China Town (1962 film)

China Town
Directed by	Shakti Samanta
Produced by	Shakti Samanta
Written by	Ranjan Bose Vrajendra Gaur Salil Sen Gupta
Starring	Shammi Kapoor Shakila Helen
Music by	Ravi
Cinematography	Dwarka Divecha
Edited by	Dharamvir
Release dates	1962 (1962)
Running time	139 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

China Town is a 1962 Hindi film directed by Shakti Samanta, under Shakti Films. Written by Ranjan Bose and music by Ravi. It is a black-and-white movie, starring Shammi Kapoor in a double role, as a gangster and his look-alike. Shakila is the leading lady, alongside Helen in a supporting role. The film was remade in Tamil as Kudiyirundha Koyil (1968) starring M. G. Ramachandran, and in Telugu as Bhale Thammudu (1969) starring N. T. Rama Rao. The film Don (1978), starring Amitabh Bachchan, is believed to have borrowed some of its plot elements from this film.^[1] Don itself went on to inspire many later films about a lookalike working as an undercover agent impersonating a gangster.

Plot

Shekhar (Shammi Kapoor), a young singer, lives in Darjeeling with his widowed mother. He is in love with Rita (Shakila), the only daughter of the wealthy Rai Bahadur Digamberprasad Rai. Rai does not approve of Shekhar and wants his daughter to marry a wealthy Calcutta-based businessman named Chowdhry. Rita asks Shekhar to get a better position, but Shekhar is quite satisfied with his singing career. So Rita and her father relocate to Calcutta, and Shekhar follows them. An enraged Rai complains to the police, who arrest Shekhar and hold him for questioning. However, the police notice his resemblance to a China Town gangster named Mike (also played by Shammi Kapoor) who they are holding in custody. Because Mike refuses to talk, the police convince Shekhar to impersonate him in order to infiltrate the Chinatown criminal ring. Meanwhile, Shekhar's mother reveals to him that Mike may be his long-lost brother, kidnapped by gangsters as boy. Shekhar accordingly takes over Mike's life, but there is one thing he and the police overlooked - namely Mike - who escapes from police custody with the help of Rita who mistakes him for Shekhar. Mike's girlfriend Suzie (Helen) finds out Shekhar's true identity, but spares him when he reveals that Mike is alive and captured by the police, and sympathizes with him after learning that Mike was his long-lost brother. The gangsters overhear this and capture Shekhar, his life is only spared after he tells Mike his true background and the two brothers capture the gang's leader. As a result, Shekhar gets a permanent police job that allows him to marry Rita and Mike receives a reduced sentence of three years.

Cast

• Shammi Kapoor as Mike / Shekhar
• Shakila as Rita D. Rai
• Helen as Suzie
• Madan Puri as Joseph Wong
• S.N. Banerjee as Rai Bahadur Digamberprasad Rai (as S.N. Bannerji)
• Kanu Roy as Usman
• Mridula Rani as Shekhar's mother
• Jeevankala as Shanti - Shekhar's mother
• Rashid Khan as Sundaram - Mahakali's husband
• M.B. Shetty as Ching Lee
• Keshav
• Tun Tun as Mahakali - Hotel landlady
• Gautam Mukherjee
• Samson
• Keshto Mukherjee as Keshto

Soundtrack

Alike the movie the soundtrack also didn't have that a grand impact on the Indian Populace, but some selective songs from the albums were declared hits and a track by the name of Bar Bar Dekho by Mohammed Rafi went on to become a classic, which is remembered and hummed still to date. The Music of the film was by Ravi and the lyrics were penned by veteran Majrooh Sultanpuri. Almost all the songs were rendered by Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle. In the movie, song "Yamma Yamma Yamma" and "Kya teri Mehfil Hai Sanam" is combined into one song and the lyrics of the latter is slightly altered.

Box office

The film's earned an approximate gross of ₹14 million (US$210,000) and a nett gross of ₹7 million (US$100,000). It was declared a "semi-hit" by Box Office India.^[2]

References

External links

• China Town at the Internet Movie Database