Malayalam hit thriller-comedy RAMJI RAO SPEAKING (1989) directed by the duo Siddique-Lal (as their debut film) was remade in multiple Indian languages and also had its two sequels released in the subsequent decades.
In Hindi cinema, it was officially remade by Priyadarshan as HERA PHERI released in 2000 featuring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal in the lead and it seriously followed the major characters, sequences and patterns of its Malayalam original. Incorporating the idea of unemployed youth opting for dubious activities in search of some immediate money, HERA PHERI was a big success and it eventually became one of the most loved Hindi comedies of the recent decades with its sequel also getting made later in the year 2006.
However, the fact remains that these films were not based on any original idea. The basic idea of RAMJI RAO SPEAKING and all its remakes was actually borrowed from an innovative American T.V. Film titled SEE THE MAN RUN made in the year 1971. Though the film had some unintentional comical moments but it wasn’t a comedy, remaining quite different from its unofficial remakes. The American film was a thriller, straight away coming to the point in its opening sequence itself, whereas the Indian remakes (including the Hindi film) revealed their basic twist after almost an hour post the initial entertaining build-up.
Interestingly, even RAMJI RAO SPEAKING wasn’t the first Indian film to exploit the exciting idea of confusion between two groups of kidnappers calling a rich businessman, whose kid has been kidnapped by one of them. A similar idea was earlier seen in a 1979 Hindi film DO LADKE DONO KADKE featuring Amol Palekar, Asrani, Moshumi Chatterjee, Ranjeet and Keshto Mukherjee along with a special appearance by Navin Nishchol.
The film had its screenplay, dialogue and direction by Basu Chatterjee and its story was written by Robi Ghosh. Though it didn’t have the twist of a wrong number dialed becoming the link between the two groups, the film surprisingly had a similar plot of two small time thieves played by Amol Palekar and Asrani, trying to take advantage of a kidnapping plan made by some other professional criminals led by Ranjeet. Here the kid-boy is actually kidnapped by the two snatching him away from the other group and they keep him in a slum establishing an emotional bond leading to the expected melodrama in the end.
The unpopular film from the repertoire of the well-known director had music by the veteran Hemant Kumar and lyrics by Yogesh (who was pretty regular in the films of Basu Chatterjee) including a gem "Kisey Khabar Kahan Dagar Jeevan Ki Le Jaye" beautifully sung by Yesudas.
May be, Robi Ghosh (the story writer) was the first person to discover this amusing plot originally seen in the English flick, that was later adapted with changes for this film in 1979 or perhaps it was a coincidence that the writers in two different parts of the world wrote their individual stories on an almost similar plot in the same decade.
Whatever might have been the case, another reality was that DO LADKE DONO KADKE couldn’t work and impress the viewers on its release in 1979, which was most likely because of a miscast featuring Amol Palekar as a small time thief along with Asrani. To be specific, Chatterjee himself had given Amol a unique, hit image of an easy going, soft-spoken hero representing the middle class in his more than 4 films till 1979 and probably no one expected to see Amol as a petty thief in the director’s own film to say the least. Stating their films together, they were Rajnigandha (1974), Chhoti Si Baat (1976) and Chitchor (1976) besides Jeena Yahan (1979) and Safed Jhooth (1978) with Amol in special appearance. Interestingly Baton Baton Mein also released in 1979, again having a completely different Amol Palekar in comparison to Do Ladke Dono Kadke.
So if you haven’t seen this unusual Basu-Amol film revolving around the kidnapping of a kid yet, then do watch it but without expecting any subtle comedy as mentioned above in details.
Cheers!
Bobby Sing
(27th June 2020 - bobbytalkscinema.com)
