How Kishore Kumar, Nutan embraced the crazy in SD Narang's Dilli Ka Thug

It was a family affair for filmmaker SD Narang on Dilli Ka Thug (1958), a film he wrote, produced and directed. His brother Brahm Dev (BD) Narang was the production controller; he later became a producer. Narang's wife, actress Smriti Biswas, had a brief but memorable role in the film as a vamp, Lily.

An actor-turned-filmmaker, Narang was born in Lyallpur in Punjab (now Faisalabad, Pakistan) on 18 June 1918. He received his medical degree from Lahore Medical College. Before Partition, Narang had aspirations to become an actor. He starred in the hit musical Khazanchi (1941) with M Ismail and Ramola Devi.

After Partition, he came to Kolkata (then Calcutta) and, in 1947, produced and directed his first feature film Yeh Hai Zindagi (1947). He acted in and produced a few more films and in 1952 made the move to Mumbai (then Bombay).

There he produced films like Arab Ka Saudagar (1956), Yahoodi Ki Ladki (1957) starring Madhubala and Pradeep Kumar, the ice extravangaza Bombay Ka Chor (1962), Shehnai (1964), Sagaai (1966), and many others.

Narang married Biswas, a star in Hindi and Bengali cinema, in 1960. Biswas was a Protestant Christian and Narang a Hindu. After marriage, she gave up her film career at her husband's request. They had two sons.

Dilli Ka Thug (1958) remains one of Narang's most memorable musicals. He often worked with composer Ravi and, in this film, there are quite a few musical gems. The plot is extremely complicated and the action suddenly moves halfway from Delhi to Mumbai for no apparent reason except for a change in scenery.

Kishore (Kishore Kumar) is an unemployed young man whose father, a investigative journalist, has been killed by a man with a hideous face. There is countrywide racket of counterfeit medicine that is being operated by an unknown man named Anantram. Hundreds of citizens are dying all over the country. Kishore suspects he might have had something to do with his father's death.

A disillusioned Kishore takes to gambling and other nefarious activities to earn money — jeopardizing his sister's chances to marry a respectable young man. A mix-up with his friend Soham Lall's wallet leads to Lall's murder and Kishore feels responsible when he finds out Soham was working with the counterfeiters.

All this while, he is also pursuing Asha (Nutan), whom he has been promised in marriage since they were kids. However, Asha's uncle turns him away due to his family's downfall in social status. This, Asha does not know. An heiress, she is also a diving champion. Her introduction scene has her winning a competition. This comes handy towards the second half of the film when she gets to rescue Kishore from the sea during a key moment.

Kishore tries his best to woo a reluctant Asha, who sees through his craziness, and uncover the counterfeiting ring. He moves to Mumbai to pursue Asha and gets a job with Sewakram, one of Anantram's main henchmen.

The movie obviously belongs to Kishore Kumar and Nutan, with some key roles by Iftekhar and Madan Puri as, what else, an inspector and villain, respectively. Nutan is beautifully serene in the film as a modern, capable young woman and doctor. However, her character has no idea her evil uncle is running the counterfeit medicine business under her very nose. For much of the film, she is a good foil to Kishore Kumar's antics on screen. She is known for many dramatic performances, so to see her young and carefree, singing the wacky duet 'C-A-T, Cat Maane Billi' was a joy.

In several sequences, Kishore Kumar is completely unhinged in this film with the energy of a young puppy. It must have been hard for Narang to 'direct' him. There are several moments where he dresses up as a prince, a taxi driver or a beggar. Those were simpler times when one character could change several disguises and no one would be the wiser.

Narang manages to weave in a lot in the feature. There are two songs featuring appearances from Biswas and Minoo Mumtaz, a song featuring an underwhelming water ballet sequence and a tense finale that takes place in a hijacked airplane. At the end, it is up to Kishore and Asha to land a commercial airplane at Mumbai airport with instructions from the air traffic control. There is even a plotline where Anantram — the man with the hideous face — dons a mask to masquerade as Asha's uncle. He manages to fool them all till the very end.

The saving grace of the film is its music by Ravi. The lyrics were written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shailendra and SH Bihari. But it is the Ravi-Sultanpuri combination that shines. Another Kishore and Asha pairing, namely Kishore Kumar as singer and Asha Bhosle, also wins us over. From the upbeat and catchy 'C-A-T, Cat Maane Billi' to the sweetly romantic 'Yeh Raatein Yeh Mausam' written by Shailendra are timeless classics that can still be crooned today.