Johnny Walker: Ten Avatars

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Today, November 11, 2026, marks the 100th birth anniversary of Hindi cinema’s legendary comedian, Johnny Walker. There have been others, both before him (Noor Mohammed Charlie) and after (Mehmood, Dhumal, Sunder, Mukri, Gope, Bhagwan, etc), but there has never been another Johnny Walker. He could provide (as he did in several of Guru Dutt’s otherwise sombre films) the much-needed note of ebullience that helped lighten the tone (in Pyaasa, for instance). He could be the perfect foil to the hero who must contend with all the many challenges life flung at him (think Madhumati, think Naya Daur). And, as films like Chhoomantar, Johnny Walker and Mr Qartoon MA proved, he could carry a film on his shoulders.

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Dracula (1958)

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My daughter, now nearing thirteen, has suddenly discovered the horror genre. She’s still too young to watch, but she’s been hearing about vampire movies and zombie movies and more. I have been asked which horror films frightened me the most (given that horror isn’t a genre I like watching much, I had little to say). And I have been asked whether I’ve seen this one, or that one. Have I seen, for instance, Dracula?

Which Dracula, I asked, since there are plenty of versions. She didn’t know, of course, of any of that: all she wanted to know was if she could watch Dracula.

So I set out to find out—by watching this version, which I had seen praised earlier on other blogs. Produced by the British cinema producer, Hammer Film Productions (who made horror their defining genre), Dracula—released in the US as Horror of Dracula—was the first of a series of nine films about the vampire count (played by Christopher Lee in seven of the films).

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Dil Apna aur Preet Paraayi (1960)

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When I was compiling my list of Raj Kumar songs last week, it occurred to me that there are several major films of his that I haven’t reviewed yet. Dil Apna aur Preet Paraayi, for instance, which stars one of my favourite actresses, and features one of my favourite songs. A film I watched many years ago and remember only in a fairly rudimentary way. Time for a rewatch, I decided.

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Ten of my favourite Raj Kumar songs

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I missed Raj Kumar’s birth centenary, which was on October 8, 2026 (he was born, Kulbhushan Pandit, in Loralai, now in Pakistan, in 1926). Ten days late, but better late than never, I guess.

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It Should Happen to You (1954)

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Years ago, while going through Dean Martin’s filmography (I went through a phase of being obsessed with his work), I stumbled upon Bells Are Ringing. I saw it for Dean, and while I liked him in it, I was bowled over by his co-star, Judy Holliday. Why hadn’t I even heard of her before? Why hadn’t anyone told me about her? How come she isn’t better-known?

Since then, whenever I’ve heard of a Judy Holliday film, I’ve hurried off to see if it’s available online. This is the latest: a delightful rom-com, starring Judy Holliday opposite Jack Lemmon in his first big role, about a young woman who wants to make a name for herself. Literally.

The story begins in New York’s Central Park, where Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday) is wandering around, in her stockinged feet, tossing peanuts to pigeons. She sits down next to some random man and because he’s irritable and passes snide remarks about her feeding the pigeons, walking barefoot, etc, Gladys snaps back at him, giving as good as she gets.

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Burmah Road (1962)

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If you are an aficionado of old Hindi film music, you can probably guess why I wanted to watch this film: it has some really good songs, courtesy Majrooh Sultanpuri and Chitragupta (who should probably head the list of seriously underrated music directors). There was, in my case, another reason, a slice of family history. During World War II, when the Japanese invaded Burma and thousands of Indians had to flee the country, my uncle Col KC Datta (my father’s sister’s husband) was one of the Indian Army officers tasked with helping refugees cross those many miles of jungle into India. It was a hair-raising experience; my uncle caught kala azar on the way, but managed to complete the task.

What might Burmah Road be about? I did not really expect that it would be about that epic trek my uncle was part of; but perhaps something about the Burma campaign? Or about the INA in Burma, à la Pehla Aadmi? If none of that, at least something like Aadhi Raat ke Baad or Howrah Bridge, set partly in Burma?

Nope. Nothing like that. Burmah Road in this film is the name of a principality, and it’s not very clear exactly where it is. It is ruled by a king (Chaman Puri), whom everybody refers to as His Highness Burmah Road. This king has a young son, and is very worried about the future of this child, as well as of Burmah Road.

