My introduction to Munimji (meaning accountant) was because of its songs, primarily Jeevan ke safar mein raahi which appears in 2 versions. The movie was made under the prestigious Filmistan banner, directed by Subodh Mukherjee. Nasir Hussain is credited with the screenplay and dialogues, who became a successful producer and director with films like Tumsa Nahi Dekha, Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai, Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon and Teesri Manzil. Starring Dev Anand, Nalini Jaywant, Nirupa Roy and Pran, the film stays afloat because of its star power and music.

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The Plot

The first 30 minutes are complicated as the film tries to set the tone. The opening scene shows the police discussing the whereabouts of a dacoit known as Daaku Kala Ghoda and his gang. They are planning to set up a police chowkey near the edge of the jungle. Inspector Sharma is assigned this job. In the very next scene we see the dacoits looting the helpless villagers. Helping them is a young girl Bela (a very young Ameeta), who entertains the crowd with her dancing (reminded of Mera Saaya: Jhukma Gira Re?) while the dacoits attack and loot the unsuspecting crowd. The leader of the dacoits is Kala Ghoda (Pran) and the girl Bela is his wife. He has a tattoo of her face on his hand. Later, Kala Ghoda gets shot by the police and he arrives at his hideout injured.

The scene moves to a house. Malti (Nirupa Roy) is a servant at the house of Captain Suresh. She is worried that the Captain’s son Ratan had gone hunting and not returned for 2 days. It’s his birthday the next day. Ratan is actually Pran, who is also the dacoit Kala Ghoda. A man with 2 identities.

The Captain has got a watch as a gift for Malti’s son Amar, who is celebrating his birthday that day. Malti had totally forgotten about her son’s birthday. Apparently, she has been showering all her affection on Ratan, treating him as her own son. Ratan’s parents have passed away and the Captain has brought him up as his own son. Ratan has been made the factory manager and is engaged to the Captain’s daughter Roopa. Captain leaves for the factory after informing Malti that Roopa will be arriving tomorrow. She and her brother Shekhar have been staying abroad for some time.

Time for the “munimji” to enter. This is Amar (Dev Anand) who is Malti’s son and works as a munim in the Captain’s factory. He has a very unattractive appearance and speaks in a boring tone.

Malti hands him the watch and he admonishes her for forgetting his birthday. He accuses her of caring and worrying about Ratan all the time. Ratan has been ill treating Amar right from their childhood. Malti never scolded Ratan. It was Amar who had to bear the brunt and get punished. Ratan is a spoilt brat and treats Malti as a servant and nothing else.

The boys have grown up but Malti is not ready to leave Ratan’s house. Amar offers to seek a job elsewhere and take Malti with him but she is not agreeable. Why?

There is a reason for Malti’s behaviour. It’s flashback time. We see Captain and his friend Ramlal talking. Ramlal’s wife has passed away leaving their infant son in his care. As is common in Hindi movies, Captain promises that if he has a daughter, she will marry Ramlal’s son. The Captain leaves and Malti enters carrying a child. It seems Ram had married Malti but is not ready to accept her or her (i.e. their) son now. He calls her a neech aurat and throws her out of the house. But she returns with a plan for the sake of her son.

She manages to enter Ram’s house and switch the 2 babies. Ramlal comes to know the truth and threatens to kill her. She refuses to hand over his son. In the commotion, a snake bites Ram and he dies on the spot. Captain Suresh decides to take care of his dead friend’s son. Seems he employs Malti as a maid. Thus Malti became Amar’s mother (who was Ram’s son) and the servant of her real son Ratan.

Flashback over. Malti comes to know that there was a dacoity in the jungles of Neelgaon where Ratan had gone hunting. She begs Amar to go and search for him. He admonishes her again that she doesn’t care for Amar’s safety but wants him to bring Ratan home at any cost.

