Helen and a Male Star: Ten Dances

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If Helen danced with many other female dancers—several of them also major actresses, besides being dancers—she also did her fair share of dancing with men. Not just with the ‘dancing extras’ like Herman Benjamin and Abe Cohen, but also men who were stars. In some cases, Helen was the one doing the dancing while the man stood around and wriggled awkwardly (Dev Anand, who was not the best dancer of them all, comes to mind). In other cases, with better dancers (Shammi Kapoor, Feroz Khan, Mehmood) Helen got rather more support from her fellow dancer.

So here, as a follow-up to my post on Helen dancing with another actress, is a list of ten dances that feature Helen alongside a man. As always, these songs (except one, on the cusp) are all from pre-70s Hindi films that I’ve seen. In addition, I’ve imposed the following restrictions on myself, to make this post a little bit more interesting:

(a) These must be ten different men; the same man must not appear with Helen in any two of these songs.
(b) The man must be involved in the dance to some extent. He should not be a mere onlooker (I do not expect the man—given the often non-existent dancing skills of male stars from the 50s and 60s—to come anywhere close to matching Helen, but there should be some, even if clumsy, attempt to dance).  
And, (c) The man must be a leading actor, not an extra. While you may disagree with some of the names on this list as being ‘stars’, they are all men who’ve played lead roles.

Here goes, then, in no particular order:

1. O haseena zulfonwaali jaan-e-jahaan (Teesri Manzil, 1966): With Shammi Kapoor. This was the song which first came to mind when I thought of this post—or which, in fact, gave me the idea of doing this post. Because Shammi Kapoor, so very physical and with such a good sense of rhythm, is the perfect match for Helen when it comes to stars on the dance floor. Helen and Shammi acted in several films together (she even played one of his love interests in at least two films—China Town and Pagla Kahin Ka), but for me, the classic ‘Shammi and Helen dance together’ is O haseena zulfonwaali. The sets are eye-poppingly crazy, the music is RD Burman at his best, Rafi and Asha are pitch-perfect, and Helen and Shammi really do justice to all of it. Helen does do most of the dancing (her Ruby, after all, is the dancer, while Shammi’s Rocky is the musician) but Shammi also does a fair bit of shake-a-leg.

2. Tiki riki tiki riki taakori (Woh Kaun Thi?, 1964): With Manoj Kumar. There are some similarities between this song and the previous one: there is the peppy dance, there is the girl sitting on the sidelines and looking on resentfully. There are also some of the same dancers as in O haseena zulfonwaali (Edwina Lyons, especially, is very visible in both songs). But there are differences, too. In the scenario, for instance—this is an office party (the office in question being a hospital), not a hotel. Manoj Kumar and Helen play young lovers, not merely performers putting on an act. And there is the fact that Manoj Kumar is not as skilled (or uninhibited) an actor as Shammi. He does dance a bit, both in the beginning and towards the end, where he holds hands with Helen and allows her to pirouette about a bit. One thing worth noting in Tiki riki tiki riki taakori is the look in Helen’s eyes: she gazes at Manoj Kumar with such tenderness that you realize what an underrated actress she is—this gaze is very different from the flirtatiousness in her eyes in O haseena zulfonwaali, for example.

3. Gustaakh nazar chehre se hata (Jaali Note, 1960): With Dev Anand. Gustakh nazar chehre se hata, like See le zubaan and Kahin pe nigaahein kahin pe nishaana, is one of those song-and-dance sequences that are basically a ploy to let someone (either a criminal or the criminal’s intended target) escape. Here, Helen is the lovely dancer who is in cahoots with the baddies. Dev Anand (yes, that’s him under all the shrubbery, as you can probably tell), along with Om Prakash, are in hot pursuit—and get deflected by Helen and a row of supporting dancers. Dev Anand’s character tries gamely to both join in the singing and dancing while still trying to look for his quarry, but this lady’s not going to let him get past her.

