The film Phool Aur Patthar made in the mid sixties with Dharmendra and Mina Kumari in the lead roles, conveyed the message that crime should be eliminated not criminals. And if a criminal is trying to change himself and live a simple life, he should be allowed. The film was produced and directed by O.P. Ralhan, who later in the year 1973 produced another thriller Bandhe Haath on the similar theme, which was directed by O.P. Goyle.
Amitabh Bachchan an orphan who was brought up by a thief Madan Puri, grows up as a criminal. After the death of the latter, he decides to live a simple life & leave all criminal activities. One day while being chased by police, he enters a house and finds his look alike on the bed. He decides to steal the identity of the man on the bed & then live his life. He soon learns that his look alike on the bed is going to die soon because of the illness, which happens in the next few minutes.
The man on the bed dies & the thief gets his identity. But the man who died was a poet. He was related to the theater and an actress (Mumtaz) was his fan.
How easy it would be for the thief to live the life of a poet whom he didn't know? Police inspector (Ajit) who was after the thief to nab him, is not fully convinced that the man who died was the thief that he is after. Hence he has kept his eyes on the poet. Thief turned poet had an uphill task to lead the new life when enters Ranjit, a bad man.
Will the criminal in Amitabh Bachchan come back to life? If yes, will he be caught by the police, who has kept an eye on him, thanks to the suspicion of Ajit. You will have to watch the film to know the answers.
Music by R. D. Burman was average as except the song 'kya jaanu main hoon kaun' by Kishore Kumar and beautifully written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, no other song creates an impact, though the song 'Hai dil lei gawa, dhoka deyi gawa' looked good on screen.
In old films comedy was a vital part & O. P. Ralhan who has always played the roles of comedian in films, has done his part well. People who have watched him on screen will agree that he was a good actor.
Madan Puri was good in his small role. Though the role of Ajit was not big but he leaves an impact with his trade mark style. The best part about Ranjit was that he actually looked like a bad man & have always done justice to the roles given to him. In this film, though his role was small but he was good. Especially in the climax with Amitabh Bachchan he has handled himself well.
Amitabh Bachchan playing the character of a thief turned poet, was fantastic again. I saw the film the mid eighties at Jamshedpur in its second week and had to buy the tickets in black. That was the repeat value for his films because his fans use to rush to the theaters to watch him. Just him.
Plot wise the film co-written by producer O.P. Ralhan along with Qamar Jalalabadi has some similarity to Ralhan's earlier directed hit Phool Aur Patthar (this is very strongly recommended) but due to the changes made in the script it appears as a different film but conveys the same message that his earlier film did.
Director O.P Goyle has done a good job behind the camera. I loved the way the death of Madan Puri was written and executed that created the premise for the whole plot. Also the scene when Ajit comes in the middle of the night screaming the name of Shyamu to find out if the poet was the thief, was well written and directed. There are many other scenes that leaves an impact.
Overall a good thriller to watch.
Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
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