Jewel Thief (1967)

My friends may say that I don’t need to write about a movie that every one has already seen, how I am supposed to tell everyone something that everyone already knows. Well there are actually two reasons I want to do it anyway, first, there still may be few people in my generation or a lot of them in the new generation, who may not have seen this movie, and second, ‘Jewel Thief’ is my all time favorite Hindi thriller.

The protagonist of the movie ‘Vijay’ is a precious stone expert who lands in a good job in a reputed jeweler shop, the trouble starts when everybody starts calling him ‘Prince Amar’ because he looks just like him; the bigger problem is ‘Prince Amar’ is a notorious Jewel Thief who is wanted by Indian police.

The plot keeps on deepening with entry of each new character, and ‘Vijay’ starts getting mixed up in a lot of trouble with each passing day. The story that starts form ‘Bombay’ culminates in ‘Sikkim’.

The best part of the movie is the style with which it has been presented; the lines given to characters are beautiful which derives a lot of impact due to its excellent background music. I believe background music is the part of movie that can make or destroy the mood of the whole film, especially in a thriller; the chilling effect of background music can’t be ignored, which in case of Jewel Thief has amazing recall value.

Plot of the movie is like a jigsaw puzzle where every part or scene of the movie has its significance, in spite of technological advancement, a lot of movies now-a-days can’t even touch the editing level of this movie. The director has given it an international appeal, as this movie can give run for its money to any international movie, not to forget this movie was made in 1967.

I need not comment about the performance of the whole cast, still Dev Anand and Ashok Kumar were excellent; music is wonderful, even my mobile caller tone is from this movie.

So all in all, I believe it to be the best ever thriller of Indian cinema, the people who have seen it should not tell the climax to the people who are still to watch it. A must watch by every standard.

Rating ****1/2.