Prem Pujari is a 1970 Bollywood film produced, directed and written by Dev Anand for Navketan films. The movie stars himself, Waheeda Rehman, Shatrughan Sinha, Prem Chopra, Madan Puri, Amrish Puri. The film's very popular music is by S.D. Burman..
Dev Anand is a peaceful, quiet man who is only interested in wildlife and nature. Then he is sent to the Indo-Chinese Border in the army by his father, a war hero. Here he refuses to lift his gun and attack. He is then court-martialled. Later he is captured by the Chinese and humiliated, but when a beautiful Chinese agent promises him a better future by working and spying for her (against India), he agrees but foils their wicked plans by spying over them. Later the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 breaks out. He joins in the action to show what he is made of by killing Pakistani soldiers hiding in the bushes in an Indian village in the Khemkaran sector. The film was shot in Switzerland, and has Grimsel Hotel in one of the songs. While the film did not do very well at the box office some of its songs (e.g. Rangeela Re, Shokhiyon mein, and Dil ki Kalam se) have become evergreen hits.
Dev Anand abhors violence and initially refuses to join the armed forces, but has to bow to his father's wishes. After some time there, he comes back, but as destiny would have it, he finds himself in the thick of things, when he sees the enemy working against the country's interests. Leaving his beloved, Wahida Rehman, behind, he goes abroad to unveil the conspiracy and befriends Zahida, the enemy's moll. Wahida follows him but is dejected seeing him with Zahida. In time Dev also comes back and is engulfed in full scale war to defeat the enemy.
Dev's first official attempt at direction, though it is said that he had a lot to do with the direction of "Teen Devian" and "Gambler". He did a reassuring job. The lead players were all good. Technically the film was polished. Yet again, Sachin Deb Burman gave excellent music. His own rendering " Prem ke pujari, ham hain" was superb. Kishore Kumar's "Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki qalam se" was another excellent number, and so was Lata's "Rangeela re, tere rang se, yun ranga hai, mera man". Another typical Burman duet was "Shokhiyon mein ghola jaaye, phoolon ka shabab", sung by Kishore and Lata. Punjabi folk music came out beautifully in "Doongi tennu reshmi rumaal", sung by Lata and chorus. Other good numbers include Manna Dey and Mohd. Rafi's "Taqat watan ki hamse hai", the marching song, sung with chorus, and the happy-go-lucky number "Gham pe dhool daalo, kehkaha lagalo", sung by Kishore and Bhupendra. Lyrics by the renowned poet, Neeraj, were excellent.
Overall, a reasonably good film by Dev Anand.
