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Volume 6743

Unauthorized Tarzan Films

TARZAN AND CAPTAIN KISHORE
By
Robert Allen Lupton

 Tarzan and Captain Kishore is an Indian film by Padma Productions Produced by Padma P. Salvi and directed by Jal, and released on January 1, 1964. Padma P. Salvi was the screenwriter. Akhtar Romani was the lyricist and S. Kishan composed the music.

I believe this film qualifies as a lost film. The only image from the movie I could locate is the single lobby card pictured herein. I did find recordings of two of the songs performed by the playback singer, Geeta Dutt. The film and trailers of the film are not available on any of the video outlets. I found some websites of questionable repute that said I could download the entire movie for free if I signed up. None were dot-com sites. I used an old computer, created a new user name and tried three of them. None of them even had the movie trailer.

So no photos and no video. Did this film actually exist? The film is listed at www.imbd.com, www.cinestaan.com, www.gomolo.com, and several others. None of the sites contain any information other than a list of credited actors and singers.

The playback singers (the people who sing the songs, but don’t appear on screen, were Mubarak Begum, Sudha Malhotra, Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt, and Balbir. This is a stunt film that was produced in 1964 under the banner of Padma Productions, Bombay. The name of the director is given simply as Jal. The cast is familiar for such films of that era – Azad, Chitra, Hiralal, Krishna Kumari, Kamal Kapoor, Shyam Kumar, Heera Sawant, Sheikh, and Maruti, Actors are credited that aren’t familiar and no information could be located, including Gani, Nihal, Renu, Meena, Master Dillu, Nayar, K Murti, Buniyad Ali Sultan, Gopal, and Raghunath.

There are seven songs listed for this film, but, only four songs appear to have been released on records, and three may be lost, unless a copy of film, itself, is located.

The plot summary that follows was assembled from four different websites, including www.muvyz.com and www.cinemajadoo.wordpress.com.

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A family, including three young brothers set sale for a new place to live. While they are sailing on the ocean, the obligatory storm arises and with much sound and fury destroys the ship. This scene appears in several Bollywood Tarzan productions. The three brothers survive, but are each cast ashore in different places and begin different lives.

One child awakes alone on a beach and wanders, lost and hungry, into the jungle. He encounters several animals, lions and tigers and elephants. None of the animals harm him. They feed him and raise him He grows up to become Tarzan.

The second brother, is found by people and raised to become the military officer, Captain Kishore. He returns to the area, in charge of the military escort for “The Professor.” His second responsibility is to stop the pirates and smugglers in the area.

The Professor, who could be called a scientist, but always seems to be called a professor in these films, has come to find jungle herbs, plants, and fungi, which can be used to make medicine.

In a plot twist, worthy of ERB, the third brother, William, is the leader of the pirates. One brother lives with the animals, one is a criminal, and the third has been dispatched to catch the second. None of the brothers is aware that the other two exist.

In the meantime, Sheth Golpaldas, the wantabe prince of the Jungle, for lack of a better name, sees the Professor in the Prince Hotel. He wants the Professor’s research and orders one of his men, Robert, to kill the Professor and steal his research.

Robert kills the Professor. Sheth Golpaldas tests the Professor’s research and is unable to obtain any satisfactory results.

Sheth reads the Professors diary and discovers that Tarzan, the dread pirate, William, and Captain Kishore are brothers. He wants to rule the country and considers all three to be threats to him. He plots to kill them.

Sheth captures one of Williams’ men, Shankar. He tries to gain the man’s trust by giving him food and silver coins. (Oh no, not thirty pieces of silver). Shankar sees through the ruse and is not convinced to betray William.

At this point the movie becomes to a propagandic diatribe against Chinese aggression.

Shankar throws the silver into Sheth’s face and says, “Neither I, nor William, is your enemy. China is our enemy. The Chinese want to conquer our holy land. We should not fight, but unite and defend our Mother Land, otherwise she will be ruined and overrun. She will cry tears of blood. Think about what you’re doing, Sheth Golpaldas. Do you want to see your country shattered into pieces? Tell me Sheth Golpaldas, where do you stand?”

