Shanker Mukherjee showed promise as a director with his debut film “Baarish” in 1957. Based on the Hollywood classic, “On the Waterfront”, it starred Dev Anand and Nutan. “Baarish” was a super hit. His following films “Sarhad”, “Pyar Mohabbat” and “Mahal” were nothing to rave about with the exception of “Baat Ek Raat Ki”. In “Banarasi Babu” he tried to create a mixture of “Ram Aur Shyam” and “Johnny Mera Naam”. It missed the bull’s eye.
In “Banarasi Babu” a 50-year-old Dev Anand was pitted opposite Rakhee Gulzar and Yogita Bali. Obsessed with his image and style by then, Dev Anand did however show flashes of brilliance in the film. A pity that Dev and Rakhee never had a Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Vijay Anand or Raj Khosla to direct them. So the pair went unnoticed in films they acted.
Sohan (Dev Anand) is a rich, courageous, businessman married to Neela (Rakhee). He does not know he was separated from his mother (Beena) and twin Mohan (Dev Anand) in Banaras after his birth. Sohan is honey mooning at Kashmir when danger strikes in the form of his manager, Saxena (Jeevan) who owes money to debtors and gambling den owner, Monica (Manorama).
With Sohan leaving for London on a business trip, Saxena embarks on his evil doing. Unable to break open the chest containing Sohan’s belongings, Saxena gets hold of a cracker who too does not succeed and refers him to his guru, Mohan in Banaras.
Mohan, a large-hearted pick pocket, is in love with Gulabu (Yogita Bali) whose father (Rashid Khan) is a drunkard and disabled person. Arriving in Banaras, Saxena learns that Mohan’s mother has tuberculosis. Assuring Mohan to pay him Rs.20,000 for his mother’s treatment he gets him to accompany him to Mumbai where after shaving off his moustache he is trained by Monica to replace Sohan as both look alike. Mohan has to break open the chest to enable Saxena to steal.
Trying his level best to be Sohan, Mohan feels nervous and shaky when facing Neela who in the meantime is informed of inheriting paternal property of Rs.70 lakhs. Getting a wind of this news, greedy Saxena is hell bent on laying hands on it.
The rest of the story is on predictable lines, with Saxena trying to murder Neela, Gulabu arriving at Mumbai and Sohan’s return. In a typical action packed climax Saxena is jailed with the brothers uniting with their mother and beloveds.
An unimpressive story and screenplay by K.R. Narayan along with the dialogues penned by Ramesh Pant do not help the cause of the film. Shankar Mukherjee’s direction is average while Dev Anand as Banarasi Babu Mohan is convincing and impressive. As he asks Manorama, “Aap Kaun Hai Mai” his soft inner self comes out.
As Sohan, Dev Anand is his usual suave, stylized self. Rakhee is wasted though she tries her best to perform. Yogita Bali, Jeevan, Veena and I.S. Johar are adequate. Manorama overdoes her part. Rashid Khan has little to contribute as an actor.
Cinematography by K.H. Kapadia is nothing special. The saving grace of “Banarasi Babu” are lyrics by Rajinder Kishan and music by Kalyanji-Anandji. Proving to be true successors to Shanker-Jaikishan they score an excellent background tune. The songs “Mere Piche Ek Ladki”, “Hamara Naam Banarasi Babu”, “Koi Koi Raat” and “Aap Yahan Se” rendered by Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle are popular even today.
Genre: Romantic drama
Director: Shankar Mukherjee
Cast: Dev Anand, Rakhee Gulzar, Yogeeta Bali, Jeevan, Veena, Manorama, Master Bhagwan, I. S. Johar,
Story and screenplay: K. A. Narayan
Dialogue: Ramesh Pant
Lyrics: Rajinder Kishan
Music: Kalyanji-Anandji
Box office status: Average