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Awards

Song Awards:
• 1973 - Filmfare Awards - Best Male Playback Singer - Beshak Mandir Masjid Todo - Narendra Chanchal

Trivia

Album

• This was Rishi Kapoor's first film in a lead role. He had debuted earlier in the film "Mera Naam Joker" (1970). This was also the debut film of Dimple Kapadia. She got married to superstar Rajesh Khanna a few months before the release of this film and retired despite its monstrous success. She made a comeback to films with "Manzil Manzil" (1984) more than a decade later, after she got separated from Rajesh Khanna.[1][2]
• This was the first time in more than two decades that Raj Kapoor chose a music director other than Shankar - Jaikishan to compose music for a film he was directing. Their partnership had started with "Barsaat" (1949) and ended with "Mera Naam Joker" (1970). Shankar - Jaikishan did, however, compose music for another R.K. Films production after the debacle of "Mera Naam Joker" (1970) - "Kal Aaj Aur Kal" (1971) - which Randhir Kapoor directed. According to writer Raju Bharatan, while Laxmikant - Pyarelal recorded the songs of this film, their tunes were actually from a bank of Shankar - Jaikishan compositions Raj Kapoor maintained. Laxmikant - Pyarelal were reluctant to accept this engagement, but Lata Mangeshkar convinced them to sign up for the film. Lata herself had a different story. According to her, she had initially refused to sing for the film since Raj Kapoor was unwilling to pay her the 2.5 per cent royalty she had asked for. It was because of this that Laxmikant - Pyarelal wanted to back out of the project - they did not want to record songs without Lata. It was only when Raj Kapoor relented and agreed to Lata's terms that she and Laxmikant - Pyarelal got back on board.[3][4][5][6][MR4]
• This was Shailendra Singh's debut Hindi film as a playback singer. Singer Mukesh's wish of his son, Nitin Mukesh, becoming the voice of Rishi Kapoor remained unfulfilled when Laxmikant - Pyarelal selected Shailendra Singh after auditioning many singers. Singh would go on to sing for many Rishi Kapoor films in the years to come.[7]
• The scene in this film in which Dimple Kapadia and Rishi Kapoor's characters meet for the first time and Dimple Kapadia accidentally smears batter on her hair echoed a real-life incident - director Raj Kapoor had met Nargis in similar circumstances. Dimple Kapadia's line in this scene "Mujhse dosti karoge?" inspired an entire generation of film-makers in the years to come to depict love as a form of friendship.[8]
• Actor Prem Chopra had played characters named Prem before, but his line in this film, "Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra", catapulted him to fame and established him as a premier Hindi film villain. In 2014, his daughter Rakita Nanda published his biography with this line as the title.[9][10][11][MR12]
• According to Rishi Kapoor, his father Raj Kapoor didn't make this film to launch him as an actor but to recover from the losses of his flop film "Mera Naam Joker" (1970). Raj Kapoor cast his son in the lead role because he could not afford Rajesh Khanna.[12][13]
• In his autobiography "Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored" (2017), Rishi Kapoor revealed that he had paid an agent Rs. 30000 in 1973 to win a Best Actor award. He did not reveal the name of the film in the book, but it was understood that he was referring to his Filmfare Best Actor Award for this film.[MR38]
• Rishi Kapoor first met his wife-to-be Neetu Singh during the making of this film. The actress had auditioned for the film's lead role which eventually went to Dimple Kapadia.
• This was lyricist Vithalbhai Patel's debut Hindi film. He had written a song titled "Woh Kahte Hain Hum Se" for this film, which was set to tune, but could not be used in the film. Years later, the song was used in the film "Dariya-Dil" (1988) without permission. Vithalbhai Patel was eventually given credit for it when he threatened to sue the makers of "Dariya-Dil" (1988).[14]

Song

• Main Shaayar To Nahin - The film "Hum Tum" (2004) featured an abridged, recreated version of this song. Like the original song, the recreated version was sung by Shailendra Singh and filmed on Rishi Kapoor. [15]
• Main Shaayar To Nahin - The tune of this song was plagiarised by the Soolamangalam Sisters for the Tamil film song "Kannale Paar Kani" ("Tiger Thathachari", 1974).[16]
• Beshak Mandir Masjid Todo - This was Narendra Chanchal's debut Hindi film song. He also made a cameo appearance in the film for it. Chanchal won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song.
• Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Band Hon Aur Chaabi Kho Jaye - This song was shot in Gulmarg. The room it was shot in was in a hut on the property of Hotel Highland Park, Gulmarg. The popularity of this film and song, among other things, resulted in Gulmarg becoming an important tourist spot and the hut being named after the film.[17]
• Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Band Hon Aur Chaabi Kho Jaye - The idea for this song came when composer Pyarelal was inspecting his house, which was under construction. Lyricist Anand Bakshi had accompanied him and had commented that it was hard finding his way around the house. The two then decided to make a song on this situation. It was only later that Raj Kapoor devised a situation to fit the song in the film.[18]
• Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Band Hon Aur Chaabi Kho Jaye - G.K. Venkatesh plagiarised the tune of this song for the Telugu film song "Mangamma" ("Zameendarugari Ammayi", 1974) sung by M. Ramesh and Pushpalatha.[19]
• Ankhiyon Ko Rahne De - This song was an adaptation of Pakistani singer Reshma's version of the Punjabi folk song "Akhiyan Nu Rehn De".[20]

1. ^ Mera Naam Joker (1970)
2. ^ Manzil Manzil (1984)
3. ^ Barsaat (1949)
4. ^ Mera Naam Joker (1970)
5. ^ Kal Aaj Aur Kal (1971)
6. ^ Royalty concerns Lata
7. ^ RMIM
8. ^ I am Bobby
9. ^ Prem Naam Hai Mera, Prem Chopra - Scene from Bobby
10. ^ Prem Naam Hai Mera, Prem Chopra - Rakita Nanda - Amazon
11. ^ Prem Naam Hai Mera, Prem Chopra - Rakita Nanda - Flipkart
12. ^ Mera Naam Joker (1970)
13. ^ Proud of Ranbir's choice of roles: Rishi Kapoor
14. ^ Woh Kahte Hain Hum Se (Dariya-Dil, 1988)
15. ^ Hum Tum (2004)
16. ^ Kannale Paar Kani (Tiger Thathachari, 1974)
17. ^ Rishi Kapoor outside Bobby Hut in Gulmarg
18. ^ Always on the same wavelength
19. ^ Mangamma (Zameendarugari Ammayi, 1974)
20. ^ Akhiyan Nu Rehn De - Reshma