Golpaldas doesn’t answer, but he releases Shankar. Later, Shankar gives his life fighting China. Sheth follows his example, becomes a patriot, and he fights the Chinese, as well.

Captain Kishore is captured by the Chinese, but his brother, William the pirate, saves him. The two brothers don’t know they’re related. Where is Tarzan while all this is happening, Good Question. None of the summaries I could find have any information about Tarzan’s whereabouts. Sheth Golpaldas, now reformed, takes William and the Captain back to the village and reunites them with Tarzan. The three dance and chant Jai Hind. Jai Hind is a salutation, slogan, and battle cry most commonly used in India to indicate patriotism towards India. It translates roughly to "Victory to India" or "Long live India". The term was coined and was used by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose of the Indian National Army as a shortened version of Jai Hindustan Ki.

This combined summary of the film doesn’t give Tarzan much of a role, nor does it even provide any information about the female lead, Chitra.

Kishore translates into Teenager, which would imply that the title of this movie is “Tarzan and the Teenage Captain”. “Kishori” would mean a female teenager, but that isn’t the word in the title, “Captain Kishore” – a young male captain. In this case, Tarzan’s brother, William.

The playback singers (the people who sing the songs, but don’t appear on screen, were Mubarak Begum, Sudha Malhotra, Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt, and Balbir. This is a stunt film that was produced in 1964 under the banner of Padma Productions, Bombay. The name of the director is given simply as Jal. The star cast is familiar for such films of that era – Azaad, Chitra, Heeralal, Krishna Kumari, Kamal Kapoor, Shaam Kumar, Heera Sawant, Sheikh, Maruti, Fazlu, and then a lot more names that are not very familiar and about whom, no information could be located – Gani, Nihal, Renu, Meena, Master Dillu, Nayar, K Murti, Buniyad Ali Sultan, Gopal, and Raghunath.

The list of actors and actresses was combined from several websites.

Shyam Kumar was born Syed Gul Hamid Ali in 1913, to a Patthan family, which had settled in Poona. His first film role was actually as a hero in the 1942 picture Sukhi Jeevan directed by popular action star, Harishchandra Rao. Adept at singing, Kumar also performed as a  playback singer in over a dozen films in the 1940s and early 50s, but throat cancer ended his singing career and he only acted thereafter, appearing in numerous fantasy and horror films including Neelofer (1957), Toofani Tarzan (1962), Rooplekha (1962), Baghdad Ki Ratten (1962), Shikari (1963), Tarzan and Captain Kishore (1964), Aaya Toofan (1964), Tarzan and King Kong (1965), Sinbad Alibaba Aladin (1965), Main Hoon Alladin (1965), Tarzan in Fairyland (1968), Woh Koi Aur Hoga (1967), Shikar (1968), Saat Sawal Hatim Tai (1971), and Ek Nannhi Munni (1970).

 A widower, Shyam Kumar died on April 22, 1980 and was survived by three sons and a daughter, Zarina, who acted in a few films of the 1980s. Other photos and more information about him is available in the article, Tarzan and King Kong.

 www.ERBzine.com/mag67/6737.html

Geeta Dutt was born Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri on November 23, 1930 and died July 20 1972. She was a prominent Indian playback singer and a famous bengali-hindi classical artist, born in the Faridpur district before the Partition of India. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema. She also sang many modern Bengali songs, both in film and non-film genre.

She was one of 10 children born to a wealthy Zamindar family in a village named Idilpur, presently located in Gosairhat Upzilla of Shariatpur District, Bangladesh, formerly under Faridpur district in Bengal, British India. Her family moved to Calcutta and Assam in the early forties, leaving behind their land and properties. In 1942, her parents moved to an apartment in Bombay. Geeta was twelve and continued her schooling at the Bengali High School.

K. Hanuman Prasad took Geeta under his wing, trained and groomed her in singing, and later launched her into singing for movies. In 1946, she got the first break with an opportunity to sing in the mythological film, Bhakta Prahlad. She was given two lines to sing in two songs. She was sixteen.

