'' Hulchul ''(1971) - the only film of R. D. Burman that had no songs

 

'' Hulchul ''(1971) is the only film of R. D. Burman that had no songs as such but just a title track with the word 'Hulchul' sung by RDB and Asha Bhosle. Plus a more than seven-minute long, superbly choreographed dance sequence (beginning with the commentary by Amrish Puri) performed by Helen on a well-composed instrumental track representing various cultures of the world and our own traditional dance forms with RDB singing some abstract phrases occasionally.

Based on a mysterious plot of a husband planning to kill his wife, 'Hulchul' was promoted with a tag line 'Most Unusual Motion Picture Ever Made' introducing both Kabir Bedi and Zeenat Aman on screen (as mentioned in its titles) and had an unpredictably entertaining climax, which was never seen before in a Hindi film. The timely use of its title track at regular intervals with an apt background score did bring up the thrilling moments in the film quite beautifully and thus one has to acknowledge RDB's evident contribution made to its mysterious story progression.