A film that has a deep connection with the Doon valley and Mussoorie celebrates its golden jubilee year in 2016. This film is Teesri Manzil, the musical thriller that created great waves on its release in the year 1966 and has always been popular since then.
Directed by Vijay Anand, the maestro, and written and produced by Nasir Hussain, this film is remembered by people of Mussoorie and Doon as it gave special importance to these towns. Right from the beginning, Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh, the lead pair, are shown heading for Dehradun by train so that they can reach Mussoorie.
Many films in the 1960s and 1970s used to mention Mussoorie and Dehradun but not all of them had real shots from these places.. Sets would represent a bungalow with a backdrop on blue-green hills and trees. This happened in the Shashi Kapoor starrer Haseena Maan Jayegi. Dehradun has been quite a fascinating concept for film makers since early times of our film industry. The very old song Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon has a line that says Ham Burma ki galiyon mein aur tum ho Dehradun. The man calls up his wife, who is in Dehradun, from Burma and then the song follows.The film was Patanga (1949). And this interest in Doon continued.
Teesri Manzil’s exciting plot was set in the hill station of Mussoorie. It is said that it was at Hotel Hakmans Grand that the scenes of the hotel dances was set. There is, however , no official confirmation regarding this. The Jhoolaghar of Mussoorie can be seen in the song Dekhiye Sahibo, with the giant wheel and all. Sometimes the hills appear to be that of Mussoorie and at other times, one feels it is Khandala or Mahabaleshwar. May have been a mix of all these! There are some old timers in Mussoorie who say that many of the scenes of the film were shot in Hakman’s Grand. Shammi Kapoor played a singer of a rock band and was called “Rocky” alias Anil Kumar Sona. Mussoorie and Dehra Dun were mentioned in the film right from the first scene. And one can see the beautiful hills and dales of the region in many scenes. It is quite clear that Bollywood has always placed Dehra Dun on a pedestal and it has always been associated with natural beauty, comfort , luxury and a holiday mood.
Dulhan Ek Raat Ki (1966) was shot in FRI and so was Vishwas (1969). Ik haseen sham ko, the soulful Rafi song in Dulhan Ek Raat ki shows us a glimpse of the old Kwality restaurant, a landmark of the Doon valley, which was closed a few years ago. Films like Karm in the 70s and Farishtey in the 80s were shot in Doon and Mussoorie. The Hampton Court (CJM) School of Mussoorie was beautifully caught on celluloid in Karm which also featured Rishikesh prominently. Ganga ki Saugandh in the 80s was also shot in Rishikesh as later Arjun Pandit and Kisna were.
In the 90s, Salaami was shot entirely in Dehra Dun as it was the story of a Gentleman Cadet of the Indian Military Academy (IMA). Rajpur, IMA and the Mussoorie lake featured predominantly in the film that had very melodious songs.
Armaan starring Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and Gracy Singh, was shot in Mussoorie and the grand Savoy hotel was turned into a South African hospital. Mussoorie was not mentioned in the film.There are many such instances.
In this context, renowned actor Tom Alter once narrated an anecdote about the time when he was shooting for Raj Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili. The scene was when a villainous character comes to the village and wants to marry Mandakini, who played Tom’s sister in the film.
“When Raj Sa’ab asked us to suggest the name of some place from where the villain comes, I immediately suggested Mussoorie but the suggestion was turned down by Rajji .He told me that in my excitement as a Mussoorie boy , I forgot that I was giving a bad name to my town by making the villain belong to it!”