12 July was Rajendra Kumar’s death anniversary and his birthday falls on 20 July. I thought of revisiting one of his later movies. That is after his jubilee stardom was on the wane, and a new crop of actors had made their way in the 70s. In Do Jasoos, he teams with his old friend Raj Kapoor with both playing the protagonists. The movie was made under Rajendra Kumar’s banner Dimple Films and directed by his brother Naresh Kumar.

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The Plot

Dharamchand (Raj Kapoor) and Karamchand (Rajendra Kumar) are two out of work detectives. Their job is to roam around singing the title song highlighting some evils in the society like the widespread adulteration of milk, food items and medicines, unwanted strikes by labour unions and so on.

They are deep in debt with no resources. They have locked the office and put up a fake notice stating they are away in Kashmir for some important work. Well, both are inside the office deciding on the next course of action. They decide to stop all social service and concentrate on real work. Better late than never!

Coincidentally, they get a phone call from Seth Nihal Chand (Asit Sen). Upon visiting his house, he tells them his daughter Hema (Farida Jalal) is getting married next week but has ran way with her boyfriend. He wants them to bring her back at all costs as soon as possible. Unfortunately his glasses break when he is searching for Hema’s photo and gives her friend’s photo (named Pinky Verma) by mistake. Dharamchand & Karamchand promise to bring her back in return of a hefty fee cum reward.

Here we are introduced to their two wheeler partner in detection – Radha. They even sing Bol Radha bol sangam hoga ke nahin. They are lucky and find the real daughter Hema immediately, who returns home. But they continue the search of the friend Pinky Verma (Bhavna Bhatt). This is where the real story begins.

Ashok Sinha (Shailendra Singh) is a singer. He is in love with Pinky Verma. Ashok’s father V.N Sinha (Manmohan Krishna) is a journalist. He was responsible for exposing the bad deeds of Prem (Prem Chopra) which resulted in Prem going to jail. As a result, Prem’s father, who is now dead has left his property to Pinky Verma. Apparently Prem’s father had ill treated Pinky’s late father and deprived him financially and wants to make amends and compensate his family! By the way, Pinky’s mother (Dulari) is blind. Too complicated.

Prem is out of jail and is happy to hear of his father’s death but not happy to hear about the will’s implications. He joins hands with his smuggling partner Motilal Sippy (Kamal Kapoor) to track Pinky, marry her and get hold of all the money.

But first, Prem visits the journalist Sinha’s house and kills him in revenge. Pinky happens to witness the murder and runs away. Thus begins a long chain of chase sequences. Prem and his goons as well as the two detectives are chasing Pinky, ironically for the same reason – money!

After a lot of silliness including a visit to a fake currency unit deep in the jungle, Dharamchand and Karamchand mange to catch Pinky and take her to Nihal Chand’s house. Hema explains what has happened and things get cleared. Pinky calls them her brothers and they both promise to save her from Prem and ensure her safety.

Pinky is asked to stay with one of their friends, a fisherman called John uncle for a few days. Pinky is happy and sings a duet with Ashok.

But Prem is hot in pursuit. He visits Pinky’s house and later kidnaps her mother leading to the climax.

The Music

Ravindra Jain has composed the songs but its definitely not one of his best scores. The title song Do jasoos kare mehsoos is popular. Another song, apparently inspired is the melodious duet sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Shailendra Singh – Dariyacha raja deva re deva…purvaiya leke chali meri naiyya.

My Thoughts

Do Jasoos could have been an entertaining movie but things don’t work out. Rajendra Kumar and Raj Kapoor are past their prime and don’t make the proceedings interesting. Raj Kapoor maintains his image of a simple person and do gooder who doesn’t understand the practical aspects of his profession, especially money matters. Whereas Rajendra Kumar is shown as the one more practical. Nevertheless, there a few scenes where Raj Kapoor makes you laugh with his reactions. Wondering if another duo like Ashok Kumar and Pran would have made the roles memorable and funnier.

The rest of the cast don’t add much value. This is Shailendra Singh’s debut movie as actor after his blockbuster singing debut in Bobby. But he doesn’t get much to do. Bhavna Bhatt is a teenager and appears too raw for the role. The baddies Prem Chopra, Kamal Kapoor and Ram Mohan seem more impactful. The plot is complicated with unnecessary sub plots. Overall, Do Jasoos fails to leave the mark as a fun film.

The movie left me with 2 questions. Where can we find the below police station?

Why does a fisherman’s house have these stack of brass pots..?