User reviews

Unlike Bond and other detective movies, Alfred Hitchcock's hero used to be a common man who would get into trouble and then with his acumen and courage (and luck) would get out of it. Jewel Thief is based on the same principle and so in a way it is Vijay Anand's tribute to the master of suspense. The tribute as it may be but it stands its own grounds and establishes Vijay Anand as a great director himself.

It is the story of a common man Vinay who one day realizes that he has a double called Amar who in fact is a Jewel Thief. Suddenly Vinay finds himself in the middle of a hatching scheme and to save himself goes on a wild goose chase to find this Amar who remains one step ahead of him. The suspense is almost killing throughout the movie and as the plot unravels you are hit by the brilliance of the scheme. Just like Hitchcock's movies, Jewel Thief can boast of a grand climax shot inside the grand palace of Sikkim.

Everyone and I mean everyone; Dev Anand, Vijay Anand, Ashok Kumar, Vajyanti Mala, Tanuja, SD Burman, Kishore Kumar, Majrooh Sultanpuri etc. etc. are in their top forms. This is one of the best thrillers ever made in India.

Jewel Thief is *THE* crime thriller of Bollywood, and why should it not be? It is directed by the biggest exponent of the crime thriller art in Indian Cinema Vijay Anand ('Johny Mera Naam' and 'Teesri Manzil.) I could watch this movie for any of the following reasons (in order of importance):

1 Vijay Anand's direction 2 R D Burman's music 3 Dev Anand 4 Vyjayanthimala 5 Ashok Kumar 6 Majrooh Sultanpuri's lyrics

Even if Jewel Thief is not a Bond Movie it definitely has bond babes. Helen, Tanuja, and the mysterious Vyajanthimala (and some cameos.) But our sauvé Vinay (Dev Anand) is anything but Bond. He is out of control for most of the story and goes where the story takes him almost always as confused as we are. He even flirts with Anju (Tanuja) trying to hit her romantic nerve, just so that he can get employed in her father's shop.

Dev Anand might be in a double role - well I don't want to spoil your movie or else I would have told you. That is what most of the mystery is about. Dev Anand works in a Jewelry shop and there is a robbery when he is supposed to be at work - though is not, or at least has a perfect alibi. We wonder who did it, is it Dev Anand as 'Vijay' the person he claims to be or is it 'Amar' someone we have not yet seen but many people claim is his look alike. Comes 'Shalu' (Vyjayanthimala) who even claims that he is her fiancé, in a tense situation Dev Anand has to prove that he is Vinay and not Amar. While everyone wonders if Dev Anand is Vinay or Amar he is asked to remove his socks. Amar we are told has 6 digits on one of his foot. While we watch with bated breath the events that are about to unfold Dev Anand even finds time to joke.

The real life brothers Director Vijay Anand and Actor Dev Anand have many movies between them this is not the best of them but definitely the best in Crime Thriller.

There are moments of Hitchcock's North By Northwest, but the movies are very different. Except for the confusion about who is who, a treacherous female lead and lot of traveling there isn't a lot of similarity. Dev Anand could very well be Amar in addition to being Vijay. People have seen him, they identify him where ever he goes. There are too many of those people for this to be a fraud. Finally Vinay thinks it is better to carry along with being Amar to find out what is the truth, and it is a sad mistake. He gets too deep into it, only to be saved by the twists of Cinema.

When I watched the movie as a kid I was definitely not amused, the ending confused me completely. Even now there are parts about the ending that I do not like, but I'd recommend this movie anyway.

Even as a kid I enjoyed the songs this movie has to offer. 'Yeh dil ...' - a definite loafers song in Kishor Kumar's voice. I could hear 'Rulake gaya ...' whole day long. Ditto for 'Aasmaan ke neeche' which is set 'under the skies' of Gangtok (at least the story line suggests that). 'Raat akeli hai' among the sexiest song to come out of Hindi cinema featuring Tanuja as the seductress. 'Meri taraf dekho' - Helen's cabaret and we 'look at her'. 'Hothon pe ...' - now, could there be any better thriller of a song than this. As the song progresses we are more tensed than we ever were and the words 'hidden in Shalu's lips' add to it.

