Bollywood501 looks at the cult classic, "Hare Rama, Hare Krishna".

Film credits and related links

"Hare Rama Hare Krishna" (Hindi - 1972) Starring: Dev Anand, Zeenat Aman, Mumtaz - Director: Dev Anand - Producer: Dev Anand - Music Director: R D Burman - Lyricist: Anand Bakshi - Story Writer: Dev Anand - Editor: Dev Anand - Art Director: TK Desai - Cinematographer: Fali Mistry

Download an mp3 of RD Burman's "funky electronic" hit song, "Dum Maro Dum" from "Hare Rama Hare Krishna". (file size 2.3mb)

Link to Bollywood501's photo galleries of Zeenat Aman and Mumtaz as they appeared in "Hare Rama Hare Krishna".

 

"Lost and Found" Things are not as they should be.

Writer, actor, producer and director, Dev Anand's , "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" [HRHK] is a cult classic of Hindi 'Bollywood' Cinema. It is a film so twisted, convoluted, and contradictory one ends up wondering what the films true intent and message may have been. What it has become though is in many ways contrary to what Dev Anand had ever originally intended. On the surface HRHK is the story of a brother/sister relationship and separation trauma. The film supports the need for nationalist, community, and parental fealty. It also claims to be a cautionary tale and morality drama an exposé of the deviant values of the Hippie's (Westerner). Of course as in any Bollywood film there is also a comedy track, a love story, action/adventure, exotic locals, and a musical soundtrack with a number of gratuitous dancing and singing picurizations.

What actually happens and is shown in the film are self-centered uncaring parents who latchkey their children and send them off to boarding school. The parents are absolutely terrible role models for their kids. The brother/sister relationship is fraught with incestuous overtones as Dev Anand's interest in Zeenat Aman is continually mistaken by others for romantic obsession and the camera's 'eye' is constantly in a state of voyeurism towards her. Through the whole film the brother literally stalks and spies on the sister. The actual 'evil' perpetrators in the film are Indian or Nepalese nationals, (not the hippie 'Westerners'), who commit crimes and then falsely 'frame' the hippies into taking the blame. The films religious and community leaders are inept bumblers and the two redeeming 'natives' are tour guides who make a living through the foreign tourist trade. All in all the film is a contradictory mess in regards to it's purported ideals and messages. The feeling one gets at the end of HRHK is that despite all that we may wish for, and despite all that we are told to be true. Things are not as they should be. For an entertainer it is an incredibly (and unintentionally) pessimistic reactionary film.

Yet HRHK is impelling entertainment once the hypocrisy and double standards of the story line are thrown to the side, because the film has an incredible musical soundtrack (by R.D. Burman with lyrics by Anand Bakshi), incredible locals (Katmandu in 1971, before Western tourism truly over ran the city), amazing hippie clothes (with real hippie's wearing them), and above all the incredible Zeenat Aman as 'Janice', the lost hippie girl (in a role that forever changed the face Bollywood heroines).

Yes what HRHK is ultimately remembered for are the music, antics, and clothes of those deviant hippies this so called nationalistic 'call to morality' was rallying against. The same hippies director Dev Anand so vehemently denounces in the film.

During the 'Classic' period of Bollywood films the 1950s, Dev Anand was one of the heroic superstar in India. With Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand formed what was called the "Trimurthi of Bollywood", the three of them ruled the industry and popular imagination. In the 60s the popularity of these 'classic' heroes began to wan as a new breed and generation of heroes emerged. Dev Anand though was a tireless showman and refused to let his star set over nostalgic pastures. Knowing his star-power alone would no longer be enough to assure center stage in the limelight, Dev Anand devised a showman's plan. This plan was a many pronged attack which consisted of surrounding himself with new and dazzling talent both in front and behind the camera, then placing himself in the middle of it all, and retain superstardom by an osmosis to the spectacle that sprung up around him.

