Movie: This song appeared in 1976 super hit crime comic caper Hera Pheri (Tampering) produced by Satyendra Pal and directed by Prakash Mehra under the banner of Prakash Mehra Productions. The movie starred Amitabh Bachchan, Saira Banu, late Vinod Khanna, Sulakshana Pandit, Shree Ram Lagoo, Asrani, Padma Khanna, Yunus Pervez, Dev Kumar, Goga Kapoor, Tarun Ghosh, etc.
Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ajay (Vinod Khanna) are buddies and con-artists. Together they cheat a restaurant owner and then try their act at a casino. At the casino, after Vijay wins at a gambling table, he sees someone on the first floor and begins to follow him. When he reaches the first floor, he only finds a dancer (Padma Khanna), who sings a song addressing him and does not allow him to find the man. With some of the money won from the casino, Vijay does some charity work through Ajay. Something like a modern Robinhood.
Vijay has a painful past. His father was killed by someone and his mother has lost her senses due to the incident. Their next target is an entire lot of wealthy men hoarding money and not paying income tax. They get a list. It is not mentioned how and call them up through a public phone booth posing as CBI officers. I think there is a mistake here. They should have said Income Tax officers and not CBI, I suppose.
Anyways, they plan to dupe one of the wealthy men, Dhaniram (Yunus Parvez). They disguise as disciples of an ascetic Brahmanand and go to loot him singing this song.
Song: The music was scored by Kalyanji-Anandji and the lyrics were penned by Anjaan.
The gist of the song is, “You forgot God until yesterday. Now you are chanting His name. When your wealth is getting reduced, your heart is tearing apart. This is entirely a game of fate and tampering of time. When you pray to God sincerely, your wishes are fulfilled, though not immediately, eventually.”
Video: Cinematography is by N Satyan. Dance choreography is by Satyanarayan-Surya Kumar-P L Raj-Naidu.
The video opens with Amitabh Bachchan gesturing Vinod Khanna to begin and the latter starting to sing this song. Amitabh Bachchan removes a 100 rupees note from the pocket of Yunus Pervez and gives it to his friend. Vinod Khanna, in turn, places the currency note inside the cap of Yunus Pervez.
Both the leading men push Yunus Pervez down, so that he prostrates before the idol. The people sitting in front of the idol also join in as a chorus. The leading men also perform a few dance steps. Vinod Khanna opens a small door under the idol and picks up some of the currency notes hidden inside. He passes it on to Tarun Ghosh, who is their assistant.
Dev Kumar enters the room and is welcomed by the lead artists. He is given a chair to sit. But, when he is in the process of sitting, Amitabh Bachchan pulls it from behind. As a result, Dev Kumar falls down. The lead artists remove all the jewels from Dev Kumar’s person and give it to Tarun Ghosh.
Tun Tun comes out decked in diamonds. The lead artists indicate that the diamond jewelry is a sinful object. Goga Kapoor enters with 2 girls. Vinod Khanna takes the girls away and Amitabh Bachchan deals with Goga Kapoor. They find a way to the inner chambers of the mansion where Yunus Pervez is running a drugs den.
Everybody enters the place. The lead artists continue to sing and dance comically. Yunus Pervez has been hoarding grocery as well. Both, the lead artists remove their outer clothes in hiding and come out in police uniforms. The song ends with both the lead artists shooting in the air. The video ends there.
Artists: The playback od this song was sung by Mahendra Kapoor and Kishore Kumar and the onscreen performances are by Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Yunus Pervez, Goga Kapoor, Tarun Ghosh, Dev Kumar and others.
Cultural Influence: The is a typically Bollywood comic song, which indirectly talks about the importance we give to material things. What starts as a take off on a devotional song, becomes a disco song in between. The song and the artists are good. The video is watchable for the lead actors’ comic antics.