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Dear Deceiver: Agni Pariksha versus Chhoti si Mulaqat

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In 1954, the Bengali novelist Ashapurna Debi’s book Agni Pariksha was adapted for the silver screen, into a film starring relative newcomers Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen – who had made a mark as an onscreen couple just the previous year, in Shaarey Chhuattar.

Agni Pariksha was the story of a woman caught in a dilemma, torn between the man she loves and the man (whom she hasn’t met for more than a decade) to whom she was married as a 14-year old. The film was a smash hit, with great music, and succeeded in cementing the Uttam Kumar-Suchitra Sen pairing.

… and then, 13 years down the line, Uttam Kumar produced and starred in a Hindi remake of the film: Chhoti si Mulaqat, opposite Vyjyanthimala. The film flopped miserably.

Why? Why was Agni Pariksha such a hit, Chhoti si Mulaqat such a dud?

I examine these two films for LnC’s Silhouette Magazine, for the ongoing retrospective on Uttam Kumar. Click here to read the full article, and do check out the other articles that form part of the mahanayak‘s centenary celebrations.

Amar Bhoopali (1952)

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Aka The Immortal Song, a Marathi film directed by V Shantaram, about the Marathi poet Honaji Sayaji Shilarkhane (1754-1844).

Given that Indian cinema (and not Hindi cinema, but several other regional film industries as well) have always focussed heavily on songs, it’s hardly a surprise that films based on the lives of singers and/or poets have been made time and again. In Hindi, there’s been everything from Meera to Mirza Ghalib to Kavi Kalidas; in Gujarati, I’ve seen Kalapi, about Sursinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil ‘Kalapi’. And then there’s this, about Honaji.

The story begins in Saswad, where Honaji ‘Hona’ (Panditrao Nagarkar) lives with his mother Vithabai (Lalita Pawar) and his wife (?). This is not actually their home; they used to live in Pune with Hona’s uncle. However, the uncle was part of a tamasha troupe, and Vithabai found that a potential bad influence on Hona. She didn’t want him to get corrupted, so she shifted the family to Saswad, where Hona now spends his time being a cowherd.

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The Indian Love for ‘It Happened One Night’

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(And a brief review of Naadaan, 1951).

Over the past couple of days, I’ve watched one of Dev Anand’s earlier films with Madhubala, Naadaan. Ever since I watched Kaala Paani as a child, I’ve checked out every film in which they’ve worked together and which I’ve been able to lay my hands on: Jaali Note, Sharaabi, and now this—all in the hope that another film of theirs might be able to bring together that all-around excellence of Kaala Paani.

In the case of Naadaan, there was another incentive to watch: the fact that this was based on Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934). This film, which stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, is a classic romance based on opposites attracting: not only is the heroine a very wealthy woman and the hero a not-too-well-off journalist, but she is, furthermore, in love with a completely different man. Pampered by her widowed father, the woman throws a hissy fit and runs off to her lover when her father refuses to let her marry him. The woman soon realizes that her father has organized not just a search party but has also offered a reward for anyone who can give him information about his fugitive daughter’s whereabouts—all calculated to scotch any attempts at her getting to her lover. But the journalist (who scents a good story) takes the woman under his wing, and gradually their initial friction gives way to friendship, and then to love.

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Nayak (1966)

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In Satyajit Ray’s 1966 film Nayak (‘The Hero’), the eponymous ‘hero’, the hugely popular superstar Arindam Mukherjee (Uttam Kumar), is travelling by train from Kolkata to Delhi to receive an award. He is sharing a compartment with a family, of whom the father, Mr Bose (Ranjit Sen) spends most of his time outside the compartment. The mother (Bharati Devi) is left pretty much on her own to look after their teenaged daughter Bulbul (Lali Chowdhury), who is unwell and is lying on the upper berth.

When Arindam first enters their compartment, the effect of his arrival is palpable. Bulbul has been reading a book; one look at him and the book ends up beside her, forgotten. On the berth underneath, Mrs Bose, having settled in (and informed Arindam that her daughter is a fan of his) surreptitiously opens her handbag, takes out a mirror and takes a quick peek at herself.

Such is the effect of close proximity to a celebrity.

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