Aasha
Directed byM. V. Raman
Written byRajinder Krishan
Story byJavar Seetharaman
Produced byM. V. Raman
StarringKishore Kumar
Vyjayanthimala
Pran
Om Prakash
CinematographyFali Mistry
S. Hardip
Edited byM. V. Raman
Music byC. Ramchandra
Production
company
Raman Productions
Distributed byRaman Productions
Release date
  • 1957 (1957)
Running time
171 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

Aasha (transl. Hope) is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by M. V. Raman. It stars Kishore Kumar and Vyjayanthimala. The film was a critical and commercial success.[1] This film was partly coloured by both Gevacolor and Technicolor. The film was remade in Tamil as Athisaya Penn. Asha Parekh appears in the song 'Chal Chal Re Kanhai' and one scene after it with Vyjayanthimala.

Plot

The story is about Kishore who is a good-hearted person and always helps poor people even though he is from a rich Zamindar (property owner) family. One day, he travels to Bombay to stay with his cousin Raj, who cheats a lot with girls. When they both go for a hunt in the jungle, Raj meets a man who demands he marry his jilted daughter. Raj murders the father and he frames Kishore for the crime. Kishore is forced to flee. Finally, Kishore and his lover Nirmala prove that Raj is the guilty one, and Raj tells the truth in front of everyone. Now the police arrest Raj and Kishore marries Nirmala amid happy celebrations.

Cast

Soundtrack

The music was composed by C. Ramchandra and the lyrics were written by Rajendra Krishan. The song "Eena Meena Deeka", sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle in two different versions, became very popular.[2] It was one of the Hindi cinema's first rock and roll numbers.[3] The words of the song were inspired by children playing outside C. Ramchandra's music room.[4] The children were chanting "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe", which inspired C. Ramchandra and his assistant John Gomes to create the first line of the song, "Eena Meena Deeka, De Dai Damanika". Gomes, who was a Goan, added the words "Maka Naka" (Konkani for "I don't want"). They kept on adding more nonsense rhymes till they ended with "Rum Pum Posh!".[4] It was later covered by Timid Tiger and Goldspot.[5] Eastern Eye magazine declared Kishore Kumar's version of "Eena Meena Deeka" as one of his top 10 best songs.[6]

Song Singer
"Tu Na Aaya" Lata Mangeshkar
"Zara Ruk Rukke" Lata Mangeshkar
"Chal Chal Re Kanhai" Lata Mangeshkar
"Yeh Insaaf Kahan Ka Hai" Kishore Kumar
"Haal Tujhe Apni Duniya Ka" Kishore Kumar
"Eena Meena Deeka" (Male) Kishore Kumar
"Eena Meena Deeka" (Female) Asha Bhosle
"So Ja Re Chanda So Ja" Asha Bhosle

Use in media

An advertising campaign by the JWT agency of London for the UK bank HSBC in October 2008 used the "Eena Meena Deeka" song from the film as background music.[7]

References

  1. ^ BoxOffice India.com Archived 22 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "1957: Year that was". The Indian Express. 27 February 1998. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
  3. ^ "Asha: A composer's Dream". Rediff.com. 8 September 2003. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
  4. ^ a b Ashwin Panemangalore (16 June 2006). "The story of 'Eena Meena Deeka'". DNA. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
  5. ^ Gurbaxani, Amit (13 December 2014). "'Eena Meena Deeka' finds new life as an indie anthem for the Indian diaspora". Scroll.in. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Eastern Eye's top 10 Kishore Kumar hits 30 years later – Eastern Eye". Eastern Eye. 5 October 2017. Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  7. ^ HSBC – Washing machine on YouTube Accessed November 2008

External links

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