“Woh Main Nahin” 1974 movie

“Woh Main Nahin” 1974 movie

The genre of suspense movies may not rate “Woh Main Nahin” among the most successful but it had a gripping tale. Based on a 1962 Marathi play “To Mee Navhech” (That’s Not Me), it provided above average fare but showed glimpses of Navin Nischol’s acting prowess in various roles in this mystery thriller.

Alfred Hitchcock was a celebrated master of suspense. He would leave the audience spellbound with his thrillers that threw a bewildering twist in the final frame of the movie. His directorial skills added to popularising the suspense movies and his fans lapped up most of his movies.

Hindi cinema, acknowledged for its romantic themes with the hero and heroine running around trees, did experiment with different genres at different times. As far as suspense thrillers were concerned, there were movie makers who made an effort to reach out to the audience with some intriguing stories, many fascinating court-room dramas adding to the popularity of such ideas.

“Mahal”, starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala, was among the earliest suspense thrillers and dealt with reincarnation. Music was a strong element behind the huge success of the Kamal Amrohi movie. In subsequent years, buoyed by the response to “Mahal”, many producers backed movies based on suspense as the key ingredient. Some became hits and some sank without a trace.

“Gumnaam”, “Mera Saaya”, “Woh Kaun Thi”, “Teesri Manzil”, “Bees Saal Baad”, “Kohra”, “Jewel Thief” were some of the movies that drew on the strong music to make an impact on the box office. There were songless films like “Kanoon” and “Ittefaq” that came to be accepted warmly by the audience. Movies like “Kab? Kyoon? Aur Kahan?”, “Buddha Mil Gaya”, “Yeh Raat Phir Na Aayegi” and “Dhund” tasted moderate success.

The one aspect that contributed to suspense movies appealing to the fans was music. The producers would insist on signing up the best composers and lyricists before identifying the star cast. The Indian audience was not considered mature enough to accept cinema without songs even though “Kanoon”, a masterpiece by B. R. Chopra, proved everyone wrong with its success.

A genuine worry for the makers of suspense movies was to desist people from revealing the climax during casual conversations. A friend of mine had an interesting story on how an usher of a theatre spoilt their matinee show of “Jewel Thief”. Those days cinema was a strong source of entertainment. Black marketing of tickets was rampant and this gang of students struck a deal with the usher who guided them to the seats. Having parked themselves comfortably, our friends decided to go back on the rate and offered the usher much less than what was agreed upon.

Trapped by this unexpected googly, the usher, while accepting the money, had the final word. He blurted out the name of the suspect. Our friends cursed themselves. Just like many filmmakers who always argued that the drop in the expected returns from suspense thrillers was due to the climax being given away to unsuspecting fans. “Please Don’t Reveal the Suspense” was a line inserted at the end of the movie by producers but often the plea would be ignored. “Woh Main Nahin” did not make such an appeal but it did manage to impress the audience.

Nischol and Rekha, both making their debut with “Sawan Bhadon” in 1970, are paired together again by producer-director Mohan Segal, who banks on Sonik Omi to give the music. Despite the poor score by Sonik Omi, the movie maintains a pace that keeps the audience engrossed from the time police makes an appearance to arrest forest officer Vijay (Nischol) on charges of duping women by marrying them and then performing the vanishing act.

Vijay is a forest conservator, performing Tarzan like acts in the jungle, and rescuing Anjali (Rekha), from wild beasts after she makes an unsuccessful attempt to run away from her father and step-mother. Vijay convinces her parents but lands in trouble on the wedding day when police turns up and arrests him. The remaining part of the movie sees Vijay defending himself in the court with the story unravelling some interesting twists.

Vijay is also Saleemuddin, Diwakar Datar, Daji Shastri, Ashok and Baba Radhey Shyam, characters that he plays well. Nischol was a gold medallist from the Film and Television Institute of India but never did justice to his acting skills. “Woh Main Nahin” gave him the platform to experiment and he made an impression in the various roles he had to play.

Vijay, aided by a ‘friend’, demolishes all accusations by defending himself in the court, the culprit exposed by the wolfish laughter of the criminal in the courtroom. Nischol gives one of his better performances as the plot keeps you absorbed. But poor music is a let down even though the list of singers includes names like Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle.

Genre: Suspense

Director: Mohan Segal

Cast: Navin Nischol, Rekha, Rakesh Pandey, Padmini Kapila, Shaukat Kaifi, Iftekhar, Asha Sachdev, Nazneen, Sophia, Manher Desai, Meena Rai

Written by: Ali Raza

Lyrics: Verma Malik

Music: Sonik-Omi

Box office status: Average

Trivia: Based on Marathi play “To Mee Navhech” by Acharya Atre