Sachaa Jhutha review :
The late great director Manmohan Desai's first mega hit which set the formula for most of his subsequent successes; Sachaa Jhutha was an out and out masala entertainer with a dash of lost and found phenomenon. Superstar Rajesh Khanna featured in a double role of a village simpleton Bhola and a city bred jewel thief Ranjeet who utilises the innocence and resemblance of his doppelganger to pull off an almost impossible heist.
Mumtaz played an undercover cop trying to infiltrate Ranjeet's gang even as her colleague Vinod Khanna (in a supporting role) is hot on his trail. Rajesh made an awesome pair with Mumu and they invariably conjured a fantastic onscreen chemistry in later hits as well like Dushmun (1971), Apna Desh (1972) and Aap Ki Kasam (1974). Sachaa Jhutha remains their biggest hit together..
Interestingly, Shashi Kapoor was approached to play the main lead but he didn't want to work with Mumtaz at that time. Ofcourse, after Mumu's super stardom post Sachaa Jhutha and Khilona (1970), he did work with her in future. Anyway, Shashi's loss turned out to be Kaka's gain and the superstar added one more entry to his record fifteen consecutive hits from 1969 to 1972. A still unbeaten record!!
Above all, Sachaa Jhutha gained immortality due to its 'shaadi wala' song - 'Meri pyaari beheniya banegi dulhaniya' - which is played by the band in every Indian wedding from 1970 till date!!
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
