Chupke Chupke (1975) - comedy super-movie starring Amitabh and Dharmendra

Chupke Chupke released in the year 1975 and was a remake of the hit Bengali movie Chhadmabeshi (Disguiser). It starred the leading stars of that era like Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Om Prakash, David, Asrani and Keshto Mukherjee. The movie was directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and had S.D.Burman composing music for the film. Chupke Chupke till date remains one of the best comedy films made in Hindi cinema.

Professor Parimal Tripathi (Dharmendra) is a botany professor who by chance meets and falls in love with Sulekha Chaturvedi (Sharmila Tagore) during a women's college botany excursion. Parimal takes on the disguise of the caretaker of a bungalow in which Sulekha comes to stay along with her college friends and teacher. It is she who is able to find out about Parimal’s true identity and two get married after a whirlwind romance. Parimal is fond of practical jokes and is unable to resist the temptation of playing out one on Sulekha’s brother-in-law (Jijaji, Raghavenra eanacted by Om Prakash) whom she worships as her ideal.

Jijaji is in need of a trusted driver/chauffeur and writes to his brother-in-law and Sulekha’s brother Haripat (David) to send him a reliable person from his place. Parimal comes up with the idea of going to Jijaji’s place dressed as a driver. Sulekha is confident that her beloved Jijaji will see through Parimal’s disguise and challenges him to fool her Jijaji. Parimal takes up the challenge sportingly and sets out for Allahabad in the guise of a driver. He becomes Pyaremohan Alahabadi a man who speaks ‘shudh’ (pure, undiluted) Hindi. Sulekha too joins in the fun after a couple of days. Meanwhile Pyaremohan has Jijaji in a tizzy with his incessant questions on English grammar and has the well known lawyer running for cover.

Soon they convince Jijaji that Sulekha is unhappy in her marriage and has feelings for Pyaremohan. To add more drama they bring in Sukumar Sinha (Amitabh Bachchan), a Professor of English, to pose as Parimal, just as the duo (Sulekha and Parimal) go into hiding. Parimal's long-time friend P K Srivastava (Asrani) is also party to the prank. His sister-in-law Vasudha (Jaya Bachchan) suspects fake 'Parimal' - Sukumar Sinha - of infidelity to his wife when he tries to get close to her. Sukumar falls in love with Vasudha who at first believed he was Parimal, but Sukumar reveals to her the real drama behind all this mix-up of situations. The climax sees Sukumar and Vasudha marrying in a temple while Jijaji is finally able to see through Pyaremohan disguise and recognise him as the real Parimal.

The film is a laugh riot and is a situational comedy. Dharmendra as Parimal, Om Prakash as Jijai and Amitabh Bachchan as Sukumar put in terrific performances. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s direction is light and right and S.D. Burman composes some wonderful numbers especially Ab Ke Sajan.


CAST AND CREW

Directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Produced by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, N.C. Sippy
Written by Shakeel Chandra, Upendranath Ganguly, Gulzar, D.N. Mukherjee, Biren Tripathy
Starring Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Om Prakash, Asrani
Music by Sachin Dev Burman
Lyrics Anand Bakshi
Cinematography Jaywant Pathare
Editing by Subhash Gupta, Pandit Shridhar Mishra