This time we look at the film ‘Hamraj’ released in 1967 under the retro review series. A film that shows the sad life of the film’s lead heroine Vimi closely.
Retro Review – Hamraj (1967)
artist – Sunil Dutt, Raj Kumar, Vimi, Balraj Sahni, Mumtaz, Madan Puri, Manmohan Krishna
director – BR Chopra
Music/song– Ravi, Sahir Ludhianvi
Box-office status– Superhit
Where to see– YouTube
Why see– There is a mysterious story from romance to love triangle. The end of the film is even more interesting and comfortable
Shows changes.
Learning of the story- Believe your spouse, even if they are trying to hide the secret from you.
Actress Vimi was a fascinating puzzle. She was so beautiful that she could do anything amazing with her beauty. In the film ‘Hamraj’, he was tasked to portray emotions. In the film, his character is named Meena, who falls in love in the first two hours. Meena loses her husband in war. It breaks into the grief of his child’s death. She starts her life by marrying again. Then there is a miracle in his life and he comes to know that his child is alive. After this, she also meets her first husband. Vimi’s performance is quite restrained even under all these circumstances. There is a mole on his cheek, which adds beauty to his beauty. If Kash Vimi had lived life with similar patience, we could see him more.
He was introduced to BR Chopra through the film’s composer Ravi and Vimi was selected for the lead role in ‘Hamraj’. She posed in bikini in bold and beautiful style. Vimi felt sure to get stardom, but her life got up rapidly. Her next two films flopped, her husband, whom she had married against her family’s will, left her. After this, Vimi drowned in darkness, battling loneliness, failure, alcohol and financial crisis. She died in 1977 and she left a sad heritage behind her.
Story
‘Hamaraja’ begins as green grasslands of Darjeeling, fresh romance under the blue sky. Which has been immortalized by Mahendra Kapoor’s ‘Neele Gagan Ke Tale’. Meena (Vimi) falls in love with the fiery Captain Rajesh (Raj Kumar), which looks amazing in stylish hats, glasses and army uniforms. For an army officer, Meena goes against her father and runs away with Rajesh. After this, Meena and Rajesh secretly get married. But he did not know that the storm was going to come in his life the very next day of marriage. Rajesh is called for war immediately after marriage. When his name appears in the martyrs list, Meena faints.
On the insistence of her father, Meena marries actor Kumar (Sunil Dutt) and starts a new life in Bombay. After this, a dead child and a mysterious person wearing two colored shoes is the entry of a mysterious person and at the same time many secrets of Meena’s life are revealed. Meena struggles to protect her hidden truths, but she has a sad end, in which Kumar is the main suspect. Who killed Meena? What is the secret behind shoes? The film solves these mysteries and ends with a new romance sign for Kumar.
The good, the bad and the ugly
In its first part, ‘Hamaraj’, the evergreen music of Ravi, the philosophical poem of Sahir Ludhianvi and the high voice of Mahendra Kapoor, moves forward like a Darjeeling Toy train from beautiful places. Sahir, who was always a magician, spread his magic with deep words, especially ‘Na Math Choop Ke Jio’, which is a soulful song of flexibility during the examinations of life. The song, set in the 1962 battleground, inspires both Meena and India to face life with new enthusiasm, renounce the previous failures.
Chopra Brothers, BR and more famous brother Yash were the masters of cinematic motion. He believed in sharp changes, so that the story would not be lost. Music in his films was always high enthusiastic, which used to carry the story forward. After five songs in an hour, ‘Hamraj’ increasingly transforms from a music to a khoi-khoi story. Then in a mystery and finally in detective. Despite the flaws in the story, its music and Sunil Dutt’s energy keeps the audience tied. Sunil Dutt is also shown shirtless in the 60s film. His bright body is displayed on the screen for a full five minutes. To increase the attraction of the film, BR Chopra has skillfully woven a side plot. Mumtaz romances on stage with Sunil Dutt in a black and white dress with her charm, a masterclass in fashion. However, all plots stagge a little bit. Shakespeare turns into a sharp and moralist field with teachings on marital loyalty taken from Autheloe.
Like the side plot, the character of Raj Kumar painted by BR Chopra cannot be forgiven. The soul of ‘Hamraj’ is Shaleen Raj Kumar. His royal appearance and scotch -soaked hoarse voice mesmerized people. The sad thing is that he has been given very little time on the screen. Not a single line of their iconic dialogues appears on the screen. Only Chopra could reveal the secret of hiding Raj Kumar’s face in the second half. Instead, he focused on his double colored shoes. The horror mystery has already been used in ‘twenty years later’. This tired suspense strategy seems a useless trick. This is a bigger crime than the crime shown on the screen
The track of the murder of ‘Hamraj’ is such a scam that is so bold that it is practically a crime against cinema. According to the logic of the story, it seems like a bullet. It seems that the author of the film has no information about the police investigation. The author raided a compartment of Pulpit Crime Fiction, threw the pages into a blender and served a smoothie. The absurd story shows the police as stupid and the audience as children.
It seems ridiculous to see Balraj Sahni’s character leading a foolish investigation, but this could not happen due to the seriousness of the actor. They saved it from disaster.
Decision
Despite these flaws, ‘Hamraj’ is a common Bollywood film, which has been carried forward by Ravi’s tunes, Sahir’s poetry and Chopra’s fast direction. And this film made with one genre to another and good stars would have been better if it was made a little shorter. However, what is remembered is Vimi’s life: A star that shines for a short time in ‘Hamraj’, but ended due to flop, abandonment and addiction. Finally, the film has a song for Vimi, which reminds the bitter memories.