An Evening in Paris (1967)

Like the contemporaneous Jewel Thief, An Evening in Paris taps into a certain "occidentalism," an Indian fetishization of the west that is the mirror reflection of the west's orientalist exoticization and fetishization of the east.  It is a whirlwind tour of romantic locales - strolling along the Seine, skiing on the Jungfrau, water-skiing at a posh resort in Beirut, and spinning to a dramatic climax in the swirling rush of Niagara Falls. 

Deepa (Sharmila Tagore) is a wealthy Indian debutante out for a sojourn in Paris.  Tired of the endless gold-digging suitors who pursue her only for her wealth, Deepa longs for true romance, for a man who will love her for who she is and not what she has.  Enter Sam (Shammi Kapoor), a bold and manic Indo-Parisian who aggressively courts the recalcitrant Deepa; following her around Paris and ultimately to the rest of the film's locales, donning disguises and pulling off elaborate schemes in his efforts to woo her.  Meanwhile Shekhar (Pran), the son of Deepa's family servant, is down on his luck and in debt to some very dangerous gangsters.  To pay them back, he determines to woo Deepa and her riches for himself.  The gangsters, though, have other plans - they are looking to kidnap Deepa and sell her back for ransom.  Thrown into the mix is Deepa's twin sister Rupa, kidnapped years before when the sisters were tiny children, and now a hard-boiled nightclub dancer and gangster's moll known as Suzy.  From there, romance, adventure, mistaken identity, and other familiar masala elements take the action around the globe. 

Like Sharmilee a few years later, An Evening in Paris packs a social message into its disposition of the twin sisters - Deepa, despite her jet-setting independence, is always an upstanding Indian girl at heart, while Suzy's skimpy clothes and sharp, westernized edge are paid for with an ambiguous fate.  Indeed, in a sequence in which Suzy impersonates Deepa, it is her cigarette - a evocative symbol of the errant bad girl - that gives her away to the amorous Sam.  (The same device reveals the evil twin's deception in Sharmilee as well.)  And yet this moralizing is set against the backdrop of the lush western romanticism of Paris and the film's other exotic locations.  Deepa enjoys her exotic jaunt to the fullest, but even when she falls in love her good-girl instincts never falter; she is scandalized by the sight of Parisians kissing in public, and despite Sam's gentle encouragement insists that such enjoyments wait until after marriage.

Aside from this social message - which really accounts for only a fraction of the movie - An Evening in Paris is a solid, entertaining masala meal, particularly in its first half, which is driven by Sam's relentless pursuit of Deepa.  While I can see, with his wild gyrations and floppy hair, why Shammi Kapoor is sometimes compared to Elvis, he is a notch too tubby for my taste.  Still, his antics in this film are charming enough, and the song density is unparalleled - the rocking tunes, like this one, come every fifteen or twenty minutes through the film's first half.  Adding to the fun are crowds of perplexed Europeans in the background during the songs that were actually shot in broad daylight the streets of Paris, watching the dances.  Unfortunately, as is often the case with masala thrillers, the film gets bumpier when the plot, such as it is, gets going in the second half - but the dramatic climax at Niagara Falls is worth hanging on for. 

Comments

[nemo]

Hi. Interesting observation about 'reverse-fetishizing'.. if I may use that term. I guess every culture likes to do that to some degrees eh?

[Daddy's Girl]

Absorbing review as always. This looks like a really interesting movie - I'm going to look out for it. Interesting that you comment on Shammi's 'tubbiness' in this film, as I've only ever seen him in the older film 'Junglee' in which I remember him as being quite slight of frame. Thinking about Shammi's acting in 'Junglee', I also have to agree with the Elvis thing.

[carla]

nemo - I wish I could take credit for the noticing the strains of occidentalism in certain Hindi films of the 1960s, but I first learned of the idea from Bollywood501. It's completely fascinating to me. I think you are right that "the grass is always greener" is practically a universal concept. Everyone is enthralled by the exotic.

Daddy's Girl - I feel shallow describing Shammi as "tubby" but the fact is since he is viewed as a sex symbol I have to approach him from that angle, and despite his obvious talent and charm I just don't find his jiggling flesh very appealing.

[Daddy's Girl]

I was intrigued enough to do a bit of research and to discover that Shammi packed on quite a few pounds in the late 60s, which affected his career negatively... a shame that - I'm really not sure I want to watch a tubby Shammi... plus it makes the Elvis comparison ring a bit too true for my liking.

[maajhi]

I've heard the Raj Kapoor family has a genetic thing where they gain uncontrollable weight beyond their 40s, and I see that in each and every Kapoor from Shammi, Shashi, Raj, Randhir or whoever.

[Sanket]

Never was a fan of Shammi - instead preferring the movies of his brothers Raj & Shashi much more. But he was a force to be reckoned with in the Bollywood of the 60's and while Raj had the more serene Mukesh as his playback singer - Shammi insisted on Mohammed Rafi as Rafi could do the duets as well as the 'Elvis' type songs so famously seen in Shammi's movies. As far as the weight thing goes - I have never heard that it was a genetic thing - I think they all just loved food, alot.

[Amit]

I have to agree with Sanket. Indians in general are not really keen on physical activity and I'm sure that the Kapoors eat/ate a lot of rich food on a regular basis. So, while genetics may predispose them to obesity, their food habits and lack of physical activity play an equally big (pardon the pun) part.

I'm not much of a Shammi fan either. I prefer Raj or Shashi.

[carla]

I admit that it seems most plausible to me that the Kapoors just share a family taste for food (and in some cases, perhaps alcohol as well) and a sedentary lifestyle. There doesn't seem to have been a great deal of professional pressure on them to retain their youthful figures, since they were still beloved filmi heroes even with the the extra weight. I have sympathy. I don't have to be trim to do my job - and guess what, I'm not!

Shashi, who is my favorite Kapoor, seemed to manage to keep himself in shape longer than his brothers or his nephew Rishi.

[Marco]

Thanks for the review. Shammi happens to be my favourite Kapoor, his films have an energy that makes me light up almost immediately. Although I like Raj, Shashi, Rishi & Co. a lot, Shammi has that special thing, that makes his (early) films so much fun. Yes he got quite chubby from the mid-sixties on and in the seventies he had to move to character and supporting roles because of his well built body being unsuitable for hero roles.

A little side note: The sixties weren't yet the golden age of Bollywood films in Switzerland, but "An Evening in Paris" has some Swiss scenes. Including the climax you've mentioned which mixes images from the Niagara Falls with some scenes from the Rheinfall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine_Falls

[carla]

Thanks Marco - there was skiing on the Jungfrau, too, which I did mention, but I don't think I realized that there were Swiss scenes intercut with the Niagara scenes.