Synopsis
Malati (Nirupa Roy), abandoned by her husband
Ram, switches her infant with the one Ram
has sired from his second wife so that her
son would be the legal heir. Her son grows
to be Ratan (Pran) who is engaged to Roopa
(Nalini Jaywant) and is also the notorious
dacoit, Kala Ghoda. The other boy, Amar
(Dev Anand), works in disguise as a munim
in Roopa’s father’s factory
often foiling Ratan’s schemes but
who cannot understand why his mother loves
Ratan more. Amar reveals his true looks
only to Roopa who of course falls for him…
The film
 By
the mid 1950s, Filmistan had become a regular
film factory churning out a good amount
of films every year. Their films clearly
indicated Filmistan's growing consciousness
of genre production and their awareness
of the 'Hollywood mode.' Filmistan also
known as 'the film factory' because of the
large number of films it kept churning out,
worked within the free lance system and
based their productions on star values and
good music. Filmistan's policies really
paved the way for present day commercial
film making in India as we know it today
and was a major influence on the cinema
of Manmohan Desai.
Munimji, an extremely popular
Filmistan release marks the directorial
debut of Subodh Mukherjee, the younger brother
of Filmistan boss Shashadhar Mukherjee where
he began as assistant to Gyan Mukherjee
with Chal Chal re Naujavan (1944).
After years of struggling with an idea,
that didn’t take off, Mukherjee opted
to make his debut with Munimji.
The film is frothy fare, totally devoid
of logic and is essentially a conflict of
half brothers, dividing the moral conflicts
between them. But what is extremely interesting
is the way both the men live double lives.
While Amar hides his good looks revealing
them only when he courts Roopa, Ratan who
is betrothed to Roopa is also the notorious
bandit and blackmailer Kala Ghoda whose
schemes are often foiled by Amar. (Incidentally
Mukherjee and good friend Nasir Hussain
both strongly favoured the use of the masquerade
as an integral part of their films, using
this item repeatedly).
Munimji was among those films
responsible for ushering in a trendier,
freewheeling hero in Hindi Cinema, initially
epitomized primarily by Dev
Anand in films like Paying Guest
(1957) and Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota
Hai (1961) and later on by Shammi
Kapoor in films like Tumsa
Nahin Dekha (1957), Dil Deke
Dekho (1959), Junglee (1961)
and many others. But then it is important
to note that Nasir Hussain wrote Munimji
and thus many of the trademark touches of
Nasir
Hussain as boy chases girl through a
colourful, playful romance layered with
witty dialogues are omnipresent in the film.
Munimji remains one of Dev Anand’s
most popular performances while Nalini
Jaywant makes a lovely damsel-in-distress.
Nirupa Roy plays one of her earliest suffering
mother roles though years younger to both
men. She went on to win the Filmfare Award
for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
Munimji is greatly lifted by its
strong musical score by SD
Burman with lyrics by Sahir
Ludhianvi. Munimji sees this
music director–lyricist team at its
peak. While earlier Burman Dada stuck to
Mohd. Rafi,
Talat Mehmood and Hemant
Kumar for the main voice of Dev Anand
with Kishore
Kumar used but sparingly, in Munimji
Kishore gets the best song of the film –
Jeevan ke Safar Mein Rahi. With
this song, Kishore earned his right to be
considered by Burman dada as the voice of
Dev Anand. But if Kishore makes maximum
impact in the film, then Hemant Kumar is
not far behind with both the songs he has
on Dev Anand – Shivji Behane Chale
and the light hearted ditty with Geeta
Dutt and Thakur – Dil ki Umagein
hain Jawaan! The rest of the film is
dominated by the Lata
Mangeshkar solos – Ek Nazar
Bas Ek Nazar, Ghayal Hiraniya,
Nain Khoye Khoye and the sad version
of Jeevan ke Safar Mein Rahi while
Geeta Dutt leaves her vocal impress on Anari
Anari Re, Dil ki Umagein hain Jawaan
and Zindagi Hai Zinda.
Munimji was an extremely successful
film at the box office and following its
success, Subodh Mukherjee finally made the
film with the idea he had for years but
which hadn’t taken off – Paying
Guest (1957), a second successful
teaming for him with Dev Anand and SD Burman.
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