Prem Pujari

Prem Pujari is an action, musical romantic drama movie directed by Late Dev Anand and stars Late Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Zaheeda, Prem Chopra, Late Madan Puri, Sachin, Late Nazir Hussain with Shatrughan Sinha and late Amrish Puri is a guest appearances.

This movie is directorial debut for Late Dev Anand Sahab.

The movie has an interesting plot but the execution of the movie is not that great and movie is not that gripping, also the length of the movie could've been trimmed to make the movie more gripping.

Acting should've been the strongest department with few of the greatest names of Indian Cinema working in the movie, I am a huge fan of Dev Anand Sahab and always liked his work but in this movie it seems that he was not at his best in terms of acting it could be due to dual responsibility of direction and acting he looked little off track. Waheeda Rehman was as always impressive, Zaheeda was surprisingly good in her debut movie and she acted like an experienced actress, Prem Chopra and Late Madan Puri had done villainous roles in many movies and were spot on. Late Amrish Puri left his mark in his very limited screen space and Shatrughan Sinha looked nervous could be because of his debut but was effective.

Screenplay of the movie is uneven and the continuity is missing, the more crisped screenplay would've made the movie more effective and engaging.

Late S. D. Burman was a magician when it comes to composing the music and music in the movie is melodious and charming and is still been heard regularly, 'Phoolon ke rang se' is always been my personal favorite song. Climax of the movie is predictable and is decent and gives happy ending which was a must for the movies of that generation.

Overall this movie is a decent one time movie which decent acting and mesmerizing music, The directorial debut of Dev Anand in the background of army and patriotism is a decent effort if not great.

The movie has a fantastic music score. S.D Burman has not only scored great music, but also sung an immemorable number in his unique inimitable style. This is the title song 'Hum hai prem ke pujari'. Apart from this, the movie has a number of good numbers like Rangeela re, and Shokiyon mein ghola jaye But the piece de resistance and arguably the most romantic Hindi number of all times is ' Phoolon ke rang se , dil ki kalam se '. Worth watching for this alone.

Apart from that the movie has a very good starcast, with the leading pair of the dippy and dashing Dev Anand and the beautiful Waheeda Rehman. Although for some of the scenes of the movie, Waheeda is overly made up and has some horrible hair dos, which detract from her natural beauty. Movie is ok, especially keeping in mind Dev Anand's current offerings and well worth a watch

Dev Anand abhors violence and initially refuses to join the armed forces, but has to bow to his father's wishes. After some time there, he comes back, but as destiny would have it, he finds himself in the thick of things, when he sees the enemy working against the country's interests. Leaving his beloved, Wahida Rehman, behind, he goes abroad to unveil the conspiracy and befriends Zahida, the enemy's moll. Wahida follows him but is dejected seeing him with Zahida. In time Dev also comes back and is engulfed in full scale war to defeat the enemy.

Dev's first official attempt at direction, though it is said that he had a lot to do with the direction of "Teen Devian" and "Gambler". He did a reassuring job. The lead players were all good. Technically the film was polished. Yet again, Sachin Deb Burman gave excellent music. His own rendering " Prem ke pujari, ham hain" was superb. Kishore Kumar's "Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki qalam se" was another excellent number, and so was Lata's "Rangeela re, tere rang se, yun ranga hai, mera man". Another typical Burman duet was "Shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye, phoolon ka shabab", sung by Kishore and Lata. Punjabi folk music came out beautifully in "Doongi tennu reshmi rumaal", sung by Lata and chorus. Other good numbers include Manna Dey and Mohd. Rafi's "Taqat watan ki hamse hai", the marching song, sung with chorus, and the happy-go-lucky number "Gham pe dhool daalo, kehkaha lagalo", sung by Kishore and Bhupendra. Lyrics by the renowned poet, Neeraj, were excellent.

Overall, a reasonably good film by Dev Anand.