''Chirag'' ( English: Light) is a 1969

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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 directed by

Raj Khosla Raj Khosla (31 May 1925 – 9 June 1991) was one of the top directors, producers and screenwriters in Hindi film industry from the 1950s to the 1980s. He was known for bringing in "neo-noir" and style in Indian cinema, and also as a "women's d ...

. The film stars

Sunil Dutt Sunil Dutt (born Balraj Raghunath Dutt; 6 June 1929 – 25 May 2005) was an Indian actor, film producer, director, and politician known for his work in Hindi Cinema. He acted in more than 80 films over a career spanning five decades and was t ...

and

Asha Parekh Asha Parekh (born 2 October 1942) is an Indian actress, film director, and producer who worked in Hindi films. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses of Hindi cinema, Parekh has worked in more than 85 films, in a career spanning over four d ...

in the lead roles. Apart from other plus points, it has the song "Teri Aankhon Ke Siwa" sung separately by Mohd. Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. It also has "Mere Bichhade Sathi Sunta Ja" and "Chhayi Barakha Bahar.." both sung by Lata Mangeshkar. The film performed well at the box office. Asha Parekh said in one of her interviews about Sunil Dutt, “Dutt Saab was God’s child. He was a saint in the truest sense of the word. We did ''Chirag'' together where I had played a blind girl. Dutt Saab was so supportive and gentle as if I was really blind".

Plot

Ajay Singh meets Asha Chibber, and is led to believe that she belongs to a wealthy family. After a few misunderstandings, he does find out that she is a simple girl living a poor lifestyle. Both do fall in love, and Ajay goes to meet Asha's brother, Dr. O.P. Chibber, and his wife, Shanti. They are pleased to meet him, and Ajay's mother, Gayetridevi visits them and approves of Asha. Ajay and Asha get married and settle down. After marriage Asha is expected to conceive, but she is unable to do so. After a certain incident she also loses her eyesight and becomes dependent on Ajay. Frustrated Gayetridevi decides to ask Asha to leave the house while Ajay has gone for a business meeting. Asha then goes to live with her brother and sister-in-law who welcome her back with open arms. a little while later Ajay returns and heads to Dr. Chibber's house to collect Asha and bring her back. upon reaching the house, he is met coldly by Dr. Chibber who accuses him of allowing Asha to be abused by her mother-in law. Ajay assures him that he wholeheartedly loves Asha and that his mother means no such thing. While walking up the stairs to collect Asha from her room, he discovers that she is not there and has attempted to commit suicide by jumping into the raging river below her balcony. Dr. Chibber and Ajay rush frantically to search for her, but to no avail. Presuming that Asha has died, a heartbroken Ajay returns back home to an anxious Gayetridevi who receives news from him that Asha has died, and her body has not been found. Asha survives her suicide attempt and is rescued by a washerman and his wife near a riverbank who take her to their home and assist her. A few days pass when it is revealed that Asha is finally pregnant with Ajay's child. A grieving Ajay subsequently has a car accident and lands in the hospital. when Ajay is discharged, Gayetridevi pressures him into agreeing to an arranged marriage with her secretary's niece as she believes the girl will bear an heir and carry their family legacy forward, as opposed to Asha. Unable to oppose his mother, Ajay agrees, promising her that the girl will get married. while still living with the washerman and his wife Asha gives birth to a boy. Knowing that the child will grow up without his father, the washerman convinces Asha to return to her husband with their child. The day of Ajay's wedding, Asha arrives to her Husband's house and hands her child to Gayetridevi, who is shocked, she runs with the child to stop Ajay's wedding and inform him that Asha is alive and has given birth to his son. the wedding is halted and Gayetridevi apologizes to Asha for her previous bullying. meanwhile Ajay and Asha reunite, embracing each other. Thus, ending the story happily.

Cast

as Ajay Singh *

as Asha Chibber *

Om Prakash Om Prakash Chibber (19 December 1919 – 21 February 1998) was an Indian film actor. He was born in Jammu and was a well known character actor of Bollywood, Hindi Cinema. His most well-known movies are Mere Hamdam Mere Dost (1968 film), ''Mere ...

as Dr. O.P. Chibber * Kanhaiyalal as Singh's employee *

Mukri Mohammed Umar Mukri (5 January 1922 – 4 September 2000), popularly known as Mukri, was an Indian actor, who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. Born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Uran. He started his film career with the film ''Pratima'' along ...

as Tingu * Sulochana Latkar as Shanti Chibber (as Sulochana) * Dulari as Malinya *

Lalita Pawar Lalita Pawar (née Amba Laxmanrao Shagun; 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 Bollywood, Hindi, Marathi cinema, Marathi and Gujarati c ...

as Gayetridevi Singh *

Nazir Hussain Nazir Hussain (15 May 1922 – 16 October 1987) was an Indian actor, director and screenwriter. He was famous as a character actor in Hindi cinema and was a pioneer of Bhojpuri cinema. He acted in almost 500 films, with Dev Anand starring in ...

as Malinya's husband * Snehlata as Sandhya

Awards

*Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress Award - Asha Parekh

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film contains 7 songs. The music for all the songs were composed by

Madan Mohan Madanamohana () is an epithet of the Hindu deity Krishna. It translates as, "he whose charm (''mohana'') bewilders even the god of love ('' madana'')". The epithet describes the powerful nature of the attraction for the deity from his devotees, e ...

and the lyrics were penned by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in the Hindi language film industry. He wrote lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was one of the dom ...

. Raj Khosla wanted Majrooh to use the line from faiz's poetry for the song "Teