Ashok Kumar and Dev Anand in Jewel Thief (1967)

Cast: Ashok Kumar Dev Anand,Vyjanthimala,Tanuja

Director: Vijay Anand

Music: S.D. Burman

Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shailendra

Capsule Review: A film about mistaken identity starring the debonair Dev Anand cast as look­alikes. This clever suspense film with a surfeit of skilful narrative devices all climaxing in one of the most heart- stopping song-and­dance sequences ever filmed (Hothon pe aisi baat) is still a whopper of an entertainer. A masala mix, well-oiled though not over-spiced, pickled with the pride of the formulaic menu. S.D. Burman’s music goes a long way in embellishing and heightening the theme and mood. Interestingly, the second lead Tanuja (seducing her man with Asha Bhosle’s seductive Raat akeli hai) looks far more comfortable with the hero than the heroine Vyjanthimala. The stiff mood between the lead pair goes well with the plot. Jewel Thief is the kind of film where everything including the suspense, just falls into place with a rustling grace.

Dilip Kumar in Devdas (1956)

Cast: Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen,Vyjanthimala, Motilal

Director: Bimal Roy

Music: S.D. Burman

Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

Capsule Review: Bimal Roy’s faithful and fiercely intimate adaptation of Saratchandra Chatterjee’s classic tragedy about a self-absorbed hero who destroys his own happiness in pursuit of love, is leagues removed from P.C. Barua’s minimalist version in 1935 and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s flamboyant epic in 2002. Roy’s deep-focussed character study looks at Devdas Chatterjee (Dilip Kumar) as a narcissist whose self- absorbed romanticism destroys those very things that it loves, including himself. Kamal Bose’s exquisite black-and-white photography captures the essence of the theme. The sordid backlanes and gullies of Kolkata are recreated with the same mellow meticulousness as the unspoilt village where Devdas and Paro grow into love. More naturalistic than stylized, Bimal Roy’s Devdas conveys a quaint majest in its epic thrust.