The impact of rock 'n roll music and the emerging youth culture of the late fifties on Indian cinema didn't happen overnight but Junglee (1961) - one of the biggest Bollywood hits of its era - was largely responsible for ushering in the swinging sixties while smashing the formulaic conventions of the traditional romantic drama, a staple of the Bombay film industry. Not only was it filmed in dazzling color, a process usually reserved for costume epics only, but it starred the screen phenomenon known as Shammi Kapoor - India's answer to Elvis Presley. His wild rendition of "Aai Aai Ya Suku Suku" became the rallying cry for his generation and introduced a new word into the Hindi language (Yahoo!), one that expressed an uninhibited lust for life.

Even the standard plot device of "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" was treated in a fresh and unusual manner in Junglee, with Kapoor cast as Shekar, a humorless, driven business executive who rides his employees mercilessly. He's no less approachable at home where he continues to uphold "the family tradition of not laughing," a legacy passed down from his dictatorial grandparents. His sister Mala (Shashikala) is the complete opposite - passionate and loving - but she's hiding a terrible secret from her family; she's pregnant. How the filmmakers get around this seemingly taboo subplot (which is resolved in the most innocuous manner in the final reel) gives Junglee an unexpected tension that contrasts nicely against the movie's exuberant musical numbers. But it's Shekhar's transformation from a stern, officious businessman to a fun-loving exhibitionist - the result of his love for Rajkumari (Saira Banu), a beautiful doctor's assistant - that makes Junglee required viewing for fans of Bollywood cinema.

Shammi Kapoor had been working in films as an actor since the early fifties but had little success until he decided to change his screen image. Dropping his signature look of slicked back hair and pencil-thin moustache, Kapoor reinvented himself as a contemporary of James Dean and Elvis Presley. With the help of publicist Bunny Reuben, the actor proclaimed himself "The Rebel Star" and thanks to an image makeover (clean-shaved face, long sideburns and flyaway hair style), challenged the popularity of India's reigning male stars - the triumvirate of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand.

Beginning with Tumsa Nahin Dekha in 1957, Kapoor steadily amassed a huge following that reached its zenith in Junglee where his larger-than-life persona threatened to burst from the screen. Look at his frenetic rendition of "Chahe Koi Mujhe Kahe," which has Kapoor bodysurfing snow-covered hills, tumbling down icy embankments and performing herky-jerky dance moves against a canvas of natural beauty. It is this musical number alone that solidified Kapoor's reputation as an untamed screen presence (in the style of Dean and Presley) and set the tone for his future movies. (The actor, now seventy, recently admitted in an interview that his knees still hurt from performing the aforementioned song in Junglee). By the way, Kapoor, like a lot of Indian movie stars, doesn't do his own singing. For example, the voice you hear on "Chahe Koi Mujhe Kahe," was none other than Mohammad Rafi's, probably the most popular "playback" singer in Indian cinema next to Lata Mangeshkar.

For the uninitiated, Junglee is a great place to start if you haven't sampled any Indian cinema. In addition to Kapoor's energetic performance, the film is equally memorable for the appearance of another Indian superstar - Helen - who appears in the other musical highpoint, a visually stunning production number with sets inspired by the paintings of Monet and Van Gogh. Frolicking among giant paintbrushes and huge globs of acrylic paint, Helen goes head to head with Kapoor in a dancing duel, set to a Spanish-style flamenco accompaniment with rock 'n roll flourishes.

Director: Subodh Mukherji
Music: Jaikishan Dayabhai Pankal, Shankarsinh Raghuwanshi
Cast: Shammi Kapoor (Shekar), Saira Banu (Rajkumari), Helen (Dancer), Anoop Kumar, Lalita Pawar (Shekar's mum), Shashikala (Mala).
C-140m.

by Jeff Stafford