() is a 1966

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

film written and directed by Chetan Anand. This film marked the debut of

Rajesh Khanna Rajesh Khanna (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. Considered as one of the greatest and most successful actors in the history of Indian cinema, h ...

. The music of the film is by Khayyam and lyrics by Kaifi Azmi; it includes the song "Baharon Mera Jeevan Bhi Sanwaro", sung by

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar (; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. He ...

. Chetan Anand started the film with a bare outline of a script and a 15-month-old infant who he let loose in the city, following him with his camera, mostly a hand-held camera, taking in all the city sounds, under the cinematic direction of Jal Mistry The film was selected as the Indian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the

40th Academy Awards The 40th Academy Awards were held on April 10, 1968, to honor film achievements of 1967. Originally scheduled for April 8, the awards were postponed to two days later due to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Bob H ...

in 1967, but was not nominated. The film was remade in Tamil as Poonthalir starring

Sivakumar Palaniswamy Gounder (born 27 October 1941), better known by his stage name Sivakumar, is an Indian visual artist and former actor who has appeared in Tamil cinema and television. He made his acting debut in '' Kaakum Karangal'' (1965) and has ...

and Sujatha in 1979, in Telugu as Chinnari Chitti Babu in 1981 and in Turkish as Garip Kuş in 1974.

Plot

Govind is a young sculptor. While vacationing near Kullu, he sees Lajjo and falls in love. Subsequently, they get married secretly in a village temple. He then has to leave for the city to further his education. Meanwhile, Lajjo learns that she is pregnant. On finding this, her stepmother sells her off for Rs. 500, where she is beaten. Sometime later, she gives birth to a little boy named Buntu. Later, Lajjo comes to Mumbai to meet Govind, carrying their one-year-old son. She leaves a letter for him at his doorstep and wants to leave the child with him as well. However, she is unable to go through with it, so she takes Buntu with her. They keep wandering and feed off whatever comes their way, but soon she dies leaving her son alone. The rest of the film is a story of the little child, wandering around the city. He goes out of the house, eating whatever he finds, including a pill, which makes him doze off. On waking up, he wanders even more and more into the city. Meanwhile, Govind becomes aware of everything through the letter Lajjo has left behind, (Last Letter). He soon realises his mistake and with the help of police tries to find his wife and son, though only finds his wife's body. Later, he shows the Police inspector Naik (Manvendra Chitnis) the statue of Lajjo he has kept in his studio. The child is then rescued by a man who is a staff member of an orphanage nearby. The boy escapes from that place at night. After a long time of wandering here and there, and with the help of some people, he ultimately reaches home to find a statue of his lost mother, and a new woman, who is now his mother.

Cast

as Govind Bali * Indrani Mukherjee as Lajjo * Master Bunty as Buntu *

Nana Palsikar Nana Palshikar () (1907 – 1 June 1984) was an Indian actor who appeared in over 80 Hindi films. He made his film debut in 1935 with ''Dhuwandhar'', and went on to play character roles in both Hindi mainstream and arthouse films. He was also c ...

as slum dweller * Manvendra Chitnis as Inspector Naik * Mohan Choti as Moti *

Tun Tun Uma Devi Khatri
Press Release, Bhupinder singh (musician) Bhupinder Singh (born Bhupinder Soin, 6 February 1940 – 18 July 2022) was an Indian musician, a ghazal singer and also a Bollywood playback singer. Early life Bhupinder Singh was born in Amritsar, Punjab to Natha Singhji, a musician and his ...

as singer in the song 'Rut jawan' * Chic Chocolate as trumpet player in the song 'Rut jawan'

Quotes on the film

disclosed in an interview, "I consider “Aakhri Khat” a memorable film of my initial days. It was out and out a director's project and Chetan Anand, highly imaginative and sensitive director handled the film with expertise. I still clearly remember how cinematographer Jal Mistry shot the song sequence, “Ab Na Ja” on me and Indrani Mukherjee in five to six close ups also picturising the natural panorama of the Himalayas with rare aesthetics and perfection. My most challenging scene in “Aakhri Khat” was the last one where I am in a pensive mood in silence till I recognise my son, Bunty. Chetan Anand used to wake me up with late night phone calls so that my face had the ideal pathos oriented look."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack includes the following tracks, composed by Khayyam, with lyrics by Kaifi Azmi. It also marked the debut of Bhupinder Singh as a solo

playback singer A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync the ...

References

External links