In 1947, she sang for Hanuman Prasad's other releases."Nainon Ki Pyaali Se Hoto Ki Madira" (Rasili),"Neha Lagake Mukh Mod Gaya" (Rasili), and "Aaja Ri Nindiya Aaja.”

While Geeta was recording songs for the movie, Baazi, she met its young up-and-coming director, Guru Dutt, and they married in May 1953.

In 1957, Guru Dutt planned to film the movie, Gauri, with Geeta Dutt as the singing star. It was to be India's first movie in cinemascope, but the project was shelved only by a few days of the shooting. By then, Guru Dutt was romantically involved with Waheeda Rehman and she was drinking heavily. The breakup of their marriage almost destroyed Geeta's singing career.

In 1958, S.D. Burman, a producer and director, became dissatisfied with Lata Mangeshkar, a playback singer, and he attempted to work with Geeta as the main singer of his compositions. However, because of her personal problems (drinking), Geeta failed to meet Burman's demanding standards. He fired her.

In 1964, Guru Dutt died from a combination of alcohol and an overdose of sleeping pills. (His death was widely perceived as a suicide following two earlier attempts.) Geeta suffered a serious nervous breakdown and ran into financial problems. She tried to resume her singing career, cutting discs at Durg? Puj? and performing stage shows. She performed a leading role in a Bengali movie, Badhu Baran (1967), and sang admirably in Anubhav (1971), her final performance.

Geeta died of cirrhosis of the liver  on 20 July 1972 in Mumbai. She is credited with over 1200 songs in Hindi films. In addition, she has sung songs in many Indian regional languages including Marathi, Bengali, Maithili, Bhojpuri and Punjabi. A stamp was issued in her honor.

Azad Arani appeared as Tarzan, and is the only actor I can assign a role in this film with any confidence. This was one of his nineteen appearances as Tarzan. Biographical information and more photographs appear on ERBzine at the following links:

http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6732.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6733.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6735.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6739.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6740.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6741.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6742.html

Chitra, Afsar Unissa Begum, is credited with the female lead in this film. I have no information about the role. She is never mentioned in the brief summaries I was able to locate. Chitra is an Indian film actress best known for her work in Malayalam cinema. She acted in more than 100 films, including this one and other Tarzan movies. More details about the actress and several photographs of her appear elsewhere this website: http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6742.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6739.html
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6735.html

Kamal Kapoor was an Indian actor and producer who acted in more than 600 Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati films. Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan, the 11th most widely spoken language in India, and the third most-spoken native language in the Indian Subcontinent. In Canada, it is the fifth most-spoken native language, after English, French, Mandarin and Cantonese. It has a significant presence in the United Arab Emirates, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Kamal was born in 1920 in Lahore, Punjab, British India. He completed his studies in Lahore's DAV College.

He started his career working as a hero through the 1940s-50s. His first film was Door Chalen, which was released in 1946. He played the lead in the movie, He began playing villains in the 1960s. Some of his popular roles are those of the father of Raj Kapoor in Aag and Narang in Don.

Though Kamal could never match the success of his cousin and some of his nephews, he made his mark in Hindi cinema as a suave villain. His green eyes and fair skin made him look more dangerous than his contemporaries.

Raj Kapoor's directorial debut Aag, which was a major box office success, had two of his family members in the cast. While Raj played the adult Kewal Khanna, his younger brother, Shashi, played the younger Kewal and their uncle, Kamal, essayed the role of Kewal's father, advocate Khanna.

Remarkably, Kamal was only four years older to Raj. However, he played Raj’s father. The big moustache and the commanding voice made Kamal Kapoor an intimidating actor early on in his career.

A film about three of India’s most celebrated freedom fighters, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru, honours their bravery and playing the man responsible for their death sentences, even if only onscreen, would mean etching your name as the villain on a stone.

Kamal Kapoor took up the task of essaying the role of the public prosecutor who demands maximum punishment for the three Indian revolutionaries.

His character did not even have a name in the film, but Kamal ensured his role would not be soon forgotten. His Hitler-like moustache and the melodramatic actions, though in a brief appearance, left an indelible mark. Kamal proved that he could excel in a thankless role too.

