50 Years of Johny Mera Naam

 

Released on 11th Nov 1970, Johny Mera Naam was the Biggest Hit of Dev Anand's career. The movie, a thriller all the way, had the stamp of quality from director Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand. He and Dev Anand had begun their association with “Nau Do Gyarah” in 1957 and went a long way to give Indian cinema classics like “Guide”, “Kala Bazaar” and “Tere Ghar Ke Samne”. 

With Johny Mera Naam began a Decade of Action cinema. Though Dev Anand was known for Romance his versatility lay in his desire to experiment. It was the first film of Hema Malini with Dev Anand It was also the first Superhit film of her career. Hema Malini is at her best when romancing with the hero especially in ‘Pal Bhar Ke Liye Koi Hame Pyaar Karle’, a song where the Dev Anand keeps popping up from countless windows in a rest house.

 Dev Anand and Pran play the roles of brothers separated in childhood. Years later, Sohan (Dev Anand) goes on to become a CID officer called Sohan Kumar who solves his cases taking up different guises. He takes the identity of Johny, a petty thief and gets himself in jail, befriends Heera (Jeevan), solves a case wooing Rekha (Hema Malini) and finds the criminal.

Despite being fifty years old, the film does not look outdated, thanks to Vijay Anand. This is also testimony to his skills that despite a run time of around 2 hours 45 minutes, unusually long for a thriller but a norm for Indian movies, you never feel the length

Johny Mera Naam marked some of the best music composed by the duo Kalyanji Anandji.

#	Song	Singer(s)	Picturized On	Duration
1	Title Music (Johny Mera Naam)	Instrumental	Credit Title Sequence	01:59
2	"Vaada Toh Nibhaaya"	Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle	Dev Anand and Hema Malini	05:05
3	"Pal Bhar Ke Liye"	Kishore Kumar, Usha Khanna	Dev Anand and Hema Malini	05:05
4	"Mose Mora Shyam Rootha"	Lata Mangeshkar	Hema Malini	05:38
5	"Babul Pyare"	Lata Mangeshkar	Hema Malini	06:19
6	"Nafrat Karne Walon Ke"	Kishore Kumar	Dev Anand and Hema Malini	03:55
7	"Husn Ke Lakhon Rang"	Asha Bhosle	Premnath and Padma Khanna	05:19
8	Music Instrumental	Instrumental		02:00

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Call Me ‘Dev’, Just ‘Dev’

These are the words of Dev Anand. In his autobiography 'Romancing With Life', he writes, "Those I am closest to, those who like and love me, I tell them, call me 'Dev', just 'Dev',"
Waheeda Rehman in an interview said  "My very first film in Hindi -- CID -- was with Dev Anand. I was a big fan of him. So you can imagine my excitement and nervousness at doing a film with him. On the very first day on the sets, when I called him 'Dev Saab' he turned around and said 'No no, call me Dev'.
"I couldn't bring myself to call him by his first name, that wasn't my upbringing. So I suggested I call him 'Anandji'. He glared at me and said, 'Do I look like a schoolteacher to you?' The next day when I called him 'Dev Saab' he looked around as though he didn't know whom I was addressing. I had to finally call him 'Dev' and 'Dev' he remained until the end."
Dev Anand was of the view that if any of his heroines call him Mr, Saab or Ji, it will be difficult for him to romance that heroine in that film. We all know how Dev Anand successfully worked as a romantic hero to the heroines much younger to him He is still called King of Romance.
Dev Anand in his biography wrote that his mother used to call him Dev so did his family members and the close circle of people around him. His father used to call him "Dev-aan. In Punjab "aan" being an additional pampered prolongation, very common calling somebody name.
When he was born "Dharam" was prefixed by their family purohit to Dev.to form his full name. This name continued all throughout his school and college days, in fact, many of his friends used to call him 'DD'. His full name was Dharam Dev Anand, Anand being his family Surname.
When he stepped out of that world and started to identify his identity, he decided to remove 'Dharam' thinking that the three-word name, 'Dharam Dev Anand' would be too heavy. He wanted to retain his surname so that if ever he attains any fame and glory his family should get its full credit for his achievements.
In his first film Hum Ek Hain released in 1946, he was introduced as Dev Anand. He continued to be Dev Anand in all future films. After a few years, people started to call him Dev Saab out of love and respect, maybe he started his company very early and became a boss.
In his biography he said that those I am close to, those who like and love me and I love them call me Dev, just 'Dev', short and sweet, just possessive

Song of Munimji 1955

Song of Paying Guest 1957

Song of Solva Saal 1958

Song of Love Marriage 1959

Song of Kala Bazar 1960

Song of Hum Dono 1961

Song of Asli Naqli 1962

Song of Tere Ghar Ke Samne 1963

Song of Sharabi 1964

Song of Guide 1965

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Kalpna Kartik- The Lady who brought out Dev Anand from Depression

 

Mona Singh is the real name of Kalpna Kartik. She was introduced to Bollywood by Chetan Anand who spotted her in a Beauty Contest in 1950. She became Miss Shimla in that contest. Chetan Anand persuaded her family to cast her in Baazi (1951) opposite Dev Anand.She appeared in 6 films that too with Dev Anand. She married Dev Anand during the shooting of Taxi Driver in 1954

.We all know that Dev Anand was in love with Suraiya, both wanted to marry but their relationship came to an end. After that, he was heartbroken. It was Kalpna Kartik who brought out Dev Anand from the morass of grief he was feeling.

 It is said Dev Anand was enamored by her during the making of Baazi itself. They did Aandhiyan (1952) and Humsafar(1953) He didn’t want to take any chances this time and decided to marry her as soon as she said yes. It was during a lunch break of Shooting Taxi Driver Dev Anand and Kalpna Kartik married secretly. Trust Dev Anand to do something different. Dev Anand in an interview to Simmi said that both had planned that they'll get married and will not tell anybody and then they'll throw a reception." 

The sorrows and wounds of Dev Anand were finally healed, and he finally found his true soul-mate. Dev Anand and Kalpana were blessed with a son, Suneil Anand, in 1956 in Zurich, where they were attending a film festival. They later had a daughter too, Devina Anand, thus completing their picture-perfect family.

After the marriage, she appeared with Dev Anand in only two films House No 44(1955) and Nau Do Gyarah(1956), many offers came to her opposite Dev but she declined wanted to raise her children.

She became an associate producer with Tere Ghar Ke Samne(1963) and later produced Jewel Thief. Prem Pujari., Shareef Budmaash (1973), Heera Panna (1973), and Jaaneman (1976).  She is a private person and always remained away from film parties. So there were rumors that she is separated from Dev Anand but that was not true. Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik remained espoused till his death in the year 2011.

Songs of Kalpna Kartik

Song of Baazi 1951

Song of Aandhiyan 1952

Song of Taxi Driver 1954

Song of House No 44 1955

Song of Nau Do Gyarah 1957

Song of Nau Do Gyarah 1957