''Raj Tilak'' () is a 1958 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language Ruritanian romance

epic film Epic films are a style of filmmaking with large-scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply synonymous with big-budget filmmaking. Like epics in ...

written by the

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Sub ...

story department, consisting of K. J. Mahadevan, C. Srinivasan and

Kothamangalam Subbu Kothamangalam Subbu (born S. M. Subramanian, 10 November 1910 – 15 February 1974) was an Indian poet, lyricist, author, actor and film director based in Tamil Nadu. He wrote the cult classic Tamil novel '' Thillana Mohanambal'' and was awarded ...

, along with

Ramanand Sagar Chandramauli Chopra ( ; 29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) known professionally as Ramanand Sagar, was an Indian filmmaker, editor, playwright, poet and an author. He is best known for making the television show ''Ramayan'' (1987-1988). The ...

, while the film was directed and produced by S. S. Vasan. The film features

Gemini Ganeshan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

, Padmini,

Vyjayanthimala Vyjayanthimala (born 13 August 1936) is a former Indian actress, dancer and parliamentarian. She is the recipient of several accolades, including two BFJA Awards and five Filmfare Awards. She made her screen debut at the age of thirteen wit ...

in the lead roles, along with Pran,

Gajanan Jagirdar Gajanan Jagirdar (2 April 1907 – 13 August 1988) was a veteran Indian film director, screenwriter and actor. He worked in Hindi Cinema, also called Bollywood, as well as Marathi cinema. The period of 1942 to 1947, saw his rise as a film direct ...

Bipin Gupta Bipin Gupta (21 August 1905 – 9 September 1981) was an Indian actor and artist during the 1930s and 1960s. He acted in Bengali and Hindi cinema, most notably in ''Baiju Bawra'' (1952), ''Jagriti'' (1954), '' Gharana'' (1961) and '' Khilona'' ...

Manmohan Krishna Manmohan Krishna (26 February 1922 – 3 November 1990) was a popular Indian film actor and director, who worked in Hindi films for four decades, mostly as a character actor. He started his career as a professor in Physics and held master's de ...

Lalita Pawar Lalita Pawar (18 April 1916 – 24 February 1998) was a prolific Indian actress, who later became famous as a character actress, appearing in over 700 films in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati cinema. She holds a Guinness world record of longest a ...

Durga Khote Durga Khote (14 January 1905 − 22 September 1991) was an Indian actress, beginning as one of the foremost leading ladies of her times, she remained active in Hindi and Marathi cinema, as well as theatre, for over 50 years, starring in arou ...

, Agha, Shammi forming an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

. The music was composed by

C. Ramchandra Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar (12 January 1918 – 5 January 1982), also known as C. Ramchandra or Chitalkar or Anna Sahib, was an Indian music director and playback singer.

. The screenplay was written by

, who had earlier worked with S. S. Vasan in '' Insaniyat''. The film was a remake of 1958 Tamil film '' Vanjikottai Valiban''.

Plot

Chandrashekhar (

), shortly called Chandar, lives & works in a ship with his sister Savitri (

C. R. Vijayakumari C. R. Vijayakumari is an Indian actress in the Tamil film industry from 1953 to 2003. Film career Vijayakumari is known for her ability to convincingly transform herself into the characters she portrays. She is noted for her Tamil diction an ...

), they are raised by the Ship Captain (

Kumar A coin, around 200 BCE, of the Yaudheyas with depiction of Kumāra Karttikeya">Yaudheyas.html" ;"title="BCE, of the Yaudheyas">BCE, of the Yaudheyas with depiction of Kumāra Karttikeya Kumar (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: wikt:कुमा ...

). Now, Chandar becomes busy for Savitri's marriage & fixes in a decent family. Before marriage, Savitri is abducted by Senapati Durjay Singh ( Pran); for saving her honour, she commits suicide in front of Chandar. Enraged Chandar vows to take revenge on Durjan, but captured by his goons & jailed in a fort, where he meets his long lost mother (

). There he comes to know about his past as he is the son of Mangalsen (

), who was the faithful Chief Minister under Maharaja Vikram Singh (

), who was killed by none other than Durjay; to save the Prince & Princess, Mangalsen took them with him, on the other side his wife took their son & daughter for running away by boats, however, Mangalsen managed to escape while his wife failed & captured by Durjay's goons, leaving her children on the boat, in this way, they became separated from their parents. Now, Chandar hits upon a plan for meeting his father as well as taking revenge on Durjay. However, his mother dies in the jail & Chandar manages to escape, ends up to be in a ship, which reaches him to the arrogant Princess Mandakini (

), who wants Chandar as her slave for lifetime. On the other side, Mangalsen, who now becomes Sardar & trains the villagers, along with Princess Padma ( Padmini) & Prince (

Romi Romi is a given name and may refer to: *Romi Dames (born 1979), Japanese-American actress *Romi Garduce (born 1969), Filipino mountain climber and IT Professional in Procter and Gamble Philippines *Romi Goldmuntz (1882–1960), Belgian businessman ...

), for fighting against the evils. Will Chandar ever meet with his father? Could he take revenge on Durjay & save the kingdom from the traitors?

Cast

as Chandrashekhar "Chandar" * Padmini as Princess Padma *

as Princess Mandakini * Pran as Senapati Durjay Singh *

as Sardar Mangalsen *

as Mangalsen's Wife *

as Maharaja Vikram Singh *

as Madhav *

as Alka *

as Prince * Agha as Govind * Shammi as Govind's Wife *

as Ship Captain *

as Savitri *

Meenakshi Meenakshi (Sanskrit: ; Tamil: ; sometimes spelled as Minakshi; also known as , and ), is a Hindu goddess and tutelary deity of Madurai who is considered an avatar of the Goddess Parvati also referred to as Durga. She is the divine consort o ...

as Maharani *

T. K. Ramachandran T. K. Ramachandran (died October 1993), was an Indian actor and film producer, who worked in Tamil cinema. He was a popular villain and character actor in many movies in 50's and also acted as hero in initial years. In 1966 he produced the movi ...

as Gajpal

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

C. Ramchandra Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar (12 January 1918 – 5 January 1982), also known as C. Ramchandra or Chitalkar or Anna Sahib, was an Indian music director and playback singer.

and the lyrics were written by P. L. Santoshi.

Inspirations and remakes

The film was a remake of 1958 Tamil film '' Vanjikottai Valiban'', which also directed by S. S. Vasan with

and Padmini. The film itself was inspired by the 1844 novel ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. L ...

'' by

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

References

External links

*
''Raj Tilak'' profile
at ''Upperstall.com'' {{Gemini Studios 1958 films Hindi remakes of Tamil films 1950s Hindi-language films Films about royalty Films based on The Count of Monte Cristo Films directed by S. S. Vasan Films scored by C. Ramchandra Gemini Studios films