‘April Fool’ --dobaara kyon nahin—banaaya : asks its hero Biswajeet

Chaitanya Padukone
Way back in 1964, a unique musical super-hit Hindi movie titled ‘April Fool’
starring yesteryear star matinee-idol dashing Biswajeet opposite gorgeous Saira
Banu was released . It had endearing romance, classy comedy and an international
mafia crime-thriller as its under-current . What is very strange is that even after 56
years, no Bollywood film-maker has even dared to attempt a ‘remake’ of that
retro hit movie directed by Subodh Mukherji . When I had last spoken to Biswajit ,
he said “ It’s really strange and surprising, that nobody has made yet another
Hindi movie with ‘April Fool’ in the title, even after almost six decades. All the
songs composed by Shankar–Jaikishan, were chartbusters, especially my solo title
song sung by Mohd. Rafi-saab, which goes ‘April fool banaaya—toh unko gussa
aaya’ was very popular . Guess, maybe it will always remain my Hindi film title-
monopoly, ” laughed veteran yet evergreen actor-singer Biswajeet who is known
for his musical mystery-suspense iconic thrillers like ‘Bees Saal Baad’ and
‘Kohraa’, as also movies like ‘Mere Sanam’, ‘Main Sunder Soon’ and of course
‘Kismet’ directed by legendary showman Manmohan Desai. In fact in
‘Kismat’,(1968), the versatile Biswajeet had during this chartbusting folksy song
‘Kajraa Mohabbatwala’, worn a female attire and danced gracefully with actress-heroine Babita as his co-star.