When it comes to iconic fashion moments in Bollywood, Sharmila Tagore’s swimwear in the 1967 movie An Evening in Paris would be at the top. In the song Aasman Se Aya Farishta, Deepa, played by Tagore, jet skis in a blue floral bikini while Shyam, portrayed by Shammi Kapoor, romances her by lip-syncing to the song in a helicopter. The film had all the right ingredients–the star of the decade, double roles, romance, foreign locales, and a conniving villain. It earned Rs 1.5 crore at the Box Office.
“When I did An Evening In Paris, my bikini scene was shocking. The public, including the industry, was quite surprised. I believe there were questions asked in Parliament at that time. Although it looks very innocent now, compared to the kind of films we see today,” said Tagore on Koffee with Karan last year. The bigger controversy was created by a magazine shoot that came out around this time, where Tagore posed in a two-piece bikini.
Tagore’s ‘bold’ move eventually led to the garment being worn and epitomised by various actors, including Dimple Kapadia in Bobby (1973), Zeenat Aman in Qurbani (1980), and Parveen Babi in Yeh Nazdeekiyan (1982).
An Evening in Paris was directed by Shakti Samanta, the legendary Bollywood director who churned out a host of timeless classics during the 1960s and 1970s. A fan of Bengali literature, he made 37 Hindi and six Bengali films, including Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), Aradhana (1969), and Amar Prem (1971).
Samanta worked with Kapoor and Tagore on separate occasions to create Box Office hits.
Bringing Europe to theatres
In An Evening in Paris, Deepa is a rich heiress who decides that Indian men are only after her wealth. She shifts to Paris, where her wealthy father’s business manager Damodar Dayal (David Abraham) has found her an apartment, a secretary named Honey (Sarita) and a driver named Makhan Singh (Rajendra Nath Malhotra). Deepa soon tells her romantic woes to Honey who asks her to pretend as if she’s so poor she can’t find true love.
Deepa soon meets Shyam, who calls himself Sam in Paris. After initial disinterest, they fall in love. But the villain, Shekhar (Pran), and a long-lost twin sister create trouble for the lovers before they can be reunited and live happily ever after.
While shooting a song or an entire film in the world’s romantic capital might be passé now, An Evening in Paris was one of the first Bollywood movies that was set in France. It was also the first film that showed Niagara Falls, moves to Switzerland and Beirut, almost giving a mini Euro tour to the audiences of the time.
Before An Evening in Paris, Raj Kapoor’s Sangam (1964) had featured a few locations in Europe.
These movies set the premise for later films like Purab Aur Paschim (1970) that showed the conflict between the East and West and asserted that desi is the best and Indian men were desirable. This also brought in the trend where actors danced on foreign streets wearing Indian attire, with onlookers perplexed by the eccentricity of it all.
Tagore’s red ghagra choli in one of the early scenes in An Evening in Paris reportedly stopped traffic at the Champs-Élysées.
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The glam quotient
An Evening in Paris, despite having an element of thriller, was not Samanta’s best work in terms of plot. In the 157-minute runtime, a lot happens, and yet, nothing is really impactful. It was more in line with a masala movie than a film with any real conversation starter like Amar Prem or Kati Patang (1971). Even the thrill wasn’t at par with his previous production, Howrah Bridge (1958).
The unparalleled element was the glam quotient.
Sharmila Tagore’s winged liner, little black dress, sarees paired with knotted blouses, bikinis and puffed hairstyle — everything was on point. Even Shammi Kapoor’s tailored suits and colourful shirts were tasteful. Tagore as the cabaret dancer Ruby also gets a chance to show off her dance prowess and wear flowy two-piece ensembles that were almost a signature move in the decade.
The costumes were on full display during the many melodies created for the film by Shankar-Jaikishan. In the song Akele Akele Kaha Ja Rahe Ho, Kapoor and Tagore’s outfits were almost mirror images, with the former in a red shirt and the latter walking around the Swiss landscape in red pants. In Rat Ke Humsafar, the duo are ‘twinning’: Tagore in a black patterned saree and Kapoor in a black suit.
An Evening in Paris truly aced the fashion game and showed Indians the Parisian way of life, garnished with desi flavour.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)