Synopsis
Sunita
(Asha Parekh) goes to Mussoorie with her college hockey
team. Her real intentions are to find the truth about and
avenge the death of her sister, Rupa, who had apparently
jumped off the hotel's third floor after being rejected
by drummer Rocky (Shammi Kapoor) whose band performs at
the hotel. Sunita holds Rocky responsible for Rupa's death.
Rocky meets her and realizing what she's up to, hides his
identity and passes off a colleague as Rocky. Using his
real name Anil, he woos Sunita and the two fall in love.
At this point it is found that Rupa did not commit suicide
but was murdered with Anil, a chief suspect. Anil comes
clean to Sunita explaining that though Rupa chased him,
he had nothing to do with her and is not responsible for
Rupa's death but Sunita refuses to believe him. She breaks
it off with him accusing of him being her sister's murderer.
Anil joins hands with the Police Inspector to prove his
innocence and uncover the real killer...
The film
Teesri
Manzil remains the romantic-comdey-whodunit
to beat in Hindi Cinema. An effective plot,
energetic performances, a happening musical
score and above all brilliant song picturization
and direction make the film a must see.
Though admittedly the plot seems borrowed
from the Hollywood films I Wake Up Screaming
(1941) and A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
(The Heroine searching for the killer of
her sister and falling in love with the
hero who is a suspect), Teesri Manzil
is 'Indianized' perfectly and is commercial
Hindi Cinema at its best.
On
the surface the film has all the elements
one finds in a Nasir
Hussain film - lively romance, witty
dialogue and repartee and of course fabulous
music. What is extremely interesting about
Hussain's films is that he practically re-made
the same film over and over again but the
new product always found flavour with the
audience. In fact he even had a set of 'items'
that were repeated in film after film albeit
in different combinations and permutations.
For e.g. the clash in the train sequence
between Shammi
Kapoor and Ameeta in Tumsa Nahin
Dekha (1957) was repeated here in Teesri
Manzil with Shammi Kapoor again and
Asha Parekh and beating up the drummer Rocky
from Dil Deke Dekho (1959) starring
Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh was repeated
here again with the same actor and actress!
But what makes Teesri Manzil rise
above all Nasir Hussain films, popular though
they were, is the sure Directorial Hand
of Vijay
'Goldie' Anand at the helm of the film.
Vijay
Anand was without doubt one of the greatest
directors that Hindi cinema has seen. Here
was a filmmaker who could make intellectually
stimulating films that could be profitable
money earners as well! And while his films
shone with their technical virtuosity and
marvelous sense of storytelling, his incredible
talent as a filmmaker comes through even
more forcefully in his picturisation of
songs. Teesri Manzil is no exception
seeing the Director at his creative best
bringing in the technical panache that Hussain's
film lacked and raising it sevral notches.
Anand
deftly combines the various elements of
romance, comedy and mystery into a cohesive
unit. The mystery part is particularly well
handled keeping the audiences on their toes.
The red herrings like Helen, Prem Chopra
and Rashid Khan are intelligently used as
one tries to guess the identity of the true
killer. It can be safely said that Teesri
Manzil is the closest Hindi Cinema has
come to making a good Hitchcockian thriller!
 And
then there are the performances. Shammi
Kapoor, doing his fourth film with Nasir
Hussain, was at his peak when Teesri
Manzil was made. Post Tumsa Nahin
Dekha (1957), he was perhaps Hindi Cinema's
first consistent attempt to address a westernized
teenage audience. In fact the western influence
was marked in Shammi's acting and deportment
- it was the first time someone had shown
such refinement in clothes. He wore leather
jackets and tee shirts at a time when tee
shirts were not part of Bollywood's vocabulary.
His preference for casual collars instead
of fuddy-duddy shirts all added up to the
image of a star who was making a statement
with lots of exclamation marks to it! He
responds with a typical, uninhibited, energetic
Shammi Kapoor performance. Asha Parekh,
a Nasir Hussain regular, shows a lot of
spunk in matching him scene for scene. Helen
sizzles in the O Hasina Zulfon Waali
number and makes the most of an extended
talking part to vamp it up deliciously.
Strong, strong support comes from Rashid
Khan, Iftikhar, Lakshmi Chhaya and especially
Premnath. Interestingly, in a bit role,
the actor who takes Rocky's place as the
drummer is writer Salim Khan of Salim-Javed
fame.
The
film also scores highly in the Music Department.
It was the big breakthrough for RD
Burman. Initially Shammi was unhappy
over RD's choice as the Music Director and
preferred the older tried and tested pair
Shankar-Jaikishen who had given music for
most of his films. However once Shammi heard
RD's jazzy compositions he had no further
misgivings. He knew they had a winner on
their hands. The songs by Mohd
Rafi and Asha
Bhosle like O Haseena Zulfon Waali,
Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyaar Tera, O
Mere Sona Re Sona Re, Deewaana Mujhsa
Nahin, Tumne Mujhe Dekha were unlike
anything audiences had heard till then and
the 'new sound' music of Teesri Manzil
was hummed across the nation. RD formed
a formidable team with Nasir Hussain scoring
music in all his films thereafter. Add to
that Goldie's incredible song picturization
lifting the film several notches particularlyO
Hasina Zulfon Waali in a Dali like set
including the sculpture of the drummers
name and a model of a huge human eye. Besides
this the other standout picturization is
the rock n roll club number Aaja Aaja
including a shot taken from 'inside' a guitar!
On
the flip side, theres is the odd hole in
the mystery element of the film. Iftikhar
shows Shammi Kapoor a button found at the
murder site the previous year. He says there
just a few people in India who could afford
the button. Shouldn't those people have
been investigated then rather then him keeping
silent about it all year?! The final twist
while somewhat successful works its way
into the plot a bit too late. At times,
the murder mystery is conveniently forgotten
as boy chases girl and vice versa before
suddenly being brought back into the film
to push the film forward. There is also
a rare technical glitch in the Tumne
Mujhe Dekha song - the tracks can be
seen in the shot. But to his credit, the
highs far outweigh the lows as Vijay Anand
keeps the film moving at a brisk pace and
these are thoughts that come to you once
the film is over and not while watching
it which could have been fatal for the film
and the credibility of the plot.
Post Teesri Manzil, Vijay Anand
went on to direct another two fine thrillers,
Jewel Thief (1967)
and Johnny Mera Naam (1970).
|
