Romeo in Sikkim ; Sikkim’s first Hindi film (1975)

Sikkim became part of the mighty Indian Union in 1975, and in the last 37 years, a small Himalayan kingdom has transformed itself into one of the most beautiful tourist centers in the world. The same year, a milestone was accomplished in Sikkim in the world of Indian Cinema, but more than three decades later, the story seems forgotten by the wheel of the clock.

I wanted to be part of the history of reintroducing the stories of Romeo in Sikkim, a Hindi film with a few landmarks still unknown to many. Romeo in Sikkim is the first Hindi film produced by Sikkim and the first Nepali actor to lead in a Bollywood film (Shyam Pradhan).

Shyam Pradhan went on to act in another film, the first Hindi-Nepali bilingual feature film that never saw the light of day. He later went on to make two successful Nepali movies, Bhool and Sanjiwani. For information, the Nepali film Sanjiwani was made in three languages simultaneously: Nepali, Bengali, and Hindi. The Hindi version has yet to be released.  

It was Mohan Pradhan ‘Neeraj’, Sansthapak of famed Singtam Basibiyalo, Praveen Pradhan, President SPARK NGO from Singtam, and me who visited the residence of the Shyam Pradhan a couple of weeks back. He was about to leave for Siliguri but delayed his program for us. Such was his friendly persona that the anecdote he shared with us about Romeo in Sikkim and his other projects made me just listen to him…silently.

Shyam Pradhan, then a 19-year-old from a well-established business family from Gangtok, acted in a lead role in a color Hindi movie “Romeo in Sikkim” shot exclusively in Sikkim and in some parts of Darjeeling and in Bombay, now Mumbai. With Amina Kareem as a lead actress who had played a small role in Danny Denzongpa’s Hindi film Mere Apne, Romeo in Sikkim had a gifted star cast in the calibre of legendary KN Singh, Kundan, Om Prakash, Seema Kapoor, and others. Harikrishna Kaul directed the movie, the film's shooting was completed in 3 months, and the beautiful songs were composed by Vishwanath.  

Shyam Pradhan says the film was shot in 1973 in 33 mm and released in 1975 in Bombay. In Sikkim, it was first released at Denzong Cinema Hall and later at Vajra Cinema Hall, which ran for 15 successive days.

I first heard about “Romeo in Sikkim” from an audio cassette of legendary Bollywood singer Mukesh. Being a big fan of Mukesh, I found it very surprising to read the lines on the cover of the audio cassette that mentioned the song “Jiska Sapna” from the movie Romeo in Sikkim. Similarly, in a few days, I also found another song sung by Mukesh from another Hindi movie with another interesting title, “Road to Sikkim." So, when I first got to speak to Shyam Pradhan, I just wanted to know about his memory of Mukesh. 

He continued on to say Mukesh was a big name. He was very interested in knowing about the place called Sikkim and meeting the lead actor of Romeo in Sikkim. When Mukesh finally met the lead actor, Mukesh was a bit surprised and, in a sarcastic way, asked his music director, “How can I sing for him?" Definitely, it was difficult for Mukesh to give a feel to the song looking at the young artist from Sikkim, a place he had never heard of. Mukesh just walked up to Shyam Pradhan, hugged him, and told him, "I will try my heart out." After 18 retakes, the recording of the song was completed. After 37 years of the first release of Romeo in Sikkim, the only thing that remains popular is that immortal song, "Jiska Sapana.

Romeo in Sikkim had four songs and the list of singers included Mukesh, Mohammad Rafi, and Suman Kalyanpur, a classic collection.