Johny Mera Naam (1970)

The policeman father of Mohan and Sohan is killed by villain Ranjit Singh (Premnath) who later abducts Mohan. Mohan grows up to become Moti (Pran), the lieutenant in Ranjit Singh’s gang, while brother Sohan (Anand) becomes a cop who tries to infiltrate the gang calling himself Johnny. He succeeds with the help of Rekha (Hema Malini), whose father is held hostage by the villain. Eventually the brothers reunite and destroy the gang. Vijay Anand, noted for earlier crime dramas (Jewel Thief, 1967), adopts the dominant Hindi film style (rapid editing and a noisy soundtrack) and several quotes caricaturising the box-office ‘formula’ e.g. a quadruple role for the comedian Johar. The script contains attacks on classical music (the gang exploits the foreign ‘craze’ for Indian music by exporting drugs hidden in musical instruments) and religion (the burglary of a temple with Pran dressed as a holy man and Malini as a jogan). Although the film has several Kishore Kumar hit songs such as Pal bhar ke liye koi hame pyar kar le, Vijay Anand’s famed song-picturising skills are evident only in the opening number, Vaada to nibhaya, sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle.