Charandas Chor (''Charandas the Thief'') is a 1975

children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films ar ...

by noted director

Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received ...

, based on the famous play by

Habib Tanvir Habib Tanvir (1 September 1923 – 8 June 2009) was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He was the writer of plays such as, ''Agra Bazar'' (1954) and '' Charandas Chor'' (1975). A pi ...

, which itself was an adaptation of a classical Rajasthani folktale by Vijaydan Detha. The lyrics of the film were also by Habib Tanvir. The film starred

Smita Patil Smita Patil (17 October 1955 – 13 December 1986) was an Indian actress who worked in films, television series and theatres. She appeared in over 80 Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Kannada films in a career that spanned just ...

, Lalu Ram, Madanlal and

Plot

The film is derived from a classic folk tale, originally narrated by Vijaydan Detha, and interpreted as folk play by Habib Tanvir. The film charts the tumultuous life of a petty thief, Charandas (Lalu Ram). Curiously he is a man of principles – an honest thief with a strong sense of integrity and professional efficiency. He makes four vows to his Guru, that he would never eat in a gold plate, never lead a procession that is in his honour, never become a king and never marry a princess, thinking all of them are far out possibilities for him. Later, his guru adds a fifth one - never to tell a lie and sets him of on his life's journey which leads him to a kingdom, where the turn of events make him famous, and eventually he is offered the seat of political power which he has to refuse. Later, the local princess (Smita Patil) gets enchanted by him, and proposes to marry him. This is when his refusal costs him his life. As he is put to death, he illustrates the inherent paradox in human existence, where truthful existence becomes an impossibility, for the truthful and the accidentally truthfuls, alike.

Cast

* Lalu Ram as Charandas *

as Princess * Madanlal * Fida Bhai * Sadhu Meher *

Anjali Paigankar Anjali Paigankar is a Hindi and Marathi film actress. A graduate of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, Anjali appeared in ''Murder at Monkey Hill'', Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s diploma film as a final year student there in 1976. ...

* Sunder * Baby Dass * Babu * Kemal Kar

References

External links

*
Charandas Chor FTVdatabase
1975 films Films with screenplays by Shama Zaidi Films directed by Shyam Benegal Indian films based on plays Indian children's films 1970s Hindi-language films {{child-film-stub