A reluctant Amar goes to the jungle and meets his (pet?) elephant. (He even has a pet monkey!). Amar dresses up as a sadhu and ventures to find Ratan. He comes across the police, who are in search of the dacoits and the injured Kala Ghoda. Amar meets Kala Ghoda alias Ratan (quite easily) and discovers his true identity. The injured Ratan (who had been shot earlier) is brought home and a doctor needs to be called immediately. Ratan has lost a lot of blood and Malti is ready to donate all the blood she can to save him. A doctor called “Dady” is brought to remove the bullet and do the blood transfusion. Ratan is saved. He is super angry when he comes to know that a servant has donated her blood and insults Amar and Malti. Malti is taken aback at Ratan’s behaviour.

It is next day and Roopa (Nalini Jaywant) arrives with her brother Shekhar (Madan Mohan). Captain Suresh welcomes his children. Also welcoming her on behalf of Ratan is Amar, the munim. He hands her a necklace sent by Ratan as a welcome gift. She is impressed by Ratan’s action but irritated by the munimji’s ramblings.

She decides to drive home in her own car and tells Amar to take back Ratan’s car. (As expected), Roopa’s car breaks down. She asks Amar (who had been following her) to repair the car and bring it home. She leaves in Ratan’s car. At this point, Amar removes his munimji disguise and we see a normal Dev Anand for the first time. He calls himself Raj.

He fixes Roopa’s car and overtakes her. She doesn’t recognize him in his handsome avatar as he has shed his munimji look. She thinks he is a thief and tries to follow him. But her car hits a tree and she gets thrown out, thankfully without injury. Amar/Raj explains that he fooled her servant munimji easily and “borrowed” the car. The poor munim has to walk all the way home.

Left with no option, Roopa is forced to travel with Raj. Raj, being the hero, sings a peppy song – Jeevan ke safar mein raahi.

Huff! That’s only half an hour into the movie. What happens next is not so unpredictable. Roopa is engaged to Ratan but gets drawn to Raj. When Malti comes to know this, she requests Amar to make the ultimate sacrifice – of giving up his love Roopa for the sake of Ratan. And he agrees for the sake of his mother! Ratan remains as he is. As Kala Ghoda, he even plans to rob his own father with the help of Bela.

The Music

The songs hold the movie together and appear as relief. S.D. Burman teams up with Sahir and Shailendra. Jeevan ke safar mein raahi appears in 2 versions – happy Kishore and a sad Lata version. There is a birthday celebration song – a dance performance Shivji bihane chale by Hemant Kumar depicting the marriage of Lord Shiva. The choreography by Sachin Shankar is impressive.

Geeta Dutt and Hemant Kumar team up in the funny song Dil ki umange hain jawaan. Geeta Dutt also sings a dance number Zindagi hai zinda.

The rest are Lata Mangeshkar songs. A light composition Ek nazar, bas ek nazar jaane tamanna dekh idhar. Then there is Nain khoye khoye signalling the love between Raj and Roopa. This is followed by Ghayal hiraniya main ban ban dolu (raag Mishra Kaafi) which is a classical masterpiece. The sad Aankh khulte hi tum chhup gaye ho kaha is a song of loneliness depicting the separation of the romantic couple.

My Thoughts

The movie relies heavily on its stars and music rather than its plot which has some ridiculous elements. Dev Anand performs both roles nicely. One of the helpless and irritating munim (Amar) and the normal Raj. Apparently he disguises himself as the munim because Ratan does not like him to look good and dress up smartly. Nalini Jaywant plays the rich and classy girl convincingly. Her chemistry with Dev Anand is good and she does well in the lighter teasing scenes as well as the emotional ones. Pran is in his usual element. How he becomes a daaku is not revealed. And strangely, the shrewd Captain is unaware of all this.

Nirupa Roy’s Malti is the most problematic character. She is ready to go to any extent to keep Ratan happy. It’s possible that her actions might have led to Ratan being what he was! She doesn’t realize she is mistreating Amar who is also her late husband’s son. Nirupa Roy was quite young when she did this role (and younger than Dev Anand, Pran and Nalini Jaywant!). She won the FilmFare best supporting actress award.

Madan Mohan (yes, the music director) appears in the small role of Nalini Jaywant’s brother but doesn’t have much to contribute.