(Note: my comments are comments from an Indian Movie education in progress)

Foreigners with an idea of what you might find in Bollywood movies -- this one is your dream come true if it's the dream of color color color, great music, amazing clothes, and delight upon delight. This one for your collection.

My own experience of hunting down a list of the best 50 movies of India, for a start, has been to learn of their infinite variety as well as some of the conventions many of them follow. But this one is close to my original dream of what I would find: the "Jewel Thief" plot line allows us to revel in massive displays of jewelry from the great jewelry culture of the world; the plot also takes Dev Anand, as the apparent identical twin of a hunted jewel thief, into a variety of over-the-top luxe settings, some "Indian" looking (palaces), some done up in spectacular 1960s Mary Quant era British-influenced go-go/kicky style.

The plot also take Dev Anand into relationships with a large number of beautiful and beautifully-dressed women, including the incomparable Helen whose night-club dance in a costume with jewel-dripping tights and a rooster tail should not be missed by a single pleasure-loving soul.

The artistic and plot climax is a gigantic dance in a palace in Sikkim (or Srinigar, I am not sure) with women in some kind of traditional costume, drummers in Tibetan Buddhist (again, I think) masks. There's a great still photo of this in the Film Comment Bollywood issue, I think May 2002.

English translation apparently provided by same person who did Hare Rama Hare Krishna, not hard to get used to and on balance I am just grateful it exists, though wish for song lyric translations.

An excellent thriller of all time. Vijay Anand excels as Director and Editor. Performances by Dev Anand, Vyjayantimala, Tanuja and Ashok Kumar prove to be an asset to the film which has its screenplay worked out to the minutest detail. Cinematography adds to the mystery, glamour and other requirements of the story as it evolves. And to top it all, music by Sachin Dev Burman is unforgettable. "Yeh dil na hota bechara" by Kishore Kumar, "Raat akeli hai" by Asha Bhosle, "Rula ke gaya sapna mera" by Lata, "Aasman ke niche" by Lata and Rafi and "Hothon pe aisi baat main" by Lata, again reaffirm Burman Dada's unique stature as a top notch composer with a style of his own.

This is one of those rare suspense thrillers from the Indian Film industry ( also for some reasons referred to as Bollywood)which keeps you Guessing,engrossed , immersed and entertained right till the very end (Until the not-so fat lady sings). This film was way ahead of its time , it was from an era in which people actually spent time and effort on actually writing a good script. Vijay Anand (who also directed "teesri manzil" ) once again showed that he is the master of suspense . He is also ,in my opinion, one of the BEST at filming Song sequences, be it the sensuous "raat akeli hai" or the elaborate " hoton mein aisi baat" . This movie was on par (if not better) than many of the suspense thrillers which came out of Hollywood in that era.I really hope the Indian Film Industry finds more directors like Vijay Anand, who Value the importance of a good script.

It's very common notion that we people at India can't make a movie with a gripping suspense that holds a person to the edge of the seat but this movie does proves all those wrong especially with being made some 40 odd yrs ago when making such movies was not considered sensible and was rare. Although with its time length of 3hr5min it seems bit too long , but its originality in script, screenplay and crunchy movements and good tracks make up for its long time length . The story is not about creating an identity of a man who is not there in actual , its more than that with so many people being a part of the gang disguising Dev anand. its mystery story telling at its best with all elements of thriller being involved . its not only the script but the acting of ashok kumar and that of female leads especially vaijyanti Mala make it must watch classic for any Hindi movie fan!!

Jewel Thief (1967) : Brief Review -

A heist thriller that pushed Bollywood on a roll with furtive primary plot despite thin secondary plot. I tell you whoever claiming or stating that Jewel Thief is inspired by combined effect of some Alfred Hitchcock thrillers then all are false statements. Jewel Thief does not resemble to any Hitcock film (most of Hitchcock thrillers were adaptions already), rather it has its own story and a Marathon narrative. With runtime of above 170 minutes Jewel Thief lacks a pace but got all enough gimmicks to surprise by the end. Looking at it as a Primary thriller i have no complains but the secondary plot was ordinary and thin for sure. I cannot even complain about that because nobody even tried to make that 2 line or 3 line Thriller in Bollywood in 60s. So, Jewel Thief can be called a pioneer of Heist thriller genre. The film is long considering the kind of quick atmosphere any thriller needs but it is indeed a very engaging film because of great Music and healthy dose of of Romance. However, couple of scenes in the films didn't make any sense at all such as a hero romancing 2 girls at the same time without clarifying whom do he actually love and 2nd is some important characters from 1st half suddenly disappears in the 2nd half. On positive side, the plot is well planned on primary level and definitely Mysterious unless you're a Great Movie freak who could predict or smell the story in first 30 minutes (believe me i did it in 20 minutes itself). Dev Anand, Vyjayantimala, Ashok Kumar, Tanuja and supporting cast is good. Dialogues are decent and so does the screenplay. Music is Superb, SD Burman gave 3 Super Hit and evergreen songs. Vijay Anand's direction is praiseworthy but only on some level if you are not happy with a Good thriller and want more. I haven't seen something more twisty and entertaining like this from Old Bollywood yet, so for now it is the Best among those. Let's see of find something better or not. Overall, Interesting and Intriguing Stuff !

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest

Great adaption by Vijay Anand from Alfred Hitchcocks North By Northwest..Dev replaces Cary Grant in the looks department & besides the look alike theory nothing else & thats where the similarity ends..Knowing Vijay Anands perfection am shocked that he has shown Dev's mother as a Widow(1st scene where Dev sneaks into his own home & gives the pearl neckless) white saree no sindur etc... Wonder if anyone has noticed that at all.. Technically brilliant as even in the song Yeh dil na hota bechara, sound of Tanuja Revving the car into motion with the music on captured superbly which for 1967 i must say must have been quite a task.Brilliat costumes,amazing camera positions & a lot of that has flown intoi another vijay anand classic Johny Mera Naam..

Jewel Thief is quite a bold title considering the times & the cap worn by Devsaab still haunts the posters where they were painted!!

Vijay Anand

That man from Juhu...

An absolute fan

Vijay Kumar Rao

I don't remember if the Dev Anand's character was called Raju or not, but it could well have been, because he pulled off the familiar role of a gentleman thief with his usual style & elan. Cinematography, editing & screenplay were above average. The haunting tunes will endure for a long time to come.

One of the best Hindi movies ever made and that too by India's best director Vijay Anand.Everything about this movie was brilliant. 9/10

Jewel Thief review :

After the classic Guide (1965), Dev Anand teamed up with bro Vijay (Goldie) Anand to make this musical suspense thriller. Featuring Dev Saahab in titular role, he had a bevy of beauties to romance in the film from the beautiful Vyjanthimala to bubbly Tanuja and from Helen and Fariyal to Anju Mahendru (in a blink and miss role).

Jewel Thief, as its name suggests, revolves around the search for the criminal but no one knows who he is. The suspect is Police Commissioner(Nassir Hussain) own son Vinay who is said to resemble him. Is he really the culprit??!!

Goldie Anand's direction is outstanding here and the way he keeps the suspense alive right till the end is worth a salute! The revelation of the real jewel thief's identity is a masterstroke in itself!!

The brilliant music was credited to SD Burman Saahab but it is said his beta RD helped him with most of the songs. "Hothon pe aisi baat" picturised on Vyjanthimala became the films climactic highlight. "Baithe hai kya unke paas", a club number, is another well executed number.

Dev Anand was in top form and his style and dress sense, particularly the jewel thief cap, became a fashion statement of that time. Ashok Kumar had initially rejected the role but Dev and Vijay Anand convinced him to do it.

Expectedly, Jewel Thief became a super hit at the box office. I saw the film only in early 90s on DD Metro channel and was blown away by it. The next day, I rented its VHS and watched it again. Jewel Thief is one movie I can watch any number of time without being bored.

