{"id":384,"date":"2021-05-27T11:06:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T15:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/?p=384"},"modified":"2021-05-27T11:06:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T15:06:21","slug":"junglee-wild-dir-subodh-mukherjee-1961","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totallyfilmi.toutes-directions.com\/totallyfilmi-wp\/2021\/05\/27\/junglee-wild-dir-subodh-mukherjee-1961\/","title":{"rendered":"Junglee (\u201cWild\u201d\/dir. Subodh Mukherjee, 1961)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on December 7, 2015.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I couldn\u2019t resist choosing\u00a0Junglee<\/strong>\u00a0to be part of the\u00a0Try It,You\u2019ll Like It! Blogatho<\/a>n<\/a>.\u00a0 The purpose of the blogathon is to offer up classic films in order to encourage those who\u2019ve never experienced them to do so.\u00a0 Normally, I struggle with the cut-off dates for some blogathons, because the films that would suit the theme beautifully often fall just outside the limit.\u00a0 In this case, though, I was delighted for a 1965 cut-off.\u00a0 I\u2019m putting a little twist on my contribution, in that I\u2019m recommending a film for someone who might be interested in seeing a little something of what Hindi commercial cinema (what Bollywood was before that term came into existence) is all about.\u00a0 Usually when the question comes up, the suggestions run along the lines of things like\u00a0Devdas<\/strong>\u00a0(the 2002 version) or\u00a0Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge<\/strong>\u00a0(\u201cThe Bravehearted Will Take the Bride\u201d), or, horrors,\u00a0Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham<\/strong>\u00a0(\u201cSometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sadness\u201d).\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong.\u00a0 If any of those films are your favourites, or were your gateway into the wonderful world of Indian films, then I respect that.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that, personally, they’re not amongst my favourite films, so I hesitate, and you can\u2019t encourage folks to drink the Kool-Aid unless, well, you\u2019ve drunk the Kool-Aid yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That usually leads me to dig into the classic film vault with a recommendation for Raj Kapoor\u2019s 1955 film Shree 420<\/strong> (\u201cMr 420\u201d \u2013 420 is a reference to a section in the Indian Penal Code, and is used in films as a shorthand to refer to a fraud or a con artist or a cheat).  It is, I\u2019ll admit, a good choice.  Kapoor\u2019s films are beautifully shot and full of wonderful songs.  It gives me a chance to gush over the actress Nargis, who was never shot as beautifully as she was in a Raj Kapoor film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, I wanted something different.  I wanted a film that exploded with colour and laughter and music and fun.  And I knew immediately that there was only one film that I should consider for this blogathon \u2013 Junglee<\/strong> (\u201cWild\u201d).  Junglee<\/strong> takes us one step away from Raj Kapoor:  it stars his brother Shamsher, affectionately known as Shammi.  If you\u2019re a fan of Satyajit Ray and have fallen under the spell of Sharmila Tagore, well, she made her Hindi film debut opposite Shammi Kapoor.  In Junglee<\/strong>, it\u2019s the debut of another actress, Saira Banu, all of eighteen and incredibly fresh-faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Junglee2\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Junglee<\/strong> tells the story of Shekhar (Shammi Kapoor), raised in an upper-class family in which laughter and love are seen to be the failings of the underclasses.  This, of course, gives Shammi Kapoor the opportunity to walk around looking like he\u2019s swallowed a sour lemon (I\u2019ve long thought that he modelled the performance on several of those of his own father, actor Prithviraj Kapoor) and generally behaving like a right royal stick-in-the-mud.  Shekhar prizes discipline and seriousness above all; there is absolutely no room for emotion in his life.  All of these are qualities that were important to his late father, and were dutifully passed on by his mother (Lalita Pawar).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Yes, the family has a red-lit room for all matters Serious and Confidential.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it\u2019s a wonder, then, how Shekhar\u2019s sister Mala (Shashikala) has turned out as she has \u2013 pretty, joyful, happy, and \u2013 horror of horrors \u2013 in love with Jeevan (Anoop Kumar), who is but a lowly employee in Shekhar\u2019s firm.  When Mala\u2019s indiscretions are discovered, Shekhar takes her away to Kashmir in order to separate her from her beloved and end the relationship.  And Shekhar\u2019s marriage, already arranged with a rajkumari (\u201cprincess\u201d) from a royal family, is destined to take place upon their return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As fate would have it, though, Mala discovers that she is pregnant, and she is taken under the care of a local doctor and his pretty daughter, Rajkumari (Saira Banu) \u2013 and yes, this naming is deliberate, and will ensure that confusion ensues later on in the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajkumari is bright and fun and mischevious \u2013 everything Shekhar is not, and she annoys the bejeebers out of him, always flitting around and bothering him.  But in one of the film\u2019s key moments, the two end up stranded in a snowstorm, and Shekhar comes to realize how empty and colourless his life is, and the two fall in love.  Mala predicted that only someone like Rajkumari could melt a stone heart like Shekhar\u2019s, and she was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Junglee<\/strong> also gives his Shammi Kapoor at, perhaps, his yummy best.  Swoonworthy!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This transformation allows Shammi Kapoor to transform Shekhar into a character that would be so emblematic of his career \u2013 fun, goofy, charming, and inspiring everyone to\u00a0\u201cshake it like Shammi\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0 And the song that celebrates Shekhar\u2019s transformation, “Chahe Mujhe Koi Junglee Kahen\u201d (\u201cCall Me Wild\u201d) opens with that iconic cry of \u201cYahoo!\u201d which would become more associated with Shammi Kapoor than anything else in his long career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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