Real Brothers Who Played Reel Brothers On Screen

‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ (1958) is one of the greatest all-time classic comedies where the Ganguly siblings played reel life brothers on screen. Though it wasn’t the first time that Ashok Kumar, Anup Kumar and Kishore Kumar came together on screen but it was ‘Bandi’ two years earlier which saw them together for the first time. Ashok Kumar played the strict elder brother who keeps his other two brothers away from girls. But the youngest Kishore falls in love with Madhubala and thus starts a roller-coaster ride of funny situations. This film was directed by Satyen Bose and had gems composed by SD Burman and penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri. The success of the film got the brothers again in another comedy titled ‘Badhti Ka Naam Dadhi’ which didn’t fare well.

'Gunga Jumna' directed by Nitin Bose was produced by Dilip Kumar who also happened to script it. The film was a dacoit drama set in a village where Leela Chitnis has two sons – Gunga (Dilip Kumar) and Jumna (Nasir Khan). Gunga becomes a dacoit due to atrocities whereas Jumna becomes a police officer who is assigned to capture his brother. It was a runaway success at the box-office and set the tone for other brother sagas like – ‘Mela’, ‘Deewaar’, ‘Kroadh’ and ‘Lakshmanrekha’. Though, Dilip Kumar and Nasir Khan again teamed up in ‘Bairaag’ in 1976 but it never created the impact that ‘Gunga Jumna’ created.

Closely based on the theme of ‘Gunga Jumna’, ‘Mela’ had Feroz Khan and Sanjay Khan coming together on screen for the first time as siblings. Though, ‘Upaasna’ (1971) released earlier that year had Feroz Khan and Sanjay Khan playing friends in it. ‘Mela’ was a family dacoit drama directed by Prakash Mehra who was on a high after directing his successful maiden venture ‘Haseena Maan Jaayegi’ in 1968 which had Shashi Kapoor (in a double role) opposite Babita. The story of ‘Mela’ was about two brothers who are separated in a fair, one goes onto become a literate farmer and the other a dacoit. Music was by RD Burman and Mumtaz was romantically paired opposite Sanjay Khan.

‘Kala Dhanda Goray Log’ was a typical masala film directed by Sanjay Khan which had Akbar Khan playing his younger brother and Sunil Dutt in the supporting cast. The film was released in 1986 along with Feroz Khan’s ‘Janbaaz’. ‘Kala Dhanda Goray Log’ again was a lost and found film where both the brothers are separated and later unite to avenge their father’s death. Though the film had a very good star cast with amazing locations, it received a lukewarm response at the box-office. This was Sanjay Khan’s last film as director before he took to directing serials for television. Feroz Khan had acted with Akbar Khan earlier in ‘Anjaan Raahen’ (1974) but not as siblings.

‘Apne’, ‘Dillagi’, ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ and ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana 2’ are the only films where Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol played siblings. ‘Apne’ and ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ were successful whereas ‘Dillagi’ and ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana 2’ sank at the box-office. Though, both the brothers had also come in ‘23rd March 1931: Shaheed’ but weren’t related to each other in it. ‘Apne’ was special because it had Dharmendra playing an important role of their father.

It is quite surprising that Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail Khan have never played reel life brothers on screen. Though, Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan played siblings in 'Dabangg' and 'Dabangg 2' whereas the only instance where Arbaaz and Sohail played siblings was ‘Kissan’ which was directed by Puneet Sira. The film was loosely based on the 1967 Manoj Kumar starrer ‘Upkaar’ where Sohail reprised the role of Bharat (Manoj Kumar) and Arbaaz reprised the role of Puran (Prem Chopra). Jackie Shroff played the role of their father who is torn between his sons ideologies. The film vanished without a trace but it was the only instance which got both the Khan brothers together. Though, they were talks of remaking Manmohan Desai’s ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ (1977) with Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail reprising the roles of Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor, respectively, but somehow the project got shelved. Sohail Khan has directed both his brothers in ‘Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya’ in 1998 and ‘Hello Brother’ in 1999.

Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor made their first screen appearance in Raj Kapoor’s ‘Shri 420’ (1955) as child artists in the song ‘Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua Hai’ featuring Raj Kapoor and Nargis. Both brothers appeared together in ‘Biwi O Biwi’ (1981) where Randhir played the main lead and Rishi Kapoor had a guest appearance. They played siblings on screen for the first time in Nasir Husain’s ‘Zamaane Ko Dikhaana Hai’ (1981) where this time Randhir Kapoor had a guest appearance and Rishi played the lead. It took more than 30 years for both the brothers to play siblings (step-brothers) in Sajid Khan’s ‘Housefull 2’ (2012). Watch a scene from the film where both brothers argue with each other. And, also the full movie - http://erosnow.com/#!/movie/watch/1004475/housefull-2

Finally, Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan were seen as step-brothers in ‘Dabangg’ (2010) and ‘Dabangg 2’ (2012) which were produced by Arbaaz Khan himself. Both the brothers had earlier worked together in ‘Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya’, ‘Hello Brother’, ‘Garv – Pride & Honour’, ‘Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya’, ‘Hello’ and ‘Ready’ but didn’t play siblings.