An unofficial sequel, made in 1996, saw Dev Saahab and Ashok Kumar reprise their roles with Dharmendra, Jackie dada and Anu Agarwal added in the multi starcast. Called Return of Jewel Thief, it was helmed by a gentleman called Ashok Tyagi and sunk without a trace at the box office.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

The master himself Vijay Anand directs a thriller film unique in its presentation and story.Jewel Thief, released in 1967 was one of the biggest hits of that year.The thief is on the run.

It is the story of Vinay(Dev Anand) who flirts with Anjali(Tanuja),the daughter of a rich jeweller and wins the confidence and trust of her father Seth Vishambarnath(Sapru).What are his motives behind it?Is he the thief? Or is it his alleged lookalike claimed by Shalini (Vyjayanthimala) to be her fiancé,the thief? Or is it somebody else?

The film is filled with suspense and is very very unpredictable.But the film could have been faster,as it is slightly slow paced.The story,screenplay and direction by Vijay Anand is simply superb.The music,costumes,art direction,lyrics,etc, are all good.

Coming to the performances Ashok Kumar,Tanuja and Vyjayanthimala are the best.The rest of the cast that includes Helen,Faryal,Anju Mahendru, Sapru,Nasir Hussain,Pratima Devi,Jagdish Raj,Sachin, all of them have portrayed their respective roles with honesty.Dev Anand,the hero of this film though good,is too filmy and over-dramatic in his acting.It could have been better if he was more spontaneous,as this is a suspense film not a drama film.

On the overall,Jewel Thief(1967) makes for a very interesting watch.It is definitely worth spending time watching the film.Its simply superb!!

Most ingeniously scripted. Superb screenplay and dialogue. Terrific background score. Unbeatable song picturisations. Intriguing suspense. Timeless classic. By Vijay Anand.

Much ahead of its time or may be not.

Nice plot setting by director, writer. Cool performance by ashok kumar and sev anand.

A must see.

It really stand the test of time.

Heard one song of it over weekend. Wanted to check out more songs and ended up watching it again after a gap of 30 years. Constantly gripping and moving story line and great songs. Plus brilliant acting by Dev Anand and Vyjayanthimala. Of course the real star here is Ashok Kumar. The flagship song 'Hothon pe aisi baat' is a special masterpieces. Special Kudos to SD Burman and and RD Burman duo for the soundtrack. Parts of it also remind you of another masterpiece by Vijay Anand. The nearly 3 hour piece does go slow in a couple of spots. That's what made me avoid a 10. This one deserves to be remastered in HD or 4K.

JEWEL THIEF is a heist thriller about Amar, a notorious burglar and Vinay, a jewel expert who also happens to be the son of the Police Commissioner. Also, Amar and Vinay are physically identical other than the thief having an extra finger on his right leg. Vinay goes undercover in search of this burglar and soon gets entangled in a deadly conspiracy where nothing is what it seems.

Strictly from a narrative point of view, this film is just masterful with great writing, thrilling and twisty storytelling, a great musical album, wonderful production design, and some brilliant performances. The colourful and visually dazzling dance numbers and gorgeous cinematography makes this film look splendid even after all those years, and the stylish direction of Vijay Anand gives this film an enchanting energy. The runtime does touch the 3-hour mark but it never feels boring because of its brisk pace and intriguing screenplay, which doesn't rely on cliches and has no unnecessary sequences. The one thing that's also worth noting is how beautifully staged the scenes are. This is basically a film which Hitchcock would have made if he was a Bollywood director.

A stone-cold masterpiece!

Jewel Thief is a classic Hindi suspense thriller directed by Vijay Anand. Released in 1967, the film has earned a reputation as one of the finest suspense dramas in Indian cinema. Starring Dev Anand, Vyjayanthimala, and Ashok Kumar in lead roles, Jewel Thief showcases a gripping tale of mystery, love, and deceit.

