Nostalgic Nuggets: When Shammi Kapoor cemented his playboy image

Story telling with a racy plot line and top-class music was the hallmark of noted director Subodh Mukherjee (1921-2005), whose birth centenary year began last April. One of the leading directors of Hindi cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, Mukherjee gave a series of hits in the first decade of his career with a variety of heroes like Dev Anand, Biswajit, Joy Mukherjee and Shashi Kapoor in 1970s.

The stand-out film in his career of nearly a dozen films spread over three decades was 'Junglee' released in 1961. Old-timers would remember the raw energy levels of Shammi Kapoor in the film as he was riding a wave of success and this film consolidated his splashy, lover boy image very well with its breezy pace and great songs.

A highlight of this film's success can be understood when our N T Rama Rao wanted to remake it in 1980, a full two decades later. The film in which he paired with Jayasudha titled ' Sarada Ramudu' flopped badly, however. Mukherjee died at the ripe age of 84 on this day, 15 years ago.