Cast
What it is about
In Darjeeling, Sita Devi Verma is the guardian of two young women and two schoolchildren, all of whom tend to disobey her behind her back. She wants a tutor for them with one firm condition: he must be over fifty. Pritam Khanna, a recent college graduate in urgent need of work, is turned down for being too young, the same day he learns that his mother needs hospital care. Short of money, he takes the job by posing as an older professor. The young women, who do not want a tutor, set out to outwit him, but Pritam matches them at their own game, and the comedy grows into a tangle of disguises and misunderstandings.
How it was made
The Hindi musical comedy was produced by F. C. Mehra and directed by Lekh Tandon, with a screenplay by Abrar Alvi. Shammi Kapoor, Kalpana, Lalita Pawar and Iftekhar lead the cast. The score was composed by Shankar Jaikishan, assisted by Dattaram Wadkar, and includes the song "Aye Gulbadan", sung by Mohammed Rafi. The film blends farcical plotting with musical numbers, typical of popular Indian cinema of its era.
Reception and legacy
The film was a major box office hit on release. It earned several Filmfare nominations, and Shankar Jaikishan won the award for Best Music Director. It was remade in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, a sign of its lasting pull on popular cinema across the south of the country. Today it is remembered as a representative example of the musical comedies of 1960s Bollywood.
More films by Lekh Tandon
Amrapali
Jhuk Gaya Aasman
Agar Tum Na Hote
Dulhan Wahi Jo Piya Man Bhaye
Ek Baar KahoOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.