Cast: Nanda, Rajesh Khanna, Sujit Kumar, Bindu, Gajanan Jagirdar, Iftekhar Director: Yash Chopra Based on the 1964 English film 'Sig...
Cast: Nanda, Rajesh Khanna, Sujit Kumar, Bindu, Gajanan Jagirdar, Iftekhar
Director: Yash Chopra
Based on the 1964 English film
'Signpost to Murder', director Yash Chopra adapted the film beautifully and
made it into a brilliant watch as compared to the original. Produced by BR
Chopra, 'Ittefaq' was made as a quickie as the shooting of Yash Chopra's 'Aadmi
Aur Insaan' had stopped due to Saira Banu being indisposed. 'Ittefaq' was shot
in 20 days as the screenplay was written in 7 days! The film was released in
three months flat on October 4, 1969. A record! Yash Chopra won the Filmfare
Award for Best Director for this songless thriller. Rajesh Khanna gave a
brilliant performance in this 105-minute film which had no interval. The
leading lady Nanda too gave a superb portrayal of her character which she had
never performed before.
A passionate painter Dilip Roy
(Rajesh Khanna) is accused of murdering his wife in the testimony given by his
sister-in-law Renu (Bindu in a fine role). He is arrested and due to his
erratic behaviour during the trial, he is kept under observation by
psychologist Dr. Trivedi (Gajanan Jagirdar). Dilip escapes from the hospital on a stormy night and takes refuge in a rich lady Rekha's (Nanda) house who
happens to be alone then. Dilip holds her at gunpoint and forces her to protect
him from the police. After becoming friends during the night, Dilip goes off to
sleep only to wake up in the dead of night hearing a sound. He searches for her
but stumbles upon a dead body in the bathroom. Whose body was it? What was the
connection between Dilip Roy & Rekha and the dead body? How did the body
come into the bathroom? The suspense is revealed brilliantly in the climax with
a disclaimer "PLEASE DO NOT REVEAL THE END”
It was remade in 2017 with the
same title by producer BR Chopra's grandson Abhay Chopra but didn't manage to
hold the audience the way the 1969 film did. Touted as a classic now, Ittefaq'
is counted amongst one of the 17 consecutive hits that Rajesh Khanna had given
from the year 1969-1971 (a record yet to be broken).
'Ittefaq' is a classic whodunit
thriller that is not to be missed by cinema lovers.
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