Prem Pujari

Prem Pujari is a 1970 Indian Hindi-language film produced, directed and written by Dev Anand for Navketan Films. The movie stars Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Shatrughan Sinha, Prem Chopra, Madan Puri and a then-unknown Amrish Puri. It has several popular songs composed and directed by S. D. Burman.[1] The songs were written by Gopaldas Neeraj. He along with S. D. Burman, all singers and musicians gave one of their best work to help earn the limited fame (albeit, it was a collosal commercial failure) garnered by the film mainly because of its memorable music. Three songs of this movie are evergreen; "Shokhiyon Mein Ghola Jaye" sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar and "Rangeela Re Tere Rang Mein" sung by Lata Mangeshkar and "Phoolon Ke Rang Se" sung by Kishore Kumar.

Prem Pujari
प्रेम पुजारी
Directed by	Dev Anand
Produced by	Dev Anand
Written by	Dev Anand
Starring	Dev Anand Waheeda Rahman Shatrughan Sinha Ashok Kumar Madan Puri
Music by	S. D. Burman Neeraj (Lyrics)
Cinematography	Fali Mistry
Edited by	Babu Shaikh
Release date	6 February 1970 (1970-02-06)
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Plot

Lieutenant Ramdev Bakshi (Dev Anand) is a peaceful, quiet man who is only interested in wildlife and nature. His father, a war hero, arranges to send him to the Indo-Chinese border where he refuses to fight and is court-martialled. Later, he is captured by the Chinese, who promise him a better future if he spies for them against India. Bakshi agrees, but, instead, becomes a spy for India against the Chinese. When the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 breaks out, he drops his pacifism, joins in the action, and kills many Pakistani soldiers hiding in the bushes in an Indian village in the Khemkaran sector.

Cast

• Dev Anand as Lt. Ramdev Bakshi / Peter Andrews / Yik Tok
• Waheeda Rehman as Suman Mehra
• Shatrughan Sinha as Pakistani Army Officer
• Zaheeda as Rani Chang / Mrs. Andrews / Mrs. Yuk Tok
• Prem Chopra as Bilkis Mohammed (Billy)
• Anup Kumar (actor) as Kulbhushan
• Nasir Hussain as Retd. Subedar Major Durgaprasad Bakshi
• Madan Puri as Chang
• Manmohan as Chinese Army Officer
• Sajjan as Suman's maternal uncle
• Amrish Puri as Henchman in church of Spain.
• Sachin as Sunder
• Siddhu as Chamanlal

Location

The film was shot in Switzerland and has Grimsel Hotel in one of the song sequences. Here, Shatrughan Sinha was picked to play his part from the gathered public. Part of Prem Pujari was also shot at Astagaon near Shirdi in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.

Music

The music was composed by S. D. Burman, with lyrics by Neeraj.[2] Several of the songs from the film became popular, "Phoolon Ke Rang Se" sung by Kishore Kumar, "Rangila Re Tere Rang Mein" which was a blend of folk and modern and sung by Lata Mangeshkar, "Shokhiyon Mein Ghola Jaaye" by Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar, "Taaqat Watan Ki Hum Se Hai" (patriotic song), and the number in Burman's voice "Prem Ke Pujari Hum Hain". According to Anantharaman, Dev Anand stated that "Rangila Re" remained his all-time Navketan favourite song.[3]

S.No	Title	Singer(s)	Duration
1	"Rangeela Re Tere Rang Mein"	Lata Mangeshkar	06:15
2	"Shokhiyon Mein Ghola Jaye"	Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar	05:05
3	"Phoolon Ke Rang Se"	Kishore Kumar	04:57
4	"Taqat Watan Ki Humse Hai"	Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey	07:23
5	"Prem Ke Pujari Hum Hai"	Sachin Dev Burman	04:18
6	"Yaaron Neelam Karo Susti"	Kishore Kumar, Bhupinder Singh	04:18
7	"Dungi Tenu Reshmi Rumal"	Lata Mangeshkar	04:03
8	"Phoolon Ke Rang Se (Revival)"	Kishore Kumar	04:55
9	"Shokhiyon Mein Ghola Jaye (Revival)"	Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar	05:11

Reception

While Prem Pujari did not do well at the box office, the soundtrack, which became a success, was termed as "superlative" and as a "brilliant score" by Composer Sachin Dev Burman. The songs are known for the purity of their Urdu and Hindi languages and are regarded as evergreen classics.[4]

References

1. Khagesh Dev Burman (7 May 2013). S. D Burman The World of His Music. Rupa Publications. pp. 141–. ISBN 978-81-291-3042-6. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
2. "Prem Pujari". hindigeetmala.net. Hindi Geetmala. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
3. Ganesh Anantharaman (January 2008). Bollywood Melodies: A History of the Hindi Film Song. Penguin Books India. pp. 88–. ISBN 978-0-14-306340-7. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
4. S. D Burman The World of His Music

External links

• Prem Pujari on IMDb