Gumnaam
| Gumnaam | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Raja Nawathe |
| Written by | Charandas Shokh Dhruva Chatterjee |
| Based on | And Then There Were NonebyAgatha 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 a1965IndianHindi-languagemystery filmdirected byRaja Nawatheand produced byN. N. Sippy.The film was released inIndiaon 24 December 1965 and stars anensemble castofManoj Kumar,Nanda,Mehmood,Pran,Helen,Madan Puri,Tarun Bose,DhumalandManmohan.The film is a loosely inspired adaptation ofAgatha Christie's 1939mysterynovelAnd Then There Were Noneand was remade inTamilasNaalai 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[edit]
On a dark night, Khanna (Hiralal), a wealthy man, hires anassassinto murder hisrival,Seth Sohanlal. Khanna then makes a series oftelephone callsto unknown people - to a doctor, whom he tells that amedical certificateneeds to be made; to a mysterious young girl, whom he tells that thewillneeds to be sent to the "right place"; and to alawyer,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 somegunshotsat the other end of the line as another unseen man in a longcoatandhathas entered Khanna's room andshothim point-blank. Khanna drops dead with his blood dripping strangely onto the receiver of the danglingtelephone.A few days later, it is announced at anightclubthat the seven winners of a "lucky draw" have won a freefortnight-long trip to an unspecified destination abroad and will be going in acharteredairplane.These fortunate people areBarristerRakesh (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 thepilotannounces to them and the onlyflight attendantwho is on board, Anand (Manoj Kumar), that the airplane is forced to make anemergency landingat an anonymous remoteislanddue to some technical problems. However, as soon as Anand and the seven passengers get off the airplane, the pilot shockingly dumps all theirbaggageout and the airplanetakes offwithout them, leaving them all stranded on the island. At the same time, a mysterious, unseen woman begins singing an eerie song on the island without the woman ever being visible. The eight people follow the direction of the woman'svoice,and finally arrive at a vast and spookymansion,which seems to be unoccupied except for a comicallungi-cladbutler(Mehmood), who is in charge of the mansion and has been weirdly expecting the arrival of thecastaways.The butler also knows each of these people by name and has been provided with aletterlisting all of these people except Anand. Further, everyone discovers that the butler has adiarywhich, besides containing anaccountof dailyexpense,also contains a message addressed to the entire group, accusing each of these people of having conspired to kill Seth Sohanlal and passing a death sentence on them.
That night, Anand, who himself has mysteriously brought with him agun,discovers that Dr. Acharya has brought abottleofpoisonand Dharamdas a fearsome-lookingdagger.Rakesh and Kitty fall in love with each other, while the butler's suspicious actions indicate the presence of an unknown person in the mansion. The next day passes uneventfully, but at night, Anand and Asha are shocked to discover Kishanstabbedto death with a half-smokedcigarand a letter addressed to the group next to Kishan'sdead body.The letter states that Kishan was the assassin hired by Khanna who killed Seth Sohanlal. The group deduces that Dharamdas murdered Kishan, but he pleads innocence and Anand and Asha also later discover himstrangledto death. Rakesh accuses Dr. Acharya of having actuallypoisonedDharamdas and it becomes clear that everyone was connected to Seth Sohanlal; Rakesh wrote Seth Sohanlal's will on Khanna's orders, while Kitty was Seth Sohanlal's privatesecretarywho sent his will to Rakesh on Khanna's instructions, though neither knew about the other. The next day, Anand notices Rakesh hiding anaxebefore Dr. Acharya appears screaming that Sharma has been murdered with an axe. The murderer has left another letter next to Sharma's dead body stating that Sharma was Khanna's co-conspirator in Seth Sohanlal's murder. Now only three men - Anand, Rakesh and Dr. Acharya - and two women - Asha and Kitty - are left alive and terrified on the island along with the butler.
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 thedining 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 arope.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 thecrime sceneand 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 hisback.Thelightsin 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 anundercoverpolice inspectoron the mission to capture Sharma, an escapedconvictwhose real name is Madanlal. Madanlal confesses to Anand and Asha that both Khanna and Seth Sohanlal were his partners insmuggling,but he was betrayed by them after being arrested by the police. Khanna and Seth Sohanlal raped Madanlal's sister too, which led her to commit suicide, and murdered Madanlal's brother after he informed Madanlal about their crime in prison. Khanna also had Seth Sohanlal killed to usurp the share of his money, but Madanlal escaped from prison and murdered Khanna. He then ensured that his targets "won" the lucky draw held at the nightclub and decided to take the trip to murder Khanna's remaining five assistants too. Madanlal then ties up both Anand and Asha and plays the game ofRussian Roulettewith them. However, the butler secretly arrives and unties Anand, who attacks Madanlal as he is about to shoot Asha with the onlybullet.In the ensuing scuffle, Madanlal escapes from the mansion and runs towards theshore,but an airplane full ofpolice officersislandedon the island and Madanlal is arrested for his crimes. The "ghost" woman who sings theominoussong turns out to be the butler'sinsanesister (Naina). The film ends with Anand, Asha, the butler and his sister leaving the ill-fated island on the airplane.
Cast[edit]
- Manoj KumarasInspectorAnand
- Nandaas Asha
- PranasBarristerRakesh
- Helenas Kitty Kelly
- Madan Purias Dr. Acharya
- Mehmoodas thebutler
- Tarun Boseas Madhusudan Sharma (fake) / Madanlal
- Dhumalas Dharamdas
- Manmohanas Kishan
Cameo Appearances[edit]
- Laxmi ChhayaandHerman Benjaminas the masked dancer and masked singer respectively in "Jaan Pehechan Ho" song
- Hiralalas Khanna (Seth Sohanlal's murderer)
- Naina as the butler's insane sister
Soundtrack[edit]
| 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 ofShankar–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 andSharda |
| "Peeke Hum Tum Jo" | Asha BhosleandUsha Mangeshkar |
| "Gham Chhodke Manaao Rang" | Lata Mangeshkar |
| "Aayega Kaun Yahaan" | Sharda |
| "Hum Kaale Hain To" | Mohammed Rafi |
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
It was the 8thhighest-grossing film in Indiain 1965, grossing₹2.6crore.[5]This was equivalent to$5.46 million in 1965.[n 1]
Awards and nominations[edit]
Won
- Best Art Direction (Color)– S. S. Samel
Nominated
Notes[edit]
- ^4.7619Indian rupeesperUS dollarin 1965[6]
References[edit]
- ^"Aboard the mystery train | Cinemaexpress".Cinema Express.22 November 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 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.
- ^ab"Gumnaam Music Review by Shahid Khan".Planet Bollywood.Retrieved7 February2012.
- ^Tripathi, Abhishek (8 September 2020).Indian Film Music and The Aesthetics of Chords.Zorba Books. p. 109.ISBN978-93-90011-48-3.
- ^"Archived copy".boxofficeindia.com.Archived fromthe originalon 4 October 2013.Retrieved15 January2022.
{{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. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 12 May 2015.Retrieved30 January2018.
External links[edit]