Kashmir Ki Kali (1964)

Sizzles, Fizzles





Shakti Films' "Kashmir Ki Kali"

Produced and directed by Shakti Samanta

Story                    :     Ranjan Bose

Dialogue              :     Ramesh Pant

Lyrics                     :     S H Bihari. 

Music                     :    O P Nayyar

Cinematography :    V N Reddy

Audiography        :    Pushalkar

Art Director         :    Shanti Das

Editing                  :     Dharamvir 

Cast                      :     Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Pran, Anup Kumar, Dhumal,
                                    Nazir Hussain, Tun Tun, Bir Sakhuja, Padma Chavan, Sujata, Neeta.
 

With little giant Shammi loose among the maidens anything can happen and unfortunately doesn't. Shamm's conduct is disappointingly exemplary.

Still, for the first half, "Kashmir Ki Kali" is a breezy little love tale with Sharmila and Shammi ogling, crooning and twirling over hill-top, on the river, in a truck. Then along comes the unknown past to spell their misery and ours, and one more comedy goes up in smoke.

The film ends like a children's comic book with Superman Shammi battling a horde of thugs, rescuing the heroine and grappling with Pran in one of the most boringly action packed fight scenes shown on the screen.

Don't be alarmed by Shammi's curtain raiser about his heart being with the workers. The film soon takes a luxury trip to Kashmir and the only bit of socialism left over is poor little flower-seller Sharmila. Sharmila has a quiet, pleasant personality even in a superficial role.

Occasionally, Shammi is restrained in the wrong places. Mostly he just overacts with a sort of natural tension.

The music is undistinguished. The photography is good though the Kashmir landscape is not well exploited.

The bar sequences strike a false note with the lone saxophone player trying vanity to imitate a New Orleans jazzman.

Comedies are rare and always welcome. A pity this one is so half-hearted, and ends up as melodrama.




This article was published in Filmfare magazine’s June 12, 1964 edition as a part of 'Filmfare Reviews'.

The images and captions appeared in the feature are taken from the original article.