Dev Anand starred in three Bollywood 'kitsch' classics using this 'surrounded by spectacle' model, "Jewel Thief"(1967) "Johny Mere Naam"(1970), and HRHK (1972). Technically these films have dazzling and for their time innovative camera work, the hippest set designs, and are shot in front of breathtaking locals. Much of HRHK was shot on location in Nepal utilizing native scenery and buildings. (There is a memorable scene shot in a Nepalese rug factory with many local non-actors used as extras that is fascinating not only in technical and visual terms but also as the footage is over 30 years old could be seen as a sort of ethnographic document to Nepalese culture.) Anand latched onto what ever was the trendiest and hippest notion of the moment and incorporated it into his latest film.

Dev Anand had a true talent for spotting the next big thing and for costars he chose the freshest new faces who sometimes went on to become superstars themselves, Hema Malini in "Johny Mere Naam", Tanuja in Jewel Thief, and Zeenat Aman in HRHK.

One would only think that for a Bollywood superstar and idol of Dev Anand's stature to be surrounded by so much talent and spectacle that sometimes took the spotlight away from his general direction, he may have suffered some trauma to his ego? But Dev Anand went through this period as a tireless enthusiastic optimist. He relished every type of success that sprouted forth from his projects. He wanted the films he was starring in to joyously succeed by any means necessary. And if it ultimately meant that the spectacle itself became the message, then so be it. The story of HRHK is such a film, over run by the music, clothes, locations, and character interaction. It becomes a resounding classic despite whatever the story may be about.

Then again it is interesting to look at the plots and story lines that comprise these films. All three were written by Dev Anand and each one has main characters whose identities are in crisis. They are misunderstood, duel personalities, who are hiding their true identities.

 

"Character Vs Story"

The interplay of these identities in crisis are so powerful and take up so much space in these films that they become the main thrust of the movies. The spy caper of "Johny Mere Naam", the mystery/thriller of "Jewel Thief" and the nationalist morality tale of HRHK all take a back seat to the way the characters are reacting and misunderstanding or are being deceived by the identities and motives of each other.

Of the three films, in HRHK the ideas of identity crisis and story themes clash at their most extreme. The theme of the film is a nationalistic diatribe against Western degenerate values (the hippies). It takes form as a morality play that calls for the upholding of traditional Indian values, namely regressive family structures and conservative religious bias'. Naturally to pull such a black and white story off one would need some black and white characters. But Dev Anand has populated his film with schizophrenics. Virtually everyone has a duel personality or identity or background or alliance or conflicting and vacillating opinions that are manipulated by false or misconstrued events or memories. The idea of a hard-hitting story espousing Indian traditional values soon becomes lost in the turgid interplay of characters and identities gone amok.

It is an amazing mess of story, character, and message. In the end, for enjoyments sake, one does not have to believe Dev Anand's nationalistic conservative diatribe. It is hard not to just look on in wonder at the bizarre unresolved emotional maelstrom that has been wrought as the movie shows a shot staring straight into the sun and the title credits roll and the movie comes to an end.

It would be nearly impossible to ascertain any type of coherent absolute psychological analysis for the film HRHK. Simply because it is questionable that Dev Anand's initial story of nationalist conservatism is in any kind of syncopation with the convoluted character development and interaction that takes place in the film. Characters like the parents, who have been obnoxious and very self-centered in the film make an incongruous appearance at the end of the film as symbols of traditional Indian values. Things like this pop up to sabotage the message of the film over and over. If one didn't know better one would think Dev Anand was making a social satire. But he wasn't. So many ideas clash in this film, it is almost as if two scripts had been pieced together. One a nationalistic propaganda story and the other a Douglas Sirk soap opera script. The film has a disturbing beauty that is hard to explain because the story is so convoluted and confounding.

And in the end the story is not the real reason anyone is watching this movie. The real reason everyone is watching HRHK is to see Zeenat Aman wear her great hippie clothes and to hear R.D. Burman's booming electronic soundtrack with the great classic song, "Dum Maro Dum". I think though that under all the kitsch classic-ness of HRHK there are many other interesting and fascinating elements to be explored.

updated:02.19.03