 | |
| Directed by | Gulzar |
|---|---|
| Produced by |
N.C. Sippy Raj N. Sippy Romu N. Sippy |
| Written by |
Indra Mitra Gulzar |
| Starring |
Meena Kumari Vinod Khanna Shatrughan Sinha |
| Music by | Salil Choudhury |
| Cinematography | K Vaikunth |
| Edited by |
Waman Bhosle Gurudutt Shirali |
Release date | 10 September 1971 |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Box office | ? 1.7 crore |
Mere Apne (Hindi: ???? ????) is a 1971 Hindi film produced by Romu, Raj and N. C. Sippy and written and directed by Gulzar. It was Gulzar's first directorial venture and was almost a frame by frame remake of the National Award-winning Bengali film Apanjan, which was directed by Tapan Sinha. The film stars Meena Kumari, Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha in lead roles along with Deven Verma, Paintal, Asit Sen, Asrani, Danny Denzongpa, Keshto Mukherjee, A. K. Hangal, Dinesh Thakur, Mehmood and Yogeeta Bali. The music is composed by Salil Choudhury.
Mere Apne was declared as "Above Average" at the box office.
Contents
Plot
Anandi Devi (Meena Kumari) is an old widow who lives in a village. One day, she is visited by a distant relative, Arun Gupta (Ramesh Deo), who persuades her to live in town with him, his wife Lata (Sumita Sanyal), and a small child. She later realizes that they were looking for a maid, which results in her expulsion from the house and befriending a child beggar who takes her to his dilapidated home. Being good-natured and caring, she slowly earns the title of "Nani Ma" (maternal grandmother) among groups of youths led by Shyam (Vinod Khanna) and Chhenu (Shatrughan Sinha), who were in a constant fight with each other. The movie ends with her death from accidental gunfire in one such response
Cast
- Meena Kumari as Anandi Devi
- Vinod Khanna as Shyam
- Shatrughan Sinha as Chhenu
- Deven Verma as Niranjan
- Asrani as Raghunath
- Danny Denzongpa as Sanju
- Paintal as Bansi
- Dinesh Thakur as Billoo
- Sudhir Thakkar as Ranbir
- Ramesh Deo as Arun Gupta
- Sumita Sanyal as Lata
- Mehmood as Sri Anokhelal
- Asit Sen as Biloki Prasad
- Abhi Bhattacharya as Freedom Fighter
- Leela Mishra as Gupta's maidservant
- Shashi Kiran as Neelu
- Keshto Mukherjee as Jattu
- Dev Kishan as Shyam's father
- A. K. Hangal as College Principal
- Yogeeta Bali as Urmila
- Kamaldeep as Urmila's father (as Kamal Deep)
- Fatima as Julie
- Amina Karim as Young Anandi
Production
After Apanjan, directed by Tapan Sinha, based on a story of Inder Mitra, was both a commercial and critical success, screenwriter Gulzar was called to Kolkata to translate the script for a Hindi remake. However, subsequently Sinha insisted on using the same cast, and dropped out of the film. Then, producer N. C. Sippy, who till then was assisting Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee and penned screenplays of Khamoshi (1969) and Anand (1971), made his directorial debut with the film. Gulzar bought the rights of the story, and rewrote the screenplay removing the portions he felt were too formulaic and commercial. [4]
Meena Kumari was roped in for the lead role of grandmother, she was ailing at the time, and worked through her bad health in the film. The shooting was completed in 40 days, and she died within a few months of its release. [4]
Soundtrack
All lyrics written by Gulzar; all music composed by Salil Choudhary.
| Songs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Playback | Length |
| 1. | "Haal Chal Theek Thak Hai" | Kishore Kumar, Mukesh | 3:26 |
| 2. | "Koi Hota Jisko Apna" | Kishore Kumar | 3:27 |
| 3. | "Roz Akeli Aayi" | Lata Mangeshkar | 3:20 |
| 4. | "Ganga,Ganga Ki Bhari God Mein" | Manna Dey | 3:08 |
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