala a decade ago in ''
Rail Ka Dibba'' (1953), and she used to tease him for being underweight on the sets of the film. When they met once again for ''Boy Friends shooting in the 60s, the first thing she had said to him was, '...you look so-so... Fat!'. He had recalled this incident in an interview taken in late 2010s.
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 0135168, Boy Friend
1961 films
1960s Hindi-language films
Films scored by Shankar–Jaikishan
Remakes of Indian films