Thirty five years down the line, the magic of ‘ Jab Jab Phool Khile’ has not dimmed a whit. Raja (Shashi Kapoor), a young and poor Kashmiri boatman falls in love with Rita (Nanda), a beautiful heiress from the city.

 Her dear and nears are obviously against the match and make things difficult for her suitor.

But in the end, in a memorable climax, the hero pulls his beloved into the train that’s taking them back home to his shikara in Dal Lake. A fairy tale romance with fairy-tale ending, the film met with the kind of success producers’ dreams are made of.

 It was career first Golden Jubilee for its producer Hiren Kher, director Suraj Prakash, lead pair Nanda and Shashi Kapoor, lyricist Anand Bakshi and composers Kalyanji Anandji, though all of them had collaborated earlier on the 1962 success ‘ Mehndi Lagi Mere Haath’.

Much is being made today of the feel-good entertainers, but ‘ JJPK’ was undoubtedly one of the earliest Hindi films in that genre. Its freshness is perennial; its appeal transcends generations.

The music was undoubtedly the highlight of the ‘ JJPK’ ; the songs still live on. It was with this film that Kalyanji Anadji outgrew the tag of being a poor man’s Shankar- Jai Kishan’ to evolve their own distinct style.

‘ Pardesiyon se na ankhia milana’, ‘ Na na karte pyar tumhi se kar baithe’, ‘ Ek tha gul aur ek thi bulbul, ‘ Yahan main ajnabi hoon’ and ‘ Yeh sama sama hai ye pyar ka’ are timeless beauties that established KA as frontrunners.

Incidentally, the brilliant arrangements were entirely done by Pyarelal (of Laxmikant- Pyarelal fame). And Anand Bakshi’s career took off on a roller-coaster that has not flagged till today.

Say Prakash, ‘the evergreen hit ‘ Pardesiyon na ankhia milana’ was loosely inspired by a thumri, which our neighbor the late  Nirmaladevi, Govinda’s mother, had sung. And ‘ Na na karte pyar.’ Whose mookhda was copied by Dharmesh Darshan again in Dhadkan, was a dummy line written by Anandji when he gave the metre to Bakshi.

We recorded it against my wishes, but the song was a rage and a man saw my film fifteen times only because of this song, walking into theatre after the interval to watch it.’

‘ JJPK’ was a poor boy rich girl story. But long after its Golden Jubilee, Prakash asked his writer what religion Raja belonged to, as this was never specified and no one had noticed it! Because one had not come across a single non- Muslim boatman in Srinagar! The writer was speechless, as the thought had never occurred to him either.

Was the film a Hindu- Muslim Prem Kahani? Could the filmmaker have projected it as the one? According to Prakash, ‘This was the indeed the true climax of the story behind the making of my biggest hit.’