4. Woh ik nigaah kya mili (Half Ticket, 1962): With Kishore Kumar. And, very briefly, Pran—though I’m not counting him here. Woh ik nigaah kya mili is another of those “Let’s get you out of here” songs, except that here (unlike Gustaakh nazar chehre se hata), Helen is on the side of the good guys. Kishore Kumar’s loony character, disguised as a Cossack (?), flings himself on the mercy of this dancing troupe and pleads for help (“Woh mere peechhe haath dhoke pada hai, bacha le mujhe, bacha le mujhe” is how this song begins). And she, happy to help, does. A fun song which sounds as if it’s all about love, but has such hilarious picturization—with Pran bursting onto the scene, repeatedly ripping off Kishore’s flimsy fake moustaches—that it ranks among my favourite loony tunes. Kishore, of course, is delightfully uninhibited, so he’s pretty involved in the dance.

5. One two three baby (Kismat, 1968): With Biswajeet. Biswajeet had become, by the mid-60s, pretty much a Shammi Kapoor wannabe (he wasn’t the only one; Feroz Khan and Joy Mukherjee too seem to have been cast in that mould in several films). In masala thrillers like Kahin Din Kahin Raat, Mere Sanam, and Kismat, you can almost imagine the scenarios and the songs featuring Shammi instead of Biswajeet—and you wonder how Shammi would have performed these.

Here, for example. Some current versions of Kismat floating about on Youtube do not contain this song, but I remember it being part of the film when I first watched it on Doordarshan. Biswajeet does a bad job of playing the guitar (“He struts around like a rooster”, as my sister once put it), but Helen is pretty, and—as always—dances with so much grace and energy. I don’t care for the “One two three baby” refrain, but the rest of the song isn’t bad.

6. Nineteen fifty-six (Anari, 1959): With Raj Kapoor. Raj Kapoor doesn’t seem to me to have the brilliant flair for dance that his brothers Shammi and Shashi Kapoor did, though he wasn’t completely graceless, as can be seen on the odd occasion when he’s shown waltzing. Here, in this song from Anari, however, since he’s playing a naïve and unfashionable man who never stepped on a dance floor in his life, it’s logical that he should stand about and make odd movements that he hopes qualify as dance. Helen and he don’t really do much dancing together—she is the pretty lead dancer of a troupe, and while she’s in the limelight, even going up and then coming down atop a glittery chandelier-like apparatus, he’s left to do most of his dancing with the troupe itself. A good song, nevertheless.

7. Maine kaha thha aana Sunday ko (Ustaadon ke Ustaad, 1963): With Johnny Walker. Yes, there will be those who will say that Johnny Walker was not a star, but for me, he certainly was. Not only did he act as the leading man in several films, even in the many, many films where he was ‘just’ a comedian, he was often not just a comedian. There has never been another comic actor in Hindi cinema as likeable as Johnny Walker—and film makers probably realized it too. So Johnny Walker, when in a film, invariably had at least one song picturized on him. He’s done song and dance sequences with just about every female dancer around, and in several instances with Helen. Here, they team up for a delightful ‘performance’ song the tune of which is obviously lifted from Never on a Sunday. Helen is gorgeous, and Johnny Walker is, as usual, so much fun. 

8. Hum kaale hain toh kya hua dilwaale hain (Gumnaam, 1965): With Mehmood. Like Johnny Walker, Mehmood is a comedian not many people think of as anything other than a comedian. While Johnny Walker, even in his roles as a ‘hero’, has always been the comic hero, Mehmood has been rather more eclectic when it comes to roles, at least initially: he played a fairly typical hero in Qaidi No. 911, and played a doctor bearing grim news in Ek Saal (among other less predictable roles).  

Besides which, perhaps inherited from his father, the well-known dancer Mumtaz Ali, was a natural rhythm and grace that marks Mehmood as one of the few Indian male actors back then who could dance—even if, because of his usually comic roles, that dancing tended to be exaggerated. Here, he pairs up with a very pretty Helen, prancing and singing his way through the extravagant sets of a dream sequence.

8. Nazar badli zamaane ki na tum badle (Tasveer, 1966): With Feroz Khan. Feroz Khan was among the actors who often appeared in Shammi Kapooresque roles (though, personally, I think he was far more convincing when he was allowed more offbeat roles, like that of the ‘other’ man, as in Safar). Like Shammi Kapoor, he could be pretty graceful on the dance floor too, as is evident in this song-and-dance from Tasveer. Helen and Feroz Khan played lovers at the beginning of this film, and here, long after he’s married another woman (played by Kalpana, who sits and weeps on the edge of the dance floor), Helen’s character still hasn’t given him up. So when the club manager invites these old timers on to the dance floor to entertain his guests, she agrees enthusiastically. And he, wanting to oblige the management and not realizing what people will make of this dance, also agrees.

