In Ashok Roy’s 1974 film Chor Machaye Shor, Vijay Sharma, played by Shashi Kapoor, gets into a brawl with his cellmates.
Raju Ustaad (Danny Denzongpa), Kalua (Tarun Ghosh), and Bhalua (Asrani)—the other inmates who share the cell with Kapoor—want Vijay to accept their domination. But soon, this enmity gives way to friendship before the film moves to its revenge saga plot, which is also sprinkled with traces of comedy and a tale of romance.
Vijay, an engineer, is in love with Rekha (Mumtaz). But Rekha’s father Jagdish (Kamal Kapoor) disapproves of their relationship because Vijay comes from a humble background. Instead, he wants her to marry the son of a corrupt politician Seth Jamunadas (Madan Puri). Rekha’s father and Jamunadas frame Vijay for a crime he didn’t commit, and he goes to jail. The story of Vijay restoring his reputation and reuniting with Rekha forms the rest of the plot.
The romantic thriller, released on Shahi Kapoor’s birthday on 18 March 1974, was a box office superhit.
Chor Machaye Shor proved to be the breakout film for lyricist and music composer Ravindra Jain, who would later go on to deliver popular tracks such as ‘Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyara’ for the Amol Palekar-Zarina Wahab starrer Chitchor (1976). He also went on to compose music for popular TV serials, including Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan and Jai Hanuman.
Kishore Kumar became Jain’s ticket to fame through the mournful ‘Ghungroo Ki Tarah’. According to some reports, the song’s recording started in the morning and went on late into the night. The song, which has Vijay look back on his life, is an evergreen composition. It becomes the film’s emotional core. Jain’s musical versatility is visible across the film’s album. ‘Le Jayenge, Le Jayenge Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’, which would become the title of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s classic DDLJ, is another hit from the composer.
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The performances
Kapoor had already established himself as a charming romantic hero with films such as Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965), Sharmeelee (1971), and Aa Gale Lag Jaa (1973). But with Chor Machaye Shor, he got the chance to show a young middle-class man’s loss of idealism. In the film, he transforms from a lover boy to a jaded man who almost assaults his partner in a misguided quest to avenge the wrongs against him.
But the actor who stole the show in Chor Machaye Shor is Asrani, who got the space to showcase his impeccable comic timing. In one scene, immediately after robbing a shop, he instructs a person outside the door to be wary of robbers. Asrani also won a Filmfare nomination for the role.
The film also gave Denzongpa the chance to drop his villainous avatar and play a humorous, street-smart character.
Mumtaz had no such luck. She plays a meek observer of her father’s machinations and her boyfriend’s plan for revenge. The character has no strong personality. Kapoor and Mumtaz do not exactly share sizzling chemistry on screen, but manage to make the relationship real. But some of the best moments in the film come from the interactions of the four friends, both in and out of jail.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)