Johny Mera Naam review :
After Guide (1965) and Jewel Thief (1967), Dev and Vijay Anand jodi completed their hatrick with this superhit film. Johny Mera Naam is a complete entertainer and perfect mixture of emotions, drama, action, music and sex. In short, the film had everything to satisfy the varied taste of the moviegoers.
A typical lost and found formula of brothers (Dev Anand and Pran) separating in childhood and then re-uniting years later to fight a common enemy (Premnath); Vijay Anand's outstanding execution elevated the film to an altogether different level. Dev Saahab's magnetic charm and Hema Malini's beauty was utilised perfectly here and the song "Pal bhar ke liye koi hume pyaar karle" is still memorable for its imaginative use of window panes.
Another number "Husn ke lakhon rang" attained notoriety of sorts due to the sexy Padma Khanna doing a strip tease dance for the amorous Premnath. Reportedly, the theatres used to be replete with ceetis and catcalls from the front bencher crowd as Padma removed her clothes one by one through the song. The way Premnath just pounces on her in the end still gives me chills!!
Expectedly, Dev Saahab owned the film through his sheer style and swag. Pran and Premnath excelled in their roles. IS Johar had a triple role of Pehle Ram, Dooje Ram and Teeje Ram - triplets who Dev Anand keeps bumping in to one after another throughout the film.
Johny Mera Naam was seen as direct competition to Raj Kapoor's Mera Naam Joker (1970) and Kapoor had requested producer Gulshan Rai to change the title to Johny. Refusing point blank, Rai asked Raj Kapoor to name his film Joker instead. We all know the box office fate of both the films but today, both are regarded as cult classics and I personally love both of them.
Johny Mera Naam not only influenced the formulaic cinema of '70s and '80s but also made director Sriram Raghavan pay a rich tribute to the movie in his neo noir thriller Johnny Gaddar (2007) in which some clips of the film are also seen.
One of the finest entertainers of Hindi cinema; Johny Mera Naam is Dev Saahab's biggest success of the '70s. It is an evergreen film. Just like him!!
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