The film revolves around Vinay (played by Dev Anand), a young man who becomes the prime suspect in a series of jewel thefts that have been occurring in the city. As the story progresses, Vinay finds himself caught in a web of intrigue and conspiracy, unsure of whom to trust. He encounters a woman named Anjali (played by Vyjayanthimala), who claims to be his lover, and a man named Shalimar (played by Ashok Kumar), who seems to hold the key to the truth. With its intricate plot twists and turns, the movie keeps the audience guessing until the very end.

One of the highlights of Jewel Thief is its stylish direction by Vijay Anand. He brings a distinct visual flair to the film, with striking cinematography and clever use of lighting and shadows to enhance the suspenseful atmosphere. The movie's songs, composed by S. D. Burman and penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri, have become iconic, with the romantic track "Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara" and the energetic "Raat Akeli Hai" being particular favorites.

Dev Anand delivers a stellar performance as Vinay, effortlessly portraying the character's vulnerability, charm, and confusion. Vyjayanthimala shines as Anjali, exuding both innocence and mystery. Ashok Kumar's portrayal of Shalimar is captivating, adding depth and intrigue to the story. The supporting cast, including Tanuja and Helen, also deliver commendable performances, adding further layers to the narrative.

The screenplay of Jewel Thief is well-crafted, weaving together elements of romance, suspense, and drama seamlessly. The dialogues are sharp and memorable, contributing to the film's overall impact. The film's pacing is brisk, keeping the audience engaged throughout its runtime.

Jewel Thief stands out for its technical brilliance, intriguing plot, and memorable performances. It combines elements of romance, suspense, and mystery in a compelling manner. The film's stylish direction, melodious music, and strong performances make it a must-watch for fans of classic Hindi cinema.

Overall, Jewel Thief is a timeless classic that has stood the test of time. Its engaging storyline, memorable characters, and stylish presentation continue to captivate audiences even after several decades. If you enjoy suspenseful thrillers with a touch of romance and a gripping narrative, Jewel Thief is definitely worth watching.

Dev Anand is on top form in Jewel thief, a fast-paced and highly stylised classic that has a great cast, from Vyjantimala to the legendary Ashok kumar. The songs are just sublime, the direction is spot on and the production is top class. Tanuja sings a classy number.

The story -Dev Anand plays the son of a police commissioner whose life is made complicated when he is repeatedly mistaken for a notorious jewel thief.

Jewel Thief unravels like a Hitchcockian thriller through a superb screenplay that keeps the audience spellbound. After establishing the series of heists through a montage at the very beginning of the film, Dev Anand's character appears setting the scene. There are false walls, mistaken identities and bouts of strong peril, and more twists than a pretzel. Check out the energetic dance by Vyjantimala at the finale, she puts a lot of gusto and sweat, blood and tears in her performance.

Suspenseful and colourful with a sense of calm before the storm in the quiet scenes and a strong atmosphere, Jewel thief is superb entertainment. If there's any criticisms, and that it can be slightly overlong.

Vinay (Dev Anand) suddenly finds himself being mistaken for another man named Amar. It then begins to seem that this Amar is a jewel thief, and Vinay's doppelganger. Vinay joins with his father, the police commissioner, to infiltrate Amar's gang to catch the thief.



The film also stars Vyjayantimala as the main love interest, and Ashok Kumar as her brother. It also features four actresses in secondary romantic roles: Anju Mahendru, Tanuja, Faryal and Helen.



This popular movie is, for the most part, an enjoyable watch. It becomes genuinely confusing--intentionally, no doubt--to keep up with who is doing what: Amar or Vinay. This adds to the feeling of suspense, as does some excellent film angles and the incidental music. It contains a great surprising plot twist. The music was average, and there are no exciting musical numbers, though it was fun to see the famous Helen dance. The costumes are mostly typical 1960's outfits, though Vyjayantimala did wear some beautiful traditional saris. The acting was more stilted than is the style today, but all the cast did well portraying their roles and creating the tense atmosphere. Despite being sometimes hard to follow--perhaps a problem due to having to read subtitles--it's easy to see why Jewel Thief was such a success and still enjoyed today.