Hare Rama Hare Krishna

About the film

Haré Rama Haré Krishna is a 1972 Indian Hindi-language musical satire film written, produced and directed by Dev Anand under the banner of Navketan Films. It stars Anand himself, alongside Mumtaz, Zeenat Aman and Prem Chopra in the lead roles. The film deals with the decadence of the Hippie culture, and aimed to have an anti-drug message and also depicts some problems associated with Westernization.

The film was a hit and a star-making vehicle for Aman, who played a westernized hippie, and won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award, as well as the BFJA Award for Best Actress. It was influenced by the 1968 American psychedelic film Psych-Out.

Plot

In the background of the rise of the International Hare Krishna movement in the 1970s, is a Montreal-based family of the Jaiswals, consisting of mom, dad, son, Prashant, and daughter, Jasbir. Due to differences, Mr and Mrs Jaiswal separate, leaving Jasbir with dad, and Prashant with his mom. Eventually Prashant and his mom travel to India, leaving father and daughter behind in Montreal. Mr. Jaiswal remarries, and brings his new wife to live in his home. Jasbir is told by her nanny that her mother & brother are dead. Back in India Prashant is sent to a boarding school and his father makes sure that none of Prashant's letters reach Jasbir, so that it would be easy on her part to get over emotional trauma. Jasbir is upset with her inconsiderate step-mother and ignorant father who is deeply immersed in his business.

Years later, Prashant has grown up to be a pilot. He has received a letter from his dad that Jasbir, who had rebelled and left home, is now located in Kathmandu, Nepal, with a group of hippies. Prashant decides to find his sister and hopefully get her back to the family. When Prashant lands in Kathmandu he does not find Jasbir, but instead finds Janice, who is indeed his sister with a new name. Janice has no recollection of her childhood, and is always in the company of hippies spending most of her time consuming alcohol & drugs with them.

Janice lives with the hippies in the property rented out by local landlord Drona. Drona's real business is stealing ancient artifacts from Kathmandu and selling it to foreign nationals. Michael, one of the hippies, is the one who does all the dirty work for him.

Awards

Best Female Playback Singer – Asha Bhosle for "Dum Maro Dum"

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Rahul Dev Burman and the lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi. The songs, "Dum Maro Dum" and "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" were instant hits with the youth even as "Kanchi Re Kanchi Re", "Dekho O Diwano" and "Phoolon Ka Taron Ka" showed the versatility of composer R.D. Burman.

Asha Bhosle won Filmfare Best Female Playback Award for the song "Dum Maro Dum", which was a huge hit. Biggest Nepali musician Ranjit Gazmer played the madal in this movie. R.D. Burman gave him a chance in Bollywood films as he also heard Ranjit's composed song "Kancha Re Kancha" and re-write the song lyrics and composition as in Hindi Kanchi Re Kanchi Re which was sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar.

Key details