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Volume 6738

Unauthorized Tarzan Films
TARZAN AND HERCULES :: 1966
By
Robert Allen Lupton

In 1966, the film, Tarzan Aur Hercules (Tarzan and Hercules), was written and produced by its star, Hercules. While the film was directed by Mahmood. Hercules is a young man in the kingdom of Zingaro. He is angry with the evil ruler, a tyrant, but need help to overthrow him. He calls Tarzan for help. Tarzan arrives and is challenged by Zingaro’s wrestling champion, Angoora, to a duel. They fight in an open darbar (a courtyard) and Tarzan wins. The queen is smitten by Hercules and declares him champion and assigns him to be the official wrestler of Zingaro. Trial by combat seems to be the way most disputes are settled. Her husband the tyrant of Zingaro, apparently also named Zingaro, is jealous and he sends Hercules to the Snake Kingdom to fetch the mysterious “Red Jewel.”

Tarzan accompanies Hercules. After they arrive in the Snake Kingdom, Princess Sanpli of the Snake People falls for Tarzan and wants to marry him. Tarzan agrees to marry her if she gives him the Red Jewel.

Princess Sanpli steals the Red Jewel and runs away with Tarzan and Hercules. When they arrive in Zingaro the kingdom, Zingaro the tyrant has them seized and jailed, but the queen helps them escape.
Zingaro the Tyrant is killed in the final battle and it appears that our happy couples live happily ever after. The film ended without wedding ceremonies and it isn’t clear what happens to the Red Jewel.
I found two posters for this film and no movie stills.

Like many of Bollywood’s stunt-film stars, Hercules hailed from the world of sports. A wrestler and bodybuilder before entering films he, along with the Dara Singh, Azad, and Randhawa, was part of the new breed of action heroes in the 1960s.

Hercules was introduced into the film industry by fight promotors, Azim Bhai and Master Douglas, to do stunt work for actors, Nasir Khan and Kamran. Handsome. Hercules, billed under his real name Daewood, also began taking small parts in films such as Jungle King and Black Cat (both 1959). Director Sultan Dosaani changed Daewood’s name to Hercules and debuted him as the hero of Jalim Jadugar, while Mahmood cast him as the star opposite Chandrakala in Black Magic (1963) and Black Arrow (1965). Sometimes reverting back to the name Daewood, he continued to play character roles in movies like Cobra Girl (1963), Magic Carpet (1964), and Tarzan Aur Jadui Chirag (1966). Later on, Hercules starred besides a previous Tarzan, Azad, in several other features like Sakhi Lutera (1969) and Khooni Saya (1970). He also appeared in a couple of Manmohan Desai hits, Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) and Dharam Veer (1977).

In 1966, Hercules turned producer with the sword and sandal pic Tarzan and Hercules where he portrayed both legendary heroes, and then again with Khooni Saya (1970), a James Bond knock-off in which he also played the lead. Hercules teamed up with Azad for some dual-hero films including the curry-western Tooffani Tukker (1968) and the Robin Hood inspired Sakhi Lutera (1969). The 1970s saw him continue as a very busy supporting actor, often cast as a goon, a bandits, and mythological characters including turns as the monkey-god Hanuman in Hanuman Vijay (1974), Mahabali Hanuman (1981) and Sati Naag Kanya (1983).

Indira (Indira Billi) is an actress, known for Reporter Raju (1962), Awara Badal (1964) and Shree 420 (1955).In the 1960s she married Shiv Kumar, a businessman who owned Kumar Cinema. He is often confused with actor, director Shiv Kumar. Several websites make this mistake.

She was the most popular Punjabi film actress during the 1960s and 70s. She also did a few Hindi films. She was called a billi (cat) because of her eyes. She gradually accepted the name Indira Billi and acted in some popular Hindi movies like “Black Cat” with Balraj Sahni and “Mere Huzoor” with Raj Kumar.

She frequently had minor roles to perform. She acted in 20 Hindi movies including Naag Puja (1971), Phool Aur Paththar (1966), Husn Aur Ishq (1966), Tarzan and Hercules (1966), and Bahadur Daku (1966). In pre-partition days, she acted only in one movie named as ‘Chambey Di Kali’ which had Ravinder Kapoor and Khairati in lead roles. She appeared in two other Tarzan films, Tarzan in Fairyland in 1966 and Tarzan Aur Jadugar in 1963. She appeared in many films with more well know Bollywood actors like Kharaiti, Ravinder Kapoor, Shiv Kumar, Joginder Sarma, Kamal Kapoor and Sundar.In ‘Kankan De Dhole’ (Punjabi film), even Hindi film actors Asha Parekh and Dharmendra were cast with Indira. Indira was one gorgeous actress and was a great dancer. In Raj Kapoor’s classic film ‘Shree 420’, she had a tiny role. In another Indian classic film ‘Basant Bahar’ which starred Nimmi and Bharat Bhushan in the lead roles, Indira was again cast in a minor role. Her first Hindi film was Milap (1955) with Geeta Bali and Dev Anand. She acted in a Dilip Kumar’s film, “Yahudi” which released in 1958. In another historical super hit film, ‘Jahanara’ (1964), Indira played a wicked woman character, ‘Roshanara,’

Maqbool is known for his work on Sholay (1975), Wahan Ke Log (1967) and Gunga Jumna (1961). A 2003 Hindi film, Maqbool, based on Macbeth, did pretty well and dominates all internet searches. I didn’t find a single picture that I could verify was of this actor.

Murad was an Indian character actor who appeared in more than 100 Bollywood films from the early 1940s through to the end of the 1980s. He played numerous character roles of a father, police officer, judge and an emperor and evil tyrant. His son, Raza Murad, is also an actor in the Bollywood industry who is known for playing mostly villain roles. His great-nieces are actresses Sonam, Zeenat Aman and Sanober Kabir. It’s all in the family in Bollywood.

His career began in the early 1940s when he made his acting debut in the 1943 film, Najma, directed by Mehboob Khan. He played the father of Ashok Kumar despite being only a year older than him. He became a regular in director Mehboob Khan's films such as Anmol Ghadi (1946), Andaz (1949), Aan (1952) and Amar (1954). His other notable film roles included Do Bigha Zamin (1953) as a cruel landowner, Devdas (1955) as Devdas's father and the Hollywood film Tarzan Goes to India (1962) as a maharajah. He may be the only Bollywood actor credited in both authorized an unauthorized Tarzan films. From the 1960s through to the end of the 1980s he was typecast as a judge or police commissioner. He died in his birthplace in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh in 1997, but the precise date is unknown.

Brijmohan Vyas, better known as B M Vyas, was born in the Churu district of Rajasthan on October 22, 1920. He remained in Rajasthan until he completed his undergraduate degree in Sanskrit, after which he moved to Mumbai, at the behest of his brother.

Vyas had always been interested in music, and once he was in Mumbai, he began taking lessons to hone his skills. In the 1940s, he joined Prithviraj Kapoor's troupe, Prithvi Theatre, as a singer for their first production Shakuntala. Once the work for the play began, Vyas's knowledge of Sanskrit was a great asset, not just for singing, but also for acting. Originally cast in the role of Dushyant, K N Singh, backed out because he was struggling with several of the Sanskrit lines, Vyas was approached to replace him. He accepted, and Shakuntala was his debut in what would grow to be a long acting career. Vyas remained with Prithvi Theatre for to ten years, toured the country, and become well known for his talents as an actor and as a musician. Along with his career in theatre, he also worked on a few movies, and sang playback for the first time in the film Bharthari (1944). In the following years, he recorded songs for a few other films, including Pehle Aap (1944) and Maharana Pratap (1946). His focus turned to acting, despite the fact that he had initially aspired to become a singer.

While he was working with Prithvi Theatre, Vyas joined Chetan Anand's India Pictures, a film production company, as a production manager. On the very first film he worked on with them, Neecha Nagar (1946), he also made an appearance on screen in a small role. Some years later, he appeared in Aag (1948) and Barsaat (1949) - films that gave him recognition as an actor on screen, and enabled his acting career to take off.

In a career spanning close to fifty years, Vyas acted in nearly two hundred films including films like 'Baiju Bawra', 'Do Aankhen Barah Haath' and 'Sarawasti Chandra'. One of the roles he is best remembered for is that of Ravan in Babubhai Mistri's Sampoorna Ramayan (1961). Following his success in portraying a demon in the epic film, he was approached with numerous other mythological and fantasy film projects, including a large number by producer-director Homi Wadia.

Vyas retired from acting in the early nineties. Some of his last projects include films like Maa (1993) and Oh Darling Yeh Hai India (1995). He passed away on March 11, 2013 at the age of 93.

Sunder Singh also appeared in Tarzan and Circus. Sunder Singh was a noted Indian film actor between the 1938 and 1980s. He acted in many Punjabi and Hindi films in his career as hero or supporting roles as a comedian. He acted in more than 436 films. I found very little information about him. Oddly enough, his name translates as “beautiful” or “pretty.”

Shakeela Bano Bhopali also appeared in Rocket Tarzan. See her detailed biography in the article at http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6734.html  To summarize she appeared in many films and used several names, among them, Shakil Banu Bhopali, Shakila Banoo Bhopali, Shakila Bano Bhopali, Shakila Banu Bhopali, Shakilabono Bhopali, and Shakilarano Bhopali.

She died from injuries suffered at the Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. It was considered as of 2010 to be the world's worst industrial disaster.

Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas. The highly toxic substance inundated the towns located near the plant.

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