Aradhana - 1969: Aradhana

Star Cast :

Super Star Rajesh Khanna as Arun / Suraj Prasad Saxena
Sharmila Tagore as Vandhana Tripathi
Sujit Kumar as Madan Verma
Pahadi Sanyal as Gopal Tripathi
Anita Dutt as Mrs. Prasad Saxena
Abhi Bhattacharya as Ram Prasad Saxena
Madan Puri as Jailer
Asit Sen as Tikaram
Farida Jalal as Renu
Manmohan as Shyam
Subhash Ghai as Prakash
Dulari as Doctor

Other Film Crew’s :

Directed by Shakti Samanta
Produced by Shakti Samanta
Written by Sachin Bhowmick
Cinematography by Alok Dasgupta
Edited by Sahil Budhiraja
Distributed by Shakti Films
Release date : 24 October 1969
Language : Hindi
Country : India

Introduction :

Aradhana (English: Worship) is a 1969 Hindi language romantic drama film directed by Shakti Samanta, starring Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna. It was voted as the best film of the year by the Filmfare Awards. Sharmila Tagore won her first Filmfare Best Actress Award for this film. The film was the highest grosser of 1969.

Originally released in Hindi and dubbed in Bengali, Aradhana’s huge success gave way to two remakes, both starring Vanisri in Sharmila Tagore’s role: the Tamil film Sivakamiyin Selvan (1974) and the Telugu film Kannavari Kalalu (1974).

Summary :

The story opens against the backdrop of idyllic hilly terrain with Indian air force officer Arun Varma (Rajesh Khanna) crooning “Mere sapno ki rani” atop an open jeep along with his co-pilot Madan (Sujit Kumar), while Vandana (Sharmila Tagore), the daughter of a doctor Gopal Tripathi (Pahadi Sanyal) demurely sneaks glances at him from a mini train. After a brief romance, they have a secret wedding.

Soon afterwards, Arun dies in an air crash leaving behind a heartbroken and pregnant Vandana. His family refuses to accept the unwed mother-to-be since her marriage with Arun is never formalised. Meanwhile, her father also dies, leaving her destitute. Vandana’s son is finally born, but she is forced to let a childless couple adopt him. But determined to be a part of his life, she accepts the responsibility of becoming his nanny. The boy is named Suraj. Events take an ugly turn when her employer’s brother Shyam (Manmohan) arrives and lusts for Vandana. He tries to harass her physically when no-one is around, but Suraj arrives and stabs him to death in order to save his nanny. Upon the arrival of police, Vandana confesses to the murder while Suraj runs away. Thus, Vandana is sent to jail and Suraj forgets this mishap as he grows up.

Several years later, when Vandana is released from jail she is befriended by the jailer (Madan Puri) who takes her home and introduces her to his daughter Renu (Farida Jalal). Vandana comes face to face with her son Suraj (Rajesh Khanna) when she discovers that Renu is dating him. Suraj, just like how his father wished, is an air-force officer. He slowly starts remembering that he has seen Vandana somewhere, although Vandana wants to hide the truth as she feels Suraj may be embarrassed upon realizing his parent’s background and history. Vandana makes herself home at the jailer’s house.

At one time, Suraj gets injured in an air crash just like his real father Arun, but survives. At that time, Vandana meets Madan, who knows that Suraj is Arun and Vandana’s son and he wants to tell Suraj the truth. Again, Vandana denies wanting to let Suraj know that he is her son, fearing the consequences. Later when Vandana is not around, Suraj sees her diary where Arun’s photo is found. Realizing that Arun and Vandana are his true parents, he however salutes Vandana’s self-sacrificing attitude and accepts her as his own mother.

Production :

The film was scripted by Sachin Bhowmick. However, a day prior to the shooting of Aradhana, producer Surinder Kapoor showed Samanta his latest film, Ek Shrimaan Ek Shrimati with Shashi Kapoor as the lead which was also written by Sachin Bhowmick. Much to his surprise this film had similar ending as his own film. The following day Samanta decided to scrap his film, when writers Gulshan Nanda and Madhusudan Kalelkar visited his office. Upon hearing the issue, it was Gulshan Nanda who suggested to have a double role of father and son in the film. Originally the first hero was to die by the interval and a new hero was to step in. The same evening, while Aradhana was being cancelled, Nanda recited a story of Kati Patang to Samanta, which he instantly liked, so for the next couple of hours they first rewrote the second half of Aradhana, and subsequently went on to discuss, Kati Patang.

Music Sound Track :

Music by S.D. Burman
Lyrics by Anand Bakshi
Playback Singers : Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and S.D. Burman.

The soundtrack of the film was composed by S. D. Burman, with lyrics by Anand Bakshi. Burman had already started recording the songs for Aradhana, but became very ill shortly thereafter. The responsibility for finishing the soundtrack fell on his son R. D. Burman, who used Kishore Kumar for the songs “Roop Tera Mastana” and “Mere Sapnon ki Rani”. According to music and film expert Rajesh Subramanian, in the song ‘Roop tera mastana’ Kersi Lord played the Accordion, Homi Mullan the duggi and Manohari Singh played the saxophone.

Songs :

S.No. Title Song Playback Singer(s)

1. “Roop Tera Mastana” - by Kishore Kumar

2. “Baghon Mein Bahar Hai” - by Mohd Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar

3. “Chanda Hai Tu Mera Suraj Hai Tu” - by Lata Mangeshkar

4. “Mere Sapno Ki Rani” - by Kishore Kumar

5. “Gun Guna Rahe Hai Bhanvare” - by Mohd Rafi and Asha Bhosle

6. “Kora Kagaz Tha Yeh Man Mera” - by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar

7. “Saphal Hogi Teri Aradhana” - by S D Burman

Awards :

1969 Filmfare Awards :