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'Bombay 405 Miles' turns 45

Cast: Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Zeenat Aman, Deven Verma, Amjad Khan and Pran Director: Brij Music: Kalyanji Anandji The film was an...


Cast: Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Zeenat Aman, Deven Verma, Amjad Khan and Pran

Director: Brij

Music: Kalyanji Anandji

The film was announced in 1976 with Shashi Kapoor and Navin Nischol, but later both were replaced by Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha. Even Reena Roy was signed to play the lead opposite Sinha, but then Brij decided to make it a love triangle involving Vinod- Zeenat-Shatru. There were also a lot of ego hassles between the two leading men each vying to get the top billing, so Brij decided to scrap the casting titles in the movie. However, the trade ads that appeared had the names in a circular fashion, thus ending the controversy.

Bombay 405 Miles, released on May 2, 1980, was a typical Brij kind of a formulaic film with full entertainment. It's about two con men, Kishen (Vinod Khanna) and Kanhaiya (Shatrughan Sinha), who encounter other cons played by Master ji (Pran) and Radha (Zeenat Aman).

Kishen and Kanhaiya are ordered to stay away from Delhi and Calcutta's borders, respectively for 5 years. They meet at the common bus stand and decide to go to Bombay, which is 405 miles from that border. While travelling on a train, they meet an old man and a child, Munni, who are chased by some goons. Before dying, the old man asks them to take care of Munni as she is the heiress to a huge fortune. Unable to control their greed, they advertise in newspapers to locate her relatives, if any. They are unaware that Munni is officially dead, along with her father Ranveer Singh (Iftekhar) killed by Munni's evil uncle Veer Singh (Amjad Khan). When Veer Singh contacts the two con men, both of them get submerged in a web of lies and deceit, and their lives are in acute danger. A twist awaits in the end.

Shatrughan Sinha steals the show over Vinod Khanna, who looks dashing. Their chemistry was excellent, with both trying to woo the same girl. Zeenat Aman looked elegantly beautiful and carried herself well. Her pairing with both the leading men was another plus. Amjad Khan was at his evil best (he plays with marbles whenever he is in a spot). Pran does justice to his character of Masterji- a master con man.

Kalyanji Anandji comes up with some melodious songs like “Kasam na lo” (Kishore & Asha), “Ho gaye hum aapke kasam se” (Asha & Rafi), “Main kya karoon” (Lata), and the riotous “Arre de de zara” (Kishore & Mahendra Kapoor).

Despite not being so successful during its release 45 years back, the film has many takers now and is also considered amongst Brij's good films. This was also the last film where both Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha appeared together.

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