Haré Rama Haré Krishna

We do not come across movies on brother-sister relationship in Indian cinema, or any other language or medium. This relationship has several aspects which have not been exploited in movies or novels. Typically, a sister is depicted as a pile-on who can be used for ransom in the climax. This movie treats the subject in an entirely different light.

It is inspired by George Eliot's novel "The Mill on the Floss". The brother is very prosaic, all-good, the blue-eyed boy who is a conventionally good son and a favorite with his mother. The sister is romantic, wild and defiant of the unwritten rules of the society. In spite of this, the love of the brother-sister is the winner.

This movie is about the love of the two siblings who are separated in childhood and revival of the same feeling when they meet years later. It is also the quest of the subdued brother to reunite with his sister who has chosen to be wild to defy the world.

Although the movie and the novel are set about 3 centuries apart in two distant countries, yet the sentiments are the same and still hold true.

You see the way people in the early seventies blamed ISKON for their radical nature which eventually was the supposed conclusion of being turned into hippies is not at all true and that is why this film is so damn important.

I am surprised that Dev Anand actually thought that a guy in mid forties would look like a guy in mid twenties. Zeenat Aman was stupendous. Mumtaz was good but the real highlighter of this film is the music of the legendary Rahul Dev Burman.........I mean WOW!! Funny thing I read about other reviews is that no one mentioned the song "phoolon ka taaron ka sabka kehna hain" I understand "Dumm Maaro Dumm" was phenomenal, why was it still is even today but the other songs were very good too.

Acting was above average, certain aspects are too melodramatic but then again keeping in mind the 1970s of India it was good, great job by cinematographer and rest of the support staffs.

I give my ratings out of 10:

Acting - 6 Story - 8.5 Screenplay - 8.5 Direction - 8 Music Dept. - 10 (since 100 out of 10 was not possible) Other Aspects - 6

Overall - 7.83 out of 10 so I round it of to 8 out of 10

This one grew on me. I love the R.D. Burman music and in spite of the cruder elements of the story I found much to be moved by as I kept re-watching the movie. The brother-sister plot line is powerful, I thought; there's also more probably obligatory stuff, like bar fights, a loony crime story, etc. that are just distracting. (Though not unfunny from a certain point of view.) Also the English translation is definitely by someone for whom it was a bit of a stretch, and as loony as it is I am grateful to him for doing it.

Like many of the Bollywood movies I've seen, this one is melodramatic and opera-like, including here notably a song sung first by a little boy to cheer up his abused and unhappy sister, and then the same song sung 12 or so years later by the man who has travelled to Kathmandu seeking to re-connect with this girl, grown up and troubled (she had been told her brother and mother were dead), numbing her pain with drugs.

A super thing about this 1971 movie is that it is about the hippie movement, which brought hordes of seekers to India, from an Indian point of view, that sees them as people driven to India by a spiritual hunger aroused by the failings of their own societies, but nonetheless, in India, living only for the pleasures of the moment. The hippie singing-dancing-drugging scenes are truly wonderful, and accurate in their tone (I'm old enough to remember), and I feel pretty sure that the masses of young white zoned-out kids are actual hippie extras, as I remember hearing about kids on the caravan to the East getting this kind of work in Bollywood.

(It is not about the actual Hare Krishna movement, though the movie hippies sing a Krishna/Rama chant, as do a group of actual Indian devotees, unrelated to the hippies, in the opening scene of the movie.)

~Virginia

This is one of the movies of Dev Anand who gave great yet distinct movies to Hindi movie industries such as Jewel thief and guide. The story is short (if you ask me what is the story), plot is simple- a brother seeks for his lost sister. Sister has joined the hippies who smoke from pot and chant Hare Rama hare Krishna. Yet the movie portrays few of the significant events that the world experienced in 70's.Hippie culture, their submission to drugs, freedom ,escaping duty, family, and adopting anything new such as eastern (which was new for whites) religion. They have been handled perfectly. Zeenat gave her best and Dev as usual was remarkable. Songs are the best used (unlike they are abused for the sake of having songs) in this movie. They have not been spoiled.One perfect example is 'Dekho o deewano...Ram ka naam badnam na karo'. Each word in the song is very philosophical and meaningful. The end is tragic but that is not the essence of the movie. Overall Devji who does believe in making different movies has been successful in showing what he wanted to show here. A must see to experience hippie culture and beautiful Nepal of 70's.

Dev Anand (or Prashant) and Zeenat Aman ( Jasbir/Janice) are siblings brought up in different countries. Because of poor parenting (crudely shown), Zeenat joins the hippie movement and also does drugs. Dev Anand after getting a letter from his father to locate Jasbir in Kathmandu visits that place, falls in love with Mumtaz( Shanti) and is also accused of stealing antiques.

Jasbir has blocked her painful childhood memories and Dev Anand sings the song which he used to sing when he was a kid to jog her memory.

Other than the great R.D.Burman music and Anand Bakshi lyrics and the footage shown about the ISKON movement and the beautiful stars and the Kathmandu location, the movie sucks big time. The story is extremely weak.