Dharmendra as driver before CHUPKE CHUPKE

Dharmendra as a driver, in a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film before CHUPKE CHUPKE - by Bobby Sing (Did You Know - 89)

03 May, 2017 | Did You Know! / Articles on Cinema

Reading the heading, one would straight away recall Dharmendra’s fabulous comic act in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s classic comedy CHUPKE CHUPKE released in 1975. Dressed in a white attire with a driver’s cap pretending to be an amateur learner of English, Dharmendra delivered one of his career best performances in the film and had an outstanding support coming from Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan, Om Prakash, Jaya Bhaduri, Asrani, Keshto Mukherjee and more.

However this was not the first time Dharmendra wore the dress in a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film. Four years back in 1971 he was seen in an exactly similar avatar dressed in white with a cap, in a dream sequence of GUDDI which was actually a spoof using the original song “Tujhe Jeevan Ki Dor Se Baandh Liya Hai” from Mukherjee’s ASLI NAQLI (B&W) released (almost a decade back) in 1962.

Interestingly in GUDDI, Jaya Bhaduri (making her Hindi film debut) fantasies singing the track with her idol Dharmendra dressed as a driver, since in the actual picturisation of the song in ASLI NAQLI too, we had Dev Anand dressed as a school bus driver playing one of his odd jobs in the script.

Nevertheless an intriguing question remains that when Hrishikesh Mukherjee was shooting the spoof sequence for GUDDI presenting Dharmendra in the white attire, then was he already in the process of writing or thinking about making CHUPKE CHUPKE with him sporting exactly the similar looks or was it a case of a plain coincidence or an amazing premonition?

Adding to the thought above, CHUPKE CHUPKE was in reality a (far better) remake of the Bengali film CHHADMABESHI based on a story by Upendranath Ganguly that also got released in 1971, in which Uttam Kumar played the role of a driver in disguise.

Having not found any mention of how & when the maestro decided to remake the film in Hindi, possibly either Hrishikesh Mukherjee thought of going for the same in 1971 itself, shooting the said sequence of GUDDI with Dharmendra giving a sort of dress trial, or may be the short appearance itself gave him the idea of remaking CHAADMABESHI taking his friendly hero in lead playing the role of Uttam Kumar.

Anyway, whatever might have been the reality, this is no doubt a rare attention-grabbing instance related to ASLI NAQLI (1962), GUDDI (1971), CHHADMABESHI (Bengali/1971) and CHUPKE CHUPKE (1975) altogether.

More interesting related facts

1. Venturing into Hindi films in the early 70s, “Tujhe Jeevan Ki Dor Se” (as a spoof) was probably the only Shankar-Jaikishan song enacted on screen by Jaya Bhaduri.

2. Bengali film CHHADMABESHI (1971) was directed by Agradoot, who is not any individual identity but a collective name for a group of filmmakers directing/making a film together.

3. CHUPKE CHUPKE released in the same year as SHOLAY in 1975 with Amitabh, Dharmendra and Jaya Bhaduri, all playing extreme contradictory comic roles in comparison to their appearances in SHOLAY.

Cheers!

(C) May 2017 - Bobby Sing/Harpreet/Bobbytalkscinema.com

Tags : Dharmendra as a driver, in a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film before CHUPKE CHUPKE, Did You Know facts about Hindi Cinema at bobbytalkscinema.com, Rare Bollywood Facts by Bobby Sing, ASLI NAQLI (1962), GUDDI (1971), CHHADMABESHI (Bengali/1971), CHUPKE CHUPKE (1975), Dharmendra Comedy Films.

03 May 2017 / Comments ( 4 )

Avik

submitted on 06 May 2017

For me Chhadmabeshi is better.. May be because I have a special feeling for Uttamkumar.. But the Hindi remake is indeed a cult and I love it a lot :) Anyways sir, I would request you to come up with a write-up on dharmendra/hrishikesh movies ( satyakam, guddi, chupke chupke, anupama etc.) as these are certain films which portray dharmendra in a totally different avatar than his typical image.. I am sure you must have a lot of unknown facts to share with us :)

Bobby Sing

submitted on 28 May,2017

Hi Avik, I personally found the fun element a lot more in Chupke Chupke in comparison to the original. But both are cult classics in their own way for sure. Regarding the Hrishikjesh Mukherjee write-ups, had written about Anupama climax and its relation with DDLJ just recently. And would soon be coming with a more elaborate one on ANUPAMA in the coming days. So stay tuned. Cheers!

Debraj Moulick

submitted on 02 August 2017

With due respect to your view regarding Chaddabeshi , I think it was far more hilarious than the original one . The linguistic tit-bits and Uttam Kumar's chemistry with Bikash Ray was far more natural than Dharmendra and Om-Prakash. No doubt , Dharmendra provides an endearing performance but it was Johor Ray's "Cho cho kya sharam ki baat..bhadder ghar ki ladki bhagey daraiver ka saath " which steals the show. You could relate to the original story after watching the Bangla version.

Bobby Sing

submitted on 12 Dec,2017

Dear Debraj Moulick,
If the viewer knows the original language of a film, then it does make much more impact undoubtedly. I agree to that completely.
And may be that is the reason I felt that way.
Will surely try to catch the original movie again seeing it with a new perspective.
Cheers!

Dharmendra as a driver, in a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film before CHUPKE CHUPKE - by Bobby Sing (Did You Know - 89)

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