Zee Classic to air Teesri Manzil

A woman jumps off the third floor of a popular hotel in Mussoorie. She is believed to have committed suicide, but her sister, Sunita, suspects foul play. She goes to the scenic hill station to unravel the circumstances leading to her sister’s death, strongly believing that a musician named Rocky is to blame for her family’s misfortune. However, as Sunita tries to nail Rocky, she falls in love with a man named Anil Kumar ‘Sona’, who is actually Rocky. What follows next is a rivetting musical thriller that leaves the viewer with an edge-of-the-seat experience as Sunita’s sister’s real killer is revealed and Rocky exonerates himself from all suspicion.

Teesri Manzil (1966) is perhaps the best ‘whodunit’ mystery in the history of Hindi cinema. With a soundtrack that proved to be a milestone in Hindi film music, as also a big win in young RD Burman’s fledgling career, the film packed a punch on almost every front with delectable performances by Shammi Kapoor, Asha Parekh, Prem Nath, Helen, Prem Chopra and Iftekhar. Even the smaller roles played by character artistes Rashid Khan and KN Singh made a sizeable impact in the minimal screen time their characters were given.

A Nasir Hussain production, Teesri Manzil was directed by Vijay Anand. There are a couple of interesting versions as to how Hussain passed on the directorial reins of his production (the first time he was doing so) to Dev Anand’s younger sibling. The popular version is that Hussain had offered Teesri Manzil to Dev Anand and Vijay Anand was brought on board to direct his brother. But some time into the shooting, Dev Anand and Hussain had a showdown and the former ousted the latter from the film. Vijay Anand continued in his role and directed the film.

The other version is that Hussain had brought Vijay Anand on initially to direct Baharon Ke Sapne, the small budget film that followed Teesri Manzil in 1967. Meanwhile, Hussain was supposed to direct Dev Anand himself in Teesri Manzil. Dev Anand, though, wasn’t happy with Hussain giving his brother the black-and-white Baharon Ke Sapne, starring a relative newbie Rajesh Khanna. His criticism didn’t go down too well with Hussain and the two had a confrontation after which Hussain replaced Dev Anand with Shammi Kapoor. And to make an even bigger point to him, Hussain handed over the directorial reins to Vijay Anand and decided to direct the smaller Baharon Ke Sapne himself.

Teesri Manzil works so well precisely because of the collaboration between two fine creative minds. Both men had an inclination to make crime dramas and this film was the right meeting point for them. Anand put his stamp on the film through his long takes, his innovative camera techniques such as his fondness for frames within frames. Hussain, on the other hand, brought in an element of humour and comedy with his dialogues, but also stayed true to the original premise of the film by always foregrounding the murder element even in the comic episodes.  

And, it would not have become the film it did had it not been for Shammi Kapoor. The actor brought in the right energy, the correct histrionics and zing to play the drummer Rocky. Together with Asha Parekh, who plays Sunita, the two light up the silver screen with their terrific chemistry especially in Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyaar Tera. Upto that point, Hindi cinema seldom had the heroine dressing up in Western clothes and going to a club to participate in a rock-n-roll song because our filmmakers frowned upon such elements of Western culture.

Tune in to Teesri Manzil this Sunday, January 21 at 12 noon only on Zee Classic.