Chupke Chupke@46: 5 MUST-KNOW Facts

Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan had brief roles, almost guest appearances, which they did for Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee's sake, reveals Subhash K Jha.

If you haven't seen Chupke Chupke yet, this laugh-a-second is a guaranteed mood-lifter in these grim times.

Here are some fun facts about this film, which released in 1975.

1. Chupke Chupke was a comedy of errors, a remake of a 1971 Bengali film, Chhadmabeshi, about a man who must pose as his wife's chauffeur to hide his identity from her brother-in-law.

It was the biggest hit of the prolific Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee's career, and one of the three releases he had in 1975 alongside Mili and Chaitali.

2. Hrishida directed Chupke Chupke and Chaitali simultaneously on two floors of Film City, both starring the same leading man, Dharmendra, who did one shot with Saira Banu in Chaitali and rushed to do the next with Sharmila Tagore in Chupke Chupke.

3. This was the third film that Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore did together for Hrishida.

Dharamji recalls the fun they had. "Anupama and Satyakam were very serious subjects. Chupke Chupke was fun all the way. Kab shuroo hua aur kab khatam pataa bhi nahin chala (We didn't realise when it began and when it ended)."

4. Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan had brief roles, almost guest appearances which they did for the director's sake.

Om Prakash, Usha Kiran (Tanvi Kher's mother, Saiyami Kher's grandmother) and even Asrani had more footage than the Bachchans.

In fact the most important character in Chupke Chupke was played by character-actor Om Prakash.

5. After Yeh dosti hum nahin todenge in Sholay composed by Rahul Dev Burman, Hrishida wanted to shoot another fun song with Dharmendra and Amitabh in Chupke Chupke.

RD's father composer Sachin Dev Burman came up with Sa re ga ma in the voices of Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi.

This was a rare coming together of the two singing legends.