Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957)

Hussain’s directorial debut, a musical partly shot in colour, transformed Shammi Kapoor into a loose-limbed, hip-swinging hero (esp. in the song Chupne wale samne aa). The sympathetic criminal Gopal kills his nasty partner and has to go on the run, abandoning his wife and baby son. Twenty years later, safely hidden as a reclusive landlord in Assam, Gopal betrays his whereabouts to his wife via a job advertisement. His grown-up son Shankar (Kapoor), who hates his father for having abandoned his family, applies for the job carrying a letter of introduction from his mother. However, the villainous Sohan (Pran) who covets Gopal’s property intercepts and copies the letter so that two young men recommended by his wife turn up on Gopal’s doorstep. The old man doesn’t know which is his son and which the impostor. Sohan’s intrigues are intercut with numerous musical interludes as Shankar woos Meena (Ameeta), Gopal’s adopted daughter. The final conflict between the good guys and the bad guys includes several hill tribesmen led by fight- director Shetty. The title number, Yun to humne lakh haseen dekhe hain, tumsa nahin dekha, was one of Mohammed Rafi’s biggest hits ever. Hussain remade the story as Dil Deke Dekho (1959).