T. Krishna Kumari (6 March 1933 – 24 January 2018) was a leading Telugu actress of the 1960s and 1980s.]She was the sister of character actress. Sowkar Janaki. Krishna Kumari ruled the Telugu industry but also acted in Tamil and Kannada movies briefly.

T. Krishna Kumari started her career with a small role in Pathala Bhairavi. She later played the role of a heroine for the first time in Navvithe Navaratnalu the same year. She featured as leading actress in several Tamil movies.

 Paar (1953), SManithan (1953), Azhagi (1953), Pudhuyugam (1954), Viduthalai (1954) and Thuli Visham (1954) are the best known of her Hindi films. Krishna Kumari then began to focus on Telugu cinema, which propelled her to superstardom.

Bhartalu (1961), Vagdanam (1961), Kulagothralu (1962), Gudi Gantalu (1964) remain some of Telugu cinema's classics. In the early 60s, Krishna Kumari entered the Kannada film industry briefly, but quickly returned to her preferred Telugu cinema. In the short span of 5–6 years, she gave memorable performances, and her first ever award was for Bhaktha Kanakadasa in1960. In Hindi, she acted in Kabhi Andhera Kabhi Ujala, but Hindi cinema held no attraction for Krishna Kumari. Although she had several offers in Hindi cinema, she returned to Madras.

Krishna Kumari acted in 150 Telugu films, and about 30 Tamil and Kannada films. Her repertoire won her fans across Indian states and the President's Award.

In 1969, Krishna Kumari married Ajay Mohan Khaitan, a businessman and journalist who had previously served as Editor of the Indian Express.

He founded two other magazines magazines, Screen and Businessman. Ajay Mohan Khaitan had previously been married to another lady also named Krishna, who was the daughter of Ramnath Goenka, founder and owner of Indian Express.

After marriage, Krishna Kumari stepped away from films and moved to her husband's farmhouse near Bangalore, where she devoted herself to her family.

Ajay Mohan Khaitan died in 2012 at age 85. Krishna Kumari continued to live at her farmhouse in Bengaluru with her daughter Dipika Maiya, son-in-law Vikram Maiya and grandson, Pavan Maiya.
She died on January 24, 2018 in Bengaluru from bone marrow cancer.

Heera Sawant (sometimes credited as Heera Savat) appeared in two other Bollywood films listed so far in this series, Tarzan and King Kong and Tarzan and Delilah. Heera Sawant was born on December 15, 1935 in India. She was originally a well-known dancer. As an actress, she is best known for Return of Mr. Superman, Kala Pani, and Mr. Q. More biographical information and other photographs of the actress may be viewed at:

http://www.ERBzine.com/mag67/6737.html
http://www.ERBzine.com/mag67/6742.html

Hiralal was a very popular actor who enriched the Indian film world and entertained millions for over four decades, as a hero, villain and character actor. He also appeared in Tarzan and the Gorilla. Photographs and a more detailed biography are located at:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6733.html

Marutirao Parab, popularly known simply as Maruti, was an Indian actor and director best known for playing comic roles in Hindi films.

Parab was married to Kamal - a small time star in Hindi films who appeared in movies like Dashera (1956), Tatar Ka Chor (1955), Garma Garam (1957), Darbar (1955), and Riyasat. etc.

Parab was best known for Kahin Aar Kahin Paar (1971), Hum Sab Ustad Hain (1965) and Khaan Dost (1976). He directed the films Hum Sab Ustad Hain, Hum Sab Chor Hain, and Baaghi Shehzaada,

It’s sad that so little information is available about this film. The cast is typical of the several Bollywood Tarzan and other action films. One last note, unlike the approved American Tarzan films, the Bollywood movies are not sequential. Even though the same actors appears in several films, all of them play different roles – except Tarzan, who is only played by Azad, Singh, and a couple of others.

Each Bollywood Tarzan film, through the sixties, is a free-standing story, and is independent of the other twenty-five plus Tarzan movies. Each story includes an origin (a plane crash or shipwreck), Tarzan’s youth in the jungle, the obligatory evildoers, a love interest, and a happy ending.

The quantity and quality of information available on the movies varies greatly. If any reader has information or photos on this film, or any other in the series, please email ERBzine.