Dev Anand-Vyjanthimala’s Jewel Thief remains one of Hindi cinema’s tautest thrillers, even 55 years after it was made

Jewel Thief starts off as a case of mistaken identity.

Here, Ashok Kumar’s character is certain that the man claiming to be Vinay is, in fact, Amar, his sister’s fiance. The only thing that can tell them apart is that Amar has six fingers on his right foot. Vijay has Dev laughing off the accusation and amusing the onlookers until he finally takes the seat and proves his identity like it wasn’t even a question. The execution at display here acts almost like a model for the rest of the film, and soon after this sequence, you are hooked.

Jewel Thief is a suspense thriller, which leaves you utterly shocked when you first watch it. But the impressive feat that is achieved by the writer and director here is that even after multiple viewings, you can’t seem to find any point in the screenplay where you were misdirected just for the sake of it. Everything holds up, even the character that you saw in the first five minutes of the film that looked quite insignificant at the time. Watching red herrings that don’t really add up when you revisit the film is infuriating, and in that department, Jewel Thief aces the test. In very Hitchcockian-style, the clues planted along the way lead the audience to the final mystery and while they could have missed it in the first viewing, the repeat viewings make you appreciate the genius of the filmmaker.

When the film completed 50 years, Andhadhun director Sriram Raghavan wrote that Jewel Thief still gives him goosebumps and he cited it as one of his inspirations. “Doppelgangers, innocent on the run, mistaken identity and brainwashing are themes from the darkest of noir capers. But there is nothing noir in Jewel Thief, which is full of splashy colours, costumes, grand sets and songs,” he wrote in Hindustan Times at the time.

By the time the film is inching towards its climax, the stakes are bigger and Vijay sets it against a song that perfectly captures the tension of the screenplay. Hotho Pe Aisi Baat is not just a distraction so the robbers can steal the jewels, the lyrics here hint at what’s coming next. As the song reaches its crescendo, the length of the shots keeps getting shorter, building up the suspense of the ‘jewel thief’. Even the glances exchanged between tertiary characters are significant here. Vijay Anand, who was fondly known as Goldie, made this film like he was an audience member watching a thriller. As the suspense starts to unfold and the audience starts to piece the puzzle together, it feels like the filmmaker can anticipate every question that’s on your mind and answers them one by one.

Vijay Anand’s Jewel Thief was one of the big hits of 1967, and in the years since the film has received praise from those who have discovered it. So if you are looking to watch a film that has the ability to not let you stare at your phone screen, look no further.