'Junglee' and Hindi cinema’s romance with the outdoors!

Hindi cinema of the 1950s, with the formation of the newly independent nation, was all about nation-building and Nehruvian socialism. The classics of that time reflected this theme. The city featured prominently in the films of the 1950s as an emblem of the Nehruvian thrust towards modernity. However, by the late 1950s, both, established film-makers such as Bimal Roy (Madhumati, 1958), and a new crop of directors such as Vijay Anand (Nau Do Gyarah, 1957) and Nasir Husain (Tumsa Nahin Dekha, 1957; Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai, 1961) had started venturing into the outdoors.

The film which definitively paved the way for Hindi cinema’s romance with the open landscape and the outdoors was the Subodh Mukerji-directed Junglee. The film starred Shammi Kapoor and Saira Banu and was the biggest hit of 1961. In the recent episode of The Golden Years: 1950-1975, Javed Akhtar contextualised the extent of the film’s success by narrating the following anecdote: “It used to be said there are two mints in India where money is made. One is owned by the government of India and the other by Subodh Mukerji, who is the producer-director of Junglee. The film was that big a hit. That big! And while Shammi Kapoor had already become a star with Tumsa Nahin Dekha and Dil Deke Dekho, Junglee catapulted him to an altogether different sphere of success.”

Shot in ‘Eastman Color’, Junglee brought out the full beauty of the Kashmiri landscape. The film’s sylvan setting and the snow-capped hills gave the audiences a feeling of delight and adventure. Following Junglee’s success, a whole bunch of Hindi films such as Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), Mere Sanam (1965), Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965), Hamraaz (1967), Aradhana (1969) and Pyar Ka Mausam (1969) capitalised on this new romance with the outdoors and had their narratives away from the city.

Film-makers also started venturing overseas in this period. Films like Sangam (1964), Love in Tokyo (1966) and An Evening in Paris (1967) used foreign locales (Switzerland, Paris, Tokyo) for on-location shooting. This was Hindi cinema’s way of introducing Indian audiences to the outside world and creating spectacle by showcasing these cities, their nightlife and their iconic tourist spots as exotica.

But to return to Junglee. In the same year of the film’s release, there were three other soundtracks that became very popular. Hum Dono, Ganga Jamuna and Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai - all three films had consistenly good music. But Junglee’s music was something else. From the lilting notes of ‘Ehsaan tera hoga mujh par’, to the uptempo ‘Ai yayee ya karoon main kya suku suku’, to the charming ‘Kashmir ki kali hoon main’, to the wonderful duet ‘Mere yaar shabba khair’, every song was received with great delight by the audience and listeners.

However, the song that really reflected Junglee’s appeal and popularity among film-goers was ‘Yahoo! Chaahey koi mujhe junglee kahey!’ Javed Akhtar observed of the number, “The song sparked hysteria among people. It had a tremendous effect.” Although the song was composed by Shankar-Jaikishen, written by Shailendra and sung by Mohammed Rafi, the full-throated, manic scream of ‘Yaahoo’ in the song was not Rafi’s. It belonged to Prayag Raj, a screenwriter and a most unlikely choice for the same.

Rauf Ahmed writes in his book, Shammi Kapoor: The Game Changer, that “initially Jaikishen had taken on the task of yelling out ‘Yahoo’ after it was realised that it would be impractical for Mohammed Rafi to do it while singing a high-pitched number.” But Jaikishen’s voice began to turn hoarse after the first couple of rehearsals. Prayag Raj was then summoned since he was a trained singer and had often sung for Shankar-Jaikishen in chorus. Prayag was upto the challenge and after rehearsing with Rafi a couple of times, the song was recorded over eight retakes. “It took Prayag Raj almost two months to sound normal,” comments Ahmed.

The other interesting anecdote about the song is that while most people link the song’s picturisation to Kashmir, it was actually filmed in Kufri, a beautiful hill station in Himachal Pradesh. Rauf Ahmed gives the backstory of how the entire episode transpired. Actually, Subodh Mukerji wanted to shoot the entire song in Pahalgam, but when the unit reached Pahalgam they discovered there wasn’t enough snow for the song to be shot. They waited for a few days for more snowfall, but then packed their bags and returned to Bombay. After a few months, in February, Mukerji brought the entire unit to Kufri where there was enough snow to shoot the song. However, on the day of the shoot, “just as the camera was to roll, the sun disappeared.” This continued for six days without the sun making an appearance. “On the seventh morning, when the sun finally showed up and the cameras began rolling, Shammi was ready with his ‘choreography’.” The song was finally shot in just seven hours. 

You can catch the next episode of The Golden Years: 1950-1975, A Musical Journey with Javed Akhtar on Sunday at 8 p.m. on Zee Classic!