Woh Kaun Thi? is the first out of three Raj Khosla-directed thrillers starring Sadhana in the lead, the other two being Mera Saaya (1965) and Anita (1967). Actually, all three films have similar concepts and are all successful, although Mera Saaya is my favourite. The movie starts on one rainy night when Manoj Kumar's Dr. Anand while driving home meets a young, serious and awkward woman, whose image will chase him for a long time to come. The movie is high on suspense, and Raj Khosla handles everything very well. The script is tense, interesting and twisted, at times so much that there isn't a possible solution one would offer. The writers try to lead the audience to one particular prediction, but the movie is still highly unpredictable. I liked many of the film's scenes. The movie is aided by some melodious songs composed by Madan Mohan and sung by Lata Mangeshkar, it is technically well done and is generally well cast. While Manoj Kumar does well and is pretty decent as the confused guy, it is expectedly Sadhana who dominates this show with her beauty and ambiguity, successfully creating a mysterious, eerie character. The climax actually turns into an anticlimax which reveals all the secrets in one hit and is a bit too direct for my liking. I just felt everything was uncovered because there was no other way around. Clearly, the writers wanted to keep the mystery for as long as they could and then throw everything into one scene which clarifies it all within two minutes. But even then they failed to answer some substantial questions like how the car's wipers stopped and how Sadhana found the way visible through the car's front windowpane while the guy could not. This is a major plot hole and I wonder how the makers did not notice that. Anyway, Woh Kaun Thi? is still a memorable Raj Khosla thriller which was quite good for its time and is still worth watching today.
Review of Woh Kaun Thi?
