Gumnaam (1965)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Raja Nawathe

Writers:

Dhruva Chatterjee (screenplay)
Charandas Shokh (dialogue)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller | Musical

Plot:

Eight people are trapped on an island when their plane abandons them. They find a large mansion whose butler is expecting them. Then one by one, they die...

Plot Keywords:

Butler | Mansion | Dancing | Doctor | Marooned

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Nanda	...	Asha
Manoj Kumar	...	Anand (as Manoj)
Pran	...	Barrister Rakesh
Helen	...	Miss Kitty
Mehmood	...	The Butler
Dhumal	...	Mister Dharamdas
Madan Puri	...	Dr. Acharya
Tarun Bose	...	Madhusudan Sharma
Manmohan	...	Mr. Kishan
Naina
Laxmi Chhaya	...	Masked Dancer

Also Known As:

Nameless (India: English title)

Runtime:

India:151 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

India:A

Filming Locations:

K. Asif Studios, Andheri, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company:

Prithvi Pictures

Trivia:

Footage from the movie is used in the Ghost World (2001). The main character, Enid, is dancing along to the big dance number, "Jaan Pehechaan Ho", in the beginning of the film.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The band in the "Jaan Pehechaan Ho" scene are obviously not playing the song: the horn players play when the horns aren't heard; the guitarists don't even pretend to play the right chords; an electric guitar is heard, yet the band "plays" acoustic guitars; and the band has no string section even though violins are heard.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ghost World (2001)

Soundtrack:

Jaane Chaman Shola Badan

Bollywood Rules !!

The movie starts out simple enough. A man stands at a balcony and smokes a cigarette while watching a drunk man (coming out of a nightclub/bar) getting run over with a car. This is all intentional. The man on the balcony goes inside, pays someone for the death of the man on the street and then proceeds to call a whole bunch of people to let them know the man has died. In the middle of the phone call to the dead man's niece, a strange man in a trench coat, hat and gloves comes in and shoots the man.

After this we get the most famous scene of this movie : the dance scene that was shown in Ghost World. Its a crazy 60's rock n' roll dance number, complete with a girl dressed in a gold dress with frills, male dancers dressed in black suits with white frill shirts, female backup dancers in pink dresses with frills and a lounge singer dressed in a white suit with black tie. They are all wearing black masks. The song is quite catchy and makes you wanna get up and dance (or if you prefer, dance in your seat).

After the dance number (for the silver anniversary of the club), seven people are "randomly" chosen to go on an exclusive holiday abroad. On the way to the location, the plane has to land for repairs (it lands in the middle of a field somewhere). When the plane unexpectedly leaves, the seven "castaways" (8 if you count the Ray Romano looking steward) look around. They discover a mansion in the middle of nowhere, where a butler/cook awaits their arrival (and knows all theirs names except for the steward).

I would classify this movie as a Bollywood version of an Agatha Christie type suspense mystery. In typical Bollywood fashion this would include several dance and musical numbers. This is a very enjoyable twist on the whole mystery genre. It is true that the music and dancing does distract one from the mystery and reduces the tension. At the same time, I was enjoying the dance/musical numbers too much too care. By far my favorite dance/musical number (other than the opening one) would be the drunken singing scene between Miss Kitty and Nanda. I also loved the product placement of the movie. It is quite evident how much "Hollywood" items are used as items of social stature in other cultures. For example, the Cool cigarettes and the Long John whiskey. It is also quite comical to witness the amount of tobacco smoked in this movie (several black lung's worth). This is a very enjoyable movie and the 180 minutes rush by. I highly recommend this movie.

-Celluloid Rehab