Hum Kisise Kum Naheen on Zee Classic

With Caravan (1971), Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973) and then finally Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977), Nasir Hussain, the talismanic writer-director-producer of the 1950s and 1960s, celebrated his finest hour. If Caravan was a silver jubilee hit, then Yaadon Ki Baaraat was an even bigger showstopper that ran for 100 weeks at Star Talkies in Chennai. Hum Kisise Kum Naheen was perhaps the biggest of Hussain’s three hits in the decade, something that he managed to achieve while staying true to the cause of song-and-dance, romance and the feel-good, holiday films that he was very well known for.

The film was a celebration of Hussain’s filmmaking sensibility. It had style, action, comedy, with music and dance carrying the narrative along. Both the central male characters, enacted by Rishi Kapoor and Tariq Khan, are shown to be adept at playing musical instruments right from the beginning of the film. Even Kaajal Kiran, who played the female lead, is introduced in the film dancing to the Tina Charles song, Dance, Little Lady Dance. The reunion between the childhood sweethearts — the characters played by Tariq and Kaajal — also happens by way of song through Kya Hua Tera Waada. This was a continuation of a theme wherein Hussain had previously used a song to reunite a lost son with his parents in Pyar Ka Mausam and reunite the separated brothers in Yaadon Ki Baaraat.

But Hussain’s song-and-dance extravaganza hit its apogee with the medley sequence in the film. While the medley song had featured before in Hindi cinema in films like Awara (1951) and Guide (1965), the Hum Kisise Kum Naheen sequence was spectacular in comparison. It had six distinct sections, with one segment segueing into another seamlessly and went on for nearly 10 minutes. Each composition within the medley — whether it was Chand Mera Dil or Aa Dil Kya Mehfil Hai Tere — was a gem. Hussain had hit upon the idea of doing such a long medley sequence after visiting Tiffany’s discotheque in London. He liked the idea of the people at the club continuing to dance even as one track changed to another without a break in between. And with an ace composer like RD Burman by his side, he was able to pull off the entire sequence with complete panache. Award-winning authors Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal include this medley as one of the 50 classic Hindi film songs in their book Gaata Rahe Mera Dil.

If the medley was inspired from disco, then the Hum Kisise Kum Nahin title track was an ode to the qawwali. Interestingly, Rishi had done another memorable qawwali song in the same year when he had 
Purdah Hai Purdah from Amar Akbar Anthony picturised on him. However, while he is dressed as a traditional qawwal in Purdah Hai Purdah, he is seen as a modern, flamboyant character, wearing a red waistcoat over a ruffle-front tuxedo shirt in  Hum Kisise Kum Naheen. This was the essence of Husain’s filmmaking style. He could take a traditional musical form like the qawwali, which is supposedly devotional in its roots, and turn it into something modern and contemporary by how he presented the  characters and picturised the song.

Watch Hum Kisise Kum Naheen on January 14 at 12 Noon only on Zee Classic.