I like the infectious beat of this song (C Ramachandra is in his element), and Feroz Khan dances well with Helen.

9. Nateeja hamaari mohabbat ka (Puraskar, 1970): With Joy Mukherjee. I always think Joy Mukherjee’s career was too short-lived. Just a handful of good entertainers, like Love in Simla, Love in Tokyo, Phir Wohi Dil Laaya Hoon and Shagird, and then he sank rapidly into acting in some absolutely awful films. Puraskar was one of these, such a garbled and nonsensical film, it was embarrassing. It did, however, have this song, where Joy’s CID agent character, Rakesh, romances Rita (Helen), in an attempt to get at the traitorous gang he knows she’s part of. Helen is the one (of course) doing most of the dancing, but Joy Mukherjee too gets to dance a bit. I wish he’d danced more here: as can be seen in high-octane songs like Duniya paagal hai ya phir main deewaana, Joy Mukherjee could dance, and how!

10. Ae dil karoon main kya (Bhai Bahen, 1969): With Sunil Dutt. Given that Helen often acted the vamp, dancing in a sleazy setting with much liquor flowing, there’s no dearth of songs where Helen appears with alcohol: serving it, dancing around it, or simply dancing around people drinking a lot of it. In this song, her character is in cahoots with that of Pran, and both of them are busy softening up Sunil Dutt’s character in an attempt to get past his defences. They’ve plied him with plenty of liquor, till the man is so sozzled he can’t think straight—or really, even dance very much, when she coaxes him to match steps with her. But he does dance, briefly, a ball room dance, just a few steps that serve to show that Sunil Dutt could be pretty graceful too.

And, because this is a Helen post, and because Helen danced so much, two bonuses. One is a song, one is not, but both are worth watching.

First, the song.

Typewriter tip-tip-tip-tip (Bombay Talkie, 1970): With Shashi Kapoor. I couldn’t include this song in my list because, even though it’s on the cusp of the period I focus on, and it is in Hindi, the fact is that it’s not from a Hindi film. Typewriter tip-tip-tip-tip karta hai is from the Merchant-Ivory film, Bombay Talkie, and was, as far as I am concerned, the best part about the film.

The song, as it appears in the film, is very short: a rehearsal is in progress, and we get to see Helen and Shashi Kapoor only briefly together as they dance atop a giant red typewriter, on the keys of which dance a troupe of extras—and each key (very smart, this) depresses as a girl jumps on to it, then springs back up when she moves on. I love the set of this, and would have loved to see this as a full-fledged song instead of only the snippet one sees in the film. If you want to listen to the entire song (which was recorded), click here.

Next, the not-song. This is just a dance; Helen and Jeetendra dance the frug in Yaar Mera (1972). I couldn’t resist posting this one because it’s one of those rare instances of a Hindi film actor dancing pretty well (as far as I can tell). He keeps pace with Helen well, and even though it’s not a long dance, it’s energetic and fun—and sexy, all at the same time. Delicious.

Which songs would you add to this list?

34 thoughts on “Helen and a Male Star: Ten Dances”

  4. Madhu,
    Nice compilation. Your write-ups are superb. The other day I saw ‘Kismet’ for a lark. I had exactly the same thought; how would Shammi Kapoor have done it.

    Even if Helen was not a vamp, and loved the hero, as a cinematic convention he ended up a loser. Our villains did not always die at the end. But was it a gender thing that Helen always came between the shot and the target, and dying with remorse and repentance for her deeds? Since she often got redemption in death, I sometimes think it is wrong to describe her as a vamp.

    AK

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    • Yes, the fact of the ‘vamp’ getting some sort of redemption in death perhaps does erase her ‘total badness’. If I remember correctly, Jerry Pinto examines this topic very well and with a lot of intelligence in his biography of Helen.

      (also the fact of the villain not always dying in the end might indicate that they would now be chakki-peesoing in jail, and therefore humiliated and brought down. Not a nice end for a pretty lady, I am guessing? She had to go out in style).

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  5. Great list,
    The first song that I remembered was Matwali Aankhon Wale from chhote nawab.
    But you have her another with Mehmood.
    Here’s the one from chhote nawab

    Liked the bonus songs or performances too.

    :-)

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    • Yes, indeed. Helen was in several songs along with Shammi Kapoor. I think of all the major stars of the 60s, he was the one who was the most inhibited dancer, and probably the one with the greatest sense of rhythm (Shashi Kapoor too, but then he wasn’t as big a star as Shammi). Here’s another song featuring Shammi and Helen; from China Town, Yamma yamma yamma tu parwana main shama:

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  7. Nice collection of songs, Madhu. Helen and Shammi Kapoor danced together in “Singapore” (1960) also. The song was “Rasa Sayang Sayang Eh”. But as you said one hero per song only. She also danced while Biswajeet strutted like a rooster in “Kahin Din Kahin Raat”. The song “Qamar patli, nazar bijli” had fantastic music and orchestration by O.P. Nayyar, but Biswajeet was an eyesore ,and cringe inducingly bad in a bronze wig as you say ! I saw “Bombay Talkie” in a movie theatre when it was released, the movie was nothing to write home about , but there was another song which was lovely, “Hari Om Tatsat” by Usha Iyer.

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    • I’m glad you enjoyed this list, Pradeep, and thank you for those additions! I did remember Rasa sayang re and Qamar patli nazar bijli, but since I left both out (the second one because of that wig… shudder!), I’m happy you wrote about them.

      Agree about Bombay Talkie: I didn’t like it at all. :-( But Hari Om Tatsat was good, too.

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  9. Madhu, this is a very nice way to end a very good Helen trilogy!

    I like how, at the end of this post, you also bent your rules a little (but made it acceptable by not assigning a number to those last two selections :) ).

    Regarding “Typewriter Tip Tip Tip,” as of this comment, unfortunately, neither of the links that you provided brought me to the actual scene, and the second link wasn’t working at all.

    There are quite a few clips of that scene on YouTube, so you certainly should not have trouble replacing it…

    And fortunately, the clip still works in my old post about Helen dances being influenced by dances by Ruby Keeler. (And I know you saw that post, because you commented on it. :) ) I really think that there is no way “Typewriter Tip Tip Tip” could not have been directly influenced by Ruby Keeler and Lee Dixon dancing in the song “Too Marvelous for Words” from the 1937 film, Ready, Willing and Able. (On the other hand, maybe the comparison between “Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu” and “Shanghai Lil” isn’t quite as direct – though I do think there is at least some conceptual influence.)

    Anyway, here’s the link to that post:

    Two Dances by Ruby Keeler Influencing Two Dances by Helen (and a little about something that both dancers may have had in common)

    Now, as I started reading your post here, I immediately thought of a great dance scene between Helen and a male star, although this also stretches beyond your guidelines a little, because it’s from a Tamil film and the Helen sequence is only part of a scene involving quite a few different dancers. Still, it was very memorable to see this scene of Helen dancing with Sivaji Ganesan! (Although I guess you might say that Sivaji doesn’t really dance much, but he sort of does a little…) I love all the dance and music in this scene, but as Tom wrote in the YouTube description, if you want to go right to Helen, just move ahead to 3:13 (or more like 3:15 – that’s really where Helen makes her spectacular spinning entrance).

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    • Thank you for a delightfully informative comment, Richard! I had completely forgotten about Ruby Keeler and those two dances: oh, yes. :-) As soon as I went to your blog post, I remembered it.

      Talking of Uthama Puthiran… I remember asking you long ago (when you had a still from that as your blog avatar, I think? Literally, the man wearing the iron mask, if I remember correctly) – I asked if you had the subtitles file for that film, because I so wanted to watch it! Needless to say, I have still not been able to find a subbed version. I should perhaps try again. I wish it were easier to get hold of South Indian films with subtitles – there are so many I want to see.

      That said, Sivaji Ganesan does dance a little bit in Yaradi nee Mohini, so I’d happily accept that on this list. Not, however, this song, which has Helen in a Bengali film. While Uttam Kumar is there in Tere liye aaya from Gali Theke Rajpath, he doesn’t even pretend to dance:

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      • You’re welcome, Madhu. I’m happy to share that information since I am also a Ruby Keeler fan.

        And yes, you remembered well regarding my old avatar – I used to use the iron mask from Uthama Puthiran. I found the film online with subtitles quite a while ago – probably sometime in 2008. I found it in a search, and I probably stumbled upon some service that offered free English-subtitled Tamil films. Unfortunately, that’s all I remember, and for all I know, that copy and that service might be long gone. (I have looked through the film again since then, but probably not with subtitles.)

        I’m glad you agree that Sivaji danced an acceptable amount in that scene. :) And, no, Uttam Kumar doesn’t even try to dance in that number from the Bengali film. Oh, well!

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          • Oh, that is funny! I don’t remember writing those comments on that post, but I know I spent a good amount of time at Bollywood Food Club back in the day, since I first exchanged comments with Sitaji aka Suzy back in October 2007 (on the amusing subject of the contemporary Pakistani “mujras” found in such abundance on YouTube), and she was instrumental in introducing me to Greta/Memsaab and quite a few others in the “Bolly blogging” community (before Dustedoff :) ). Oh, I am feeling so nostalgic now!

            But anyway, Madhu, it is great that by finding my comments on that post, you also found the place where I actually listed the links that had brought me to the English-subtitled Uthama Puthiran – and also confirmed that, as I suspected, it can no longer be found in those places.

            But don’t give up – there must be a way to find those subtitles somewhere! :)

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            • I ended up feeling quite nostalgic too when I read the thread of comments on that post – so many bloggers there who were once very active but no longer.

              I have found a copy of Uthama Puthiran, supposedly with subtitles, on the Amazon site. I’ve bookmarked it, so will check it out one of these days to see whether it really works.

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  11. This is one of my helen duet fron qaidi 1957

    Padmini and helen were two heroines of qaidi, suresh the hero plays duel role and padmini and helen were pair for them. It was a hit movie in 1957, but now no known prints of movie exists. There is also a dance togather by padmini and helen. Then another pure kathak dance by padmini and ragini which helen sits and watches

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    • Thank you for Yoon muskuraake sharmaake – I hadn’t known about this one. Suresh doesn’t really dance, but it’s a good song. I would have loved to see the Padmini-Helen duet, but couldn’t find it on YouTube. Would you remember if it’s just a dance (no song) or whether it’s a song as well – and if a song, which one?

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  12. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

    I was thinking of the song with Sivaji Ganeshan from the movie Uthama Puthiran but I think it has already been posted. I found another Tamil song of Helen with MGR.

    Silar Kudippathu Pole Sange Muzangu

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    • Oh, thank you for this one! Of course this was new to me, but I was especially happy to see that he dances too, it’s not just her. True, his dancing is more the ‘tipsy fellow with two left feet’ sort, but still.

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  13. Hi madhu ji ! I got remember of Helen ji when I saw her in chitrhaar singing baar baar bagiya mein koel na boley from sampoorna ramayan around dushera festival.

    Madhu ji you have 3 posts on Helen ji. But I am replying here because I just wish to say kamar patli, nazar bijli(suraahi daar gardan ) makes me laugh a lott. I like next song in kahi din kahi raat. hum pay yeh ilzaam kyu hai ki humney mohbat ki hai.

    in case of wig waheeda ji wears wig and dances with Helen ji in flim baazi (1968) main haseena nazneena koi mujhsa nahi. N feel pran saab looked little younger in wigs in his mid 60s flim like brahamchari.

    biswajeet ji was asked about him wanna be shammi. What actually made me wonder that the question was your success is considered as Fluke n he depends on heroine oriented movies.

    bishu da said his succes his own. He had shown respect to senior waheeda ji n mala ji not buttering them as understood. He gets along with shammi ji. Like him he is also from stage n self made man.

    Bishu da said he believes in his histrionics. His sucess his own and n he also supported new comers like sapna, Naina sahu n even supported new comers in Bengali too. 

    He said as his first flim as director producer kehtey hai humko Raja was big flop as it was high budget flim. It was bigger flop than joy ji humsaya . Therefore he left Bombay industry n went back to earn money in Bengali cinema.

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