Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi

About the film

Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (transl. That which moves is called a car) is a 1958 Indian musical comedy film directed by Satyen Bose. Starring Madhubala with the Ganguly brothers —Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar, and Kishore Kumar— the film revolves around a middle-aged man who resents women due to some misunderstandings and forbids his younger brothers from marrying.

Expected by Kishore Kumar to flop, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi opened to major commercial success, eventually becoming the most successful work of Bose and Ganguly brothers, as well as Madhubala's fourth consecutive major hit of 1958, thus solidifying her position as the top female star of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Plot

Brothers Brijmohan, Manmohan, and Jagmohan Sharma run a garage. Brijmohan hates women and does not allow any women or pictures of them in his garage unless it is an emergency. One day, while Manmohan is on the night shift, a woman named Renu comes to the garage seeking help as her car breaks down. Renu gets angry at Manmohan because he is sleeping when he is supposed to be on duty. Manmohan does not like the fact that Renu shouted at him and initially refuses to repair her car, but finally agrees. Manmohan fixes the car, and Renu leaves, forgetting to pay Manmohan for his services. He tells his brother Brijmohan about this and realizes that Renu forgot her purse in the garage. Manmohan goes through it and finds a pass to a concert. Manmohan goes to this concert to recover his money. When Manmohan reaches the venue, he is not allowed to enter as the pass has Renu's name on it. Not wanting to let go of his money, Manmohan waits in Renu's car to meet her when she comes out. He, however, falls asleep and Renu does not notice him; she drives home and parks in her garage with Manmohan in the car. When Manmohan wakes up, he gets hungry and looks for some food in Renu's garage. A servant in the house sees this and chases Manmohan, who manages to escape. On his way home, he notices a few men dumping a corpse on the road and fleeing. When he tells his brothers about his night the next mo…

Later, Renu calls the garage asking for help with her car and assuring she will pay back her fees. Manmohan refuses to go to her house, fearing that he will be recognized by Renu's servant and will get into trouble; Jagmohan decides to go. Jagmohan meets Sheela in Renu's house and the two start talking. Jagmohan is, however, afraid of women. He gets nervous because Sheela is around and cannot repair the car. After Jagmohan takes off (not before drinking 10 glasses of water due to anxiety), Renu decides to call Manmohan. Meanwhile, Renu's father is approached by Raja Hardayal Singh, who wants to get his younger brother married to Renu. Renu's father decides to talk to Renu about this, not knowing that Raja Hardayal and his brother are crooks – Manmohan saw Raja Hardayal's brother dump the corpse.

As Renu is falling for Manmohan and the crooks desperately want her inheritance, Renu and Manmohan are captured by Hardayal's men. In captivity, they meet Kamini, the woman whose photo Renu had found in Brijmohan's room. Brijmohan and Kamini were in love, but she was married off to Raja Hardayal. Brijmohan is under the impression that she dumped him for a richer man; as a result, he decides that he never wants to associate with women again. Kamini tries to free Renu and Manmohan, but a guard enters. Kamini, however, can escape and goes looking for Brijmohan. Meanwhile, Raja Hardyal Singh captures Renu's father and forces him to get Renu married to his brother, threatening to kill Manmohan if he doesn't. Before Raja Hardayal Singh has his way, Brijmohan is brought to the scene by Kamini. Brijmohan, who is a boxing champion, fights Raja Hardyal Singh's men with the help of his two brothers. In the end, Brijmohan and his brothers are victorious. Manmohan and Renu decide to get married. So do Brijmohan and Kamini, and Jagmohan and Sheila.

Production

On the sets of Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Madhubala rekindled a friendship with Kishore Kumar, her childhood playmate, and friend Ruma Guha Thakurta's ex-husband. Following a two-year-long courtship, Madhubala married Kishore in court on 16 October 1960.

Kishore Kumar made Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, hoping it would fail commercially; he wanted to show losses in his income, and thus avoid paying a huge income tax to the authorities. To his disgust, the film became a success; as he did not want to add to his earnings, he gave Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi and all its rights to his secretary Anoop Sharma, who retained the copyright. The income tax case on Kishore Kumar was not solved even after forty years.

In one of the scenes from this film, Manmohan (Kishore Kumar), on seeing Renu (Madhubala) in his garage, excitedly says, "Hum samjha koi bhoot-woot hoga" ("Oh I thought it was a ghost"). The dialogue was a reference to Madhubala's portrayal of a ghostly woman in Mahal (1949).

Soundtrack

The music is composed by S. D. Burman with Jaidev and his son, R. D. Burman as the assistant music composers, and lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. The songs "Hum The Woh Thi" and "Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si" were based on Tennessee Ernie Ford's "The Watermelon Song" and Merle Travis's "Sixteen Tons" respectively.

Key details