*** Welcome to piglix ***

Prem Pujari

Prem Pujari
Prem Pujari.jpg
प्रेम पुजारी
Directed by Dev Anand
Produced by Dev Anand
Written by Dev Anand
Starring Dev Anand
Waheeda Rehman
Shatrughan Sinha
Ashok Kumar
Madan Puri
Music by S. D. Burman
Neeraj (Lyrics)
Cinematography Fali Mistry
Edited by Babu Shaikh
Release date
  • 6 February 1970 (1970-02-06)
Country India
Language Hindi

Prem Pujari is a 1970 Bollywood film produced, directed and written by Dev Anand for Navketan films. The movie stars Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Shatrughan Sinha, Prem Chopra, Madan Puri and a then-unknown Amrish Puri. It has several popular songs composed and directed by S. D. Burman.

Lieutenant Ramdev Bakshi (Dev Anand) is a peaceful, quiet man who is only interested in wildlife and nature. He is sent then to the Indo-Chinese border in the army by his father, a war hero. Here he refuses to lift his gun and attack. He is then court-martialled. Later he is captured by the Chinese and humiliated, but when a beautiful Chinese agent promises him a better future by working and spying for her (against India), he agrees but foils their wicked plans by spying over them. Later the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 breaks out. He joins in the action to show what he is made of by killing Pakistani soldiers hiding in the bushes in an Indian village in the Khemkaran sector.

The film was shot in Switzerland and has Grimsel Hotel in one of the songs. Some part of movie was also shot in Bihar near a famous tourist place Rajgir at India. Here Shatrughan Sinha was picked to play his part from the gathered public. Prem Pujari was also shot at Astagaon near Shirdi in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.

The music was composed by S. D. Burman, with lyrics by Neeraj. Several of the songs from the film became popular, "Phoolon Ke Rang Se" sung by Kishore Kumar, "Rangila Re Tere Rang Mein" which was a blend of folk and modern and sung by Lata Mangeshkar, "Shokhiyon Mein Ghola Jaaye" by Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar, "Taaqat watan ki hum se hai" (patriotic song), and the number in Burman's voice "Prem Ke Pujari Hum Hain". According to Anantharaman, Dev Anand stated that "Rangila Re" remained his all-time Navketan favourite song.

While Prem Pujari did not do well at the box office. However, the soundtrack, which became a success was termed as "superlative" and as a "brilliant score" by author Khagesh Dev Burman. The songs are known for the purity of their Urdu and Hindi languages and are regarded as "evergreen" classics.


...
Wikipedia

...