Prem Pujari

Awards

• No award information available.

Trivia

Album

• The film was in the making for two years as a lot of time was spent in seeking government approvals for its war-centric theme. Its music was released in 1969 but it was certified and released in 1970.[MR21]
• This was Dev Anand's directorial debut. It was also the first film in which he had writing credits.
• Workers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) disrupted the screening of this film in Calcutta to protest against what they considered to be the unfair characterisation of Chinese communists.[1]
• This was among Shatrughan Sinha's earliest films. Dev Anand recommended Sinha for the film "Gambler" (1971) to compensate for the insignificant role he gave the newcomer in this film. This was also actor Amrish Puri's first Hindi film. The Egyptian dancer and actress Nadia Gamal made a cameo appearance in the film for a belly dance performance.[2]
• Zaheeda turned down "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" (1971) with Dev Anand because she felt that after being romantically paired with Dev Anand in this film and "Gambler" (1971), being cast as his sister in "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" (1971) would be a step-down. Zaheeda's refusal became Zeenat Aman's gain - her role in "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" (1971) made Aman a star overnight.[3][4]

Song

• Phoolon Ke Rang Se - S.D. Burman used the tune of this song for the Bengali non-film song "Borne Gondhe Chonde Geetitey" (1969) as well.[5]
• Rangeela Re Tere Rang Mein Yun Ranga Hai Mera Mann - The violin solo played between the second and third antaras in this song was used by Jatin - Lalit in "Ladki Badi Anjaani Hai" ("Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", 1998).[6]
• Rangeela Re Tere Rang Mein Yun Ranga Hai Mera Mann - This was the beginning of the association of lyricist Gopaldas Saxena aka Neeraj with the Navketan banner. Dev Anand had met Neeraj at a mushaira in the mid-1950s and liked his poetry enough to offer him a chance to work in his film. Neeraj called Dev Anand after seeing an advertisement for this film and expressed his interest in working in it. Anand agreed to give him a chance and asked him to come to Bombay. The poet took leave from his teaching job at Dharam Sansad College in Aligarh and came to Bombay. Since S.D. Burman was sceptical about working with an inexperienced lyricist, Anand asked the composer to work on a song with him and proceed only if he was satisfied. Burman then gave Neeraj the tune of this song, the song situation, and placed the condition that the song would have to start with the phrase "Rangeela Re". The lyricist returned to Burman after spending a night writing the song's lyrics. Burman was happy with Neeraj's work and gave Anand the go-ahead to bring him on board.[MR21]

1. ^ Hey Ram, Hey Nathuram
2. ^ Gambler (1971)
3. ^ Gambler (1971)
4. ^ Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971)
5. ^ Borne Gondhe Chonde Geetitey
6. ^ Ladki Badi Anjaani Hai (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, 1998)