Gumnaam
Gumnaam | |
---|---|
Directed by | Raja Nawathe |
Written by | Charandas Shokh Dhruva Chatterjee |
Based on | And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie |
Produced by | N. N. Sippy |
Starring | Manoj Kumar Nanda Mehmood Pran Helen Madan Puri Tarun Bose Dhumal Manmohan |
Cinematography | K. H. Kapadia |
Edited by | D. N. Pai |
Music by | Shankar–Jaikishan |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 145 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Box office | est. ₹2.6 crore ($5.46 million) |
Gumnaam (translation: Anonymous) is a 1965 Indian Hindi-language mystery film directed by Raja Nawathe and produced by N. N. Sippy. The film was released in India on 24 December 1965 and stars an ensemble cast of Manoj Kumar, Nanda, Mehmood, Pran, Helen, Madan Puri, Tarun Bose, Dhumal and Manmohan. The film is a loosely inspired adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1939 mystery novel And Then There Were None and was remade in Tamil as Naalai Unathu Naal (1984). In the film, eight people (six men and two women) find themselves stranded on a remote island after winning a contest. As soon as they settle down in an eerie mansion with a strange butler, the guests begin to get murdered one after the other.[1][2]
Plot
On a dark night, Khanna (Hiralal), a wealthy man, hires an assassin to murder his rival, Seth Sohanlal. Khanna then makes a series of telephone calls to unknown people - to a doctor, whom he tells that a medical certificate needs to be made; to a mysterious young girl, whom he tells that the will needs to be sent to the "right place"; and to a lawyer, whom he tells that the will will reach him the next morning. Khanna later telephones Seth Sohanlal's niece, Asha (Nanda), and breaks the news of her uncle's death. The loud sobs and shrieks of a devastated Asha get amplified when she hears some gunshots at the other end of the line as another unseen man in a long coat and hat has entered Khanna's room and shot him point-blank. Khanna drops dead with his blood dripping strangely onto the receiver of the dangling telephone. A few days later, it is announced at a nightclub that the seven winners of a "lucky draw" have won a free fortnight-long trip to an unspecified destination abroad and will be going in a chartered airplane. These fortunate people are Barrister Rakesh (Pran), Dharamdas (Dhumal), Kishan (Manmohan), Kitty Kelly (Helen), Dr. Acharya (Madan Puri), Madhusudan Sharma (Tarun Bose), and finally, Asha, who now seems more composed.
Soon, these seven winners are in their chartered airplane, off of their vacation abroad, when the
That night, Anand, who himself has mysteriously brought with him a
That night, Dr. Acharya catches the butler acting suspiciously and learns his secret before a scuffle ensues between them. In the presence of Asha and Kitty, a stabbed Dr. Acharya enters the dining room, utters Anand's name and breathes his last. Anand and Rakesh accuse each other of Dr. Acharya's murder while Asha begins questioning her faith in Anand. The next day, Kitty goes for a walk by herself and is strangled to death by a rope. Rakesh and Asha, searching for Kitty, are shocked to discover her dead body and Anand's hat next to it. Rakesh witnesses Anand running away from the crime scene and begins pursuing him but loses his trail. In a fit of rage, Rakesh tries to rape Asha in the mansion in the middle of the night. Asha escapes from Rakesh but runs into him again as Rakesh collapses dead with two daggers in his back. The lights in the mansion are switched off, which indicates that the killer has arrived and that Asha is next. The killer approaches Asha and she falls unconscious in fear, before the killer carries Asha to a secret room and brings her back to consciousness. At this point, Asha is shocked to discover that the killer is none other than Sharma, who reveals that he had only employed the butler to make the necessary arrangements on the island, and posing as one of the castaways, he killed Kishan and Dharamdas. He then convinced Dr. Acharya to declare him dead, on the pretext that it would help him find out the killer, and later killed Dr. Acharya as well with Kitty and Rakesh.
Just then, Anand appears at the scene and reveals that he is actually an
Cast
- Manoj Kumar as Inspector Anand
- Nanda as Asha
- Pran as Barrister Rakesh
- Helen as Kitty Kelly
- Madan Puri as Dr. Acharya
- Mehmood as the butler
- Tarun Bose as Madhusudan Sharma (fake) / Madanlal
- Dhumal as Dharamdas
- Manmohan as Kishan
Cameo Appearances
- Laxmi Chhaya and Herman Benjamin as the masked dancer and masked singer respectively in "Jaan Pehechan Ho" song
- Hiralal as Khanna (Seth Sohanlal's murderer)
- Naina as the butler's insane sister
Soundtrack
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Planet Bollywood | [3] |
Critic Shahid Khan rated the soundtrack 9 out of 10 stating, "Gumnaam is sometimes unfairly overlooked but I believe that it is one of Shankar–Jaikishan's best albums."[3] Lyrics by Shailendra & Hasrat Jaipuri
Song | Singer(s) |
---|---|
"Jaan Pehechan Ho" | Mohammed Rafi |
"Gumnaam Hai Koi" | Lata Mangeshkar[4] |
"Ek Ladki Hai Jisne Jeena Mushkil Kar Diya" | Mohammed Rafi |
"Jaane Chaman Shola Badan" | Mohammed Rafi and Sharda
|
"Peeke Hum Tum Jo" | Asha Bhosle and Usha Mangeshkar |
"Gham Chhodke Manaao Rang" | Lata Mangeshkar |
"Aayega Kaun Yahaan" | Sharda |
"Hum Kaale Hain To" | Mohammed Rafi |
Reception
Box office
It was the 8th
Awards and nominations
Won
- Best Art Direction (Color) – S. S. Samel
Nominated
Notes
- US dollar in 1965[6]
References
- ^ "Aboard the mystery train | Cinemaexpress". Cinema Express. 22 November 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020.
Before Manoj Kumar became the flagbearer of patriotic films like Upkaar, he starred in Agatha Christie's most appreciated book, And Then There Were None. Featuring Mehmood, Pran, Helen among others, it is a faithful adaptation of the novel in which eight people land up on an island and begin to die mysteriously. A few years back, the film was called to mainstream attention when the film's opening song, Jaan Pehechan Ko, was used in a 2011 Heineken commercial.
- ^ Choudhury, Bedatri D. (16 July 2020). "Noir Meets Nawathe: Close-Up on "Gumnaam"". MUBI.
- ^ a b "Gumnaam Music Review by Shahid Khan". Planet Bollywood. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
- ISBN 978-93-90011-48-3.
- ^ "Archived copy". boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "PACIFIC Exchange Rate Service : Foreign Currency Units per 1 U.S. Dollar, 1950-2016" (PDF). Fx.sauber.ubc.ca. p. 3. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
External links
- Gumnaam at IMDb