In Manmohan Desai’s Sachaa Jhutha (1970), it falls upon a pet dog to identify the ‘real’ Bhola (Rajesh Khanna) and call out his evil doppelganger. In typical Desai fashion, the film has suspense, action, and high-octane drama, along with Khanna playing a double role. This was one of the 17 consecutive hits of the actor, which established him as the undisputed superstar of Bollywood.
But it was Moti, played by the handsome Doberman, Rexy, who played a crucial role in Sachaa Jhutha’s success. The use of a dog to tug at the heartstrings of the audience is a tried-and-tested trope. In Bollywood films like Teri Meherbaniyan (1985) and Khoon Bhari Maang (1988), it’s the pet dogs who help their owners, sometimes risking their own lives.
The plot revolves around Bhola (Khanna), a bandmaster who lives with his disabled sister Belu (Kumari Naaz), their stepmother, and Moti in a village. Belu is often mocked for her condition, and finally Bhola decides to go to Bombay to make money so that he can find her a good husband.
The innocent Bhola gets caught in a web of lies and deceit. But Moti emerges to help set things right. He guides Belu around the city when she comes looking for her brother. When Ranjit (Khanna’s negative character) kidnaps Belu and sends his henchmen to kill Moti, the dog manages to trick them by staging his own death. The smart canine even gets himself to the courtroom to help out in the film’s climax.
Good man, bad man
For a long time, double roles where the characters were the antithesis of each other were seen as a way for actors to prove their mettle on screen. The film, which was initially offered to Shashi Kapoor, became an opportunity for Khanna to showcase his star power. He played the simple, trusting villager Bhola and the master smuggler Ranjit with aplomb.
The film opens with Bhola praying to god for a good husband for his sister. Dressed in a pale pink kurta and dhoti, he is the epitome of simplicity. In the next scene, when a group of women mock Belu for using a pair of crutches to walk, he immediately springs into action, defending her.
On the other hand, Ranjit is opportunistic and brash. He cuts a swathe across the city in his dapper suits and expensive diamonds. The two men first meet at a masquerade ball, and it’s their voices that ‘do the acting’ here. Bhola’s slightly high-pitched, eager voice belies his naivety, while Ranjit’s subdued drawl shows how he is a man of the world. He tells Bhola, “Yeh jhooth ka bazaar hai Bholenath. Yaha sab kuch jhootha hai–jhoothe log, jhoothe chehre, jhoothi pariyhan (Everything is a lie here, from people to faces).”
While Ranjit is talking about the masquerade ball, he is also alluding to the elaborate scheme that he will soon employ, hoodwinking the police.
He hoodwinks Bhola into acting like him so that he can continue with his burglaries while evading the cops. In one scene, when he calls up the police station, he starts with his high-pitched voice as Bhola, before immediately lowering his voice, sounding polished.
But even as he plays Bhola, who is masquerading as Ranjit, he speaks softly, with a gleam in his eyes, while romancing Rita (Mumtaz), a CBI officer who goes undercover to honeytrap Ranjit. Though the premise of an undercover CBI officer was interesting, her character was underwritten and reduced to a pretty prop.
Even Vinod Khanna’s character, CID Inspector Pradan, is underdeveloped; his character is sacrificed to spotlight the villain and hero.
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‘Meri pyari beheniya’
The film’s plot is aided by Kalyanji-Anandji’s musical score. The romantic numbers ‘O Kehdo Kehdo Haan Tum Jo Kehdo’, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar, and ‘Yunhi Tum Mujhse Baat Karti Ho’ by Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi, set up the romance between Bhola and Rita.
When not romancing Rita, Bhola dances to Meri Pyari Beheniya on the road, as he watches a newly married couple’s wedding procession pass by.
In ‘Dil Sacha aur Chehra Jhuthaa’, Bhola once again emphasises how the world is an illusion, with no way of knowing what’s real and what’s not, just like the film’s title.
When Moti finally solves the mystery of who the real Bhola is, Ranjit finally concedes defeat.
“I was successful in deceiving people all my life. But today I was defeated by a dog.” It is the perfect ending to the film, and an acknowledgement of the four-legged genius.
Director: Manmohan Desai
Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Mumtaz, Vinod Khanna
Music: Kalyanji-Anandji