Suraj

Suraj (1966) : Brief Review -

The British Ruritanian romance formula meets Indian swashbuckling in a near-perfect masala flick. You might be aware of the son-swap formula that has been used in many Bollywood movies over the years. For the sake of revenge, the newly born son of the king is swiped by a poor man, and he keeps his son at his place. Dharam Veer (1977) did that too, but with a return trick. Anyway, we all know that this kind-hearted boy from the poor Dacoit family is the prince and will meet his destiny one day. Handsome Rajendra Kumar with that cute hairdo portrays Suraj, a prince swiped by a dacoit, whereas Ajit plays the son of the dacoit (by bad luck), who turns out to be a bad fella. The princess is committed to being married to the fake prince, but eventually falls in love with the dacoit's son, who happens to be the real prince. You might remember the trick of a rich girl pretending to be a maid/aide just to find true love from Rajkumar Santoshi's Andaz Apna Apna (1994). Well, Suraj did it long ago. It wasn't original itself, though. I have seen many rich girls doing the same trick in many Hollywood rom-coms/screwball comedies from the 40s and 50s. Suraj copies those ideas but puts up a nice show on its own. It seems original on many occasions, especially the animal stuff. So cute. The entire music album of the film on one side, and Baharon Phool Barsao is on the other. It's a magical song when you hear just the audio, but when you watch it in the movie, the video leaves you spellbound. The words are like diamonds, Rajendra and Vyjayanthimala's expressions are enchanting, Rafi's voice makes it an eternal melody, and the visuals are breathtaking. We don't actually make songs, characters, and entertainment movies like this, which have tremendous repeat value and so many likeable moments in the masala genre. Formulaic, but stands as a winner on its own.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.