''Wahan Ke Log'' () is a 1967 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...

. Directed by Nisar Ahmed Ansari, the film stars

Pradeep Kumar Pradeep Kumar (4 January 1925 – 27 October 2001) was an Indian actor who is recognized for his work in Hindi, Punjabi and English-language films. (Dinesh RahejaEver the royalRediff.com website, Published 2 June 2003, Retrieved 16 February 2 ...

Tanuja Tanuja Mukherjee (née Samarth), known mononymously as Tanuja, (born 23 September 1943) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in the Hindi film industry. Part of the Mukherjee-Samarth family, she is the daughter of actress Shobhna Sam ...

, Johnny Walker. One of the earliest sci-fi films made in India, it tells the story of a supposed martial threat on India by aliens from outer space intending to rob the rich of their diamonds. Made on a low budget, the film was promoted with the tagline "The strange visitors from

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

are on the way".

Plot

Agent Rakesh is assigned by Chief Sheikh of the

Central Intelligence Service Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

to investigate the murder case of Dinanath from Karolbagh, with speculation of a possible involvement of aliens from

. Rakesh, who lives with his mother and is to marry Anita, embarks on a journey to Bombay along with private detective Neelkanth, from Blue Bird Detective Agency.

Cast

as Rakesh / Prince Ranveer Singh *

as Anita * Johnny Walker as Neelkanth *

Shobhna Samarth Shobhana Samarth (née Saroj Shilotri; 17 November 1916 – 9 February 2000) was an Indian director, actress and producer, who began her career in the early days of talkie movies in the Hindi film industry and continued in lead roles into the 1 ...

as Rakesh's Mother *

D. K. Sapru Daya Kishan Sapru (16 March 1916 – 20 October 1979), was an Indian actor famed for a variety of character roles in Hindi cinema, particularly villains, judges and aristocrats in crime thrillers and dramas. His most notable performances were in ...

as Shaikh * Neelofar as Margaret * Nisar Ahmad Ansari as Professor Anil Chakravarty * Hari Shukla as Dwarka Prasad *

Bela Bose Bela Bose (1943 or 1944 – 20 February 2023) was an Indian dancer and actress who was active in Hindi films during the 1960s and 1970s. Early life Bela Bose was born in Calcutta on 1 January 1943 or 1944 into a well-to-do family. Her fathe ...

as Sophia *

Laxmi Chhaya Laxmi Chhaya (7 January 1948 – 9 May 2004) was an Indian actress, dancer and teacher, who was known for her distinctive character roles and appearances in Hindi films. Following a series of roles as a child actor, Chhaya earned recognition ...

as Dancer * M. A. Latif as Inspector Latif *

Viju Khote Viju Khote (17 December 1941 – 30 September 2019) was an Indian actor best known for his role as Kaalia, a dacoit in the 1975 film ''Sholay'' with the iconic dialogue, “Sardar, maine aapka namak khaya hai.” His career spanned six deca ...

as Spaceship Pilot

Soundtrack

The music was composed by C. Ramchandra. The lyrics were written by

Shakeel Badayuni Shakeel Badayuni (3 August 1916 – 20 April 1970) was an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist and songwriter in Hindi / Urdu language films. Early life Shakeel Badayuni was born in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Mohammed Jamaal Ahmed Sokhta Qadi ...

. The songs are as follows:

Reception

A review carried by ''Link'' magazine was critical of the film, writing: "Credibility is not by any means its forte and there is very little in its length to distinguish it from the stock brew that Bombay is known to bottle under various labels". Being one of the only sci-fi pictures from India, the film has been discussed by a number of scholars. According to Sami Ahmad Khan, author of the essay ''Bollywood's Encounters with the Third Kind'', ''Wahan Ke Log'' seems to have taken inspiration from the

Sino-Indian War The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispu ...

which took place five years before, even though no mention of China is made in the film. ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' listed the film as one of India's "Super C grade movies", dismissing it as the worst of India's sci-fi films. A retrospective review by ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'', however, called it "an unusual film, an interesting blend of a ghost and thieving aliens".

References

External links

*
Wahan Ke Log
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British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

1960s action horror films 1960s action thriller films 1960s ghost films 1960s heist films 1960s Hindi-language films 1960s horror thriller films 1960s mystery horror films 1960s science fiction action films 1960s science fiction horror films 1960s science fiction thriller films 1960s spy action films 1960s spy thriller films 1967 films Fictional portrayals of the Delhi Police Fictional portrayals of the Maharashtra Police Films about alien invasions Indian films about extraterrestrial life Films about space warfare Films about the upper class Films about theft Films scored by C. Ramchandra Films set in Delhi Films set in Mumbai Films set in outer space Films set on spacecraft Films set on space stations Films shot in Delhi Films shot in India Films shot in Mumbai Hindi-language science fiction films Indian action horror films Indian action thriller films Indian detective films Indian ghost films Indian heist films Indian horror thriller films Indian mystery horror films Indian science fiction action films Indian science fiction adventure films Indian science fiction horror films Indian science fiction thriller films Indian spy action films Indian spy thriller films Intelligence Bureau (India) in fiction Mars in film Murder mystery films Sino-Indian War films Space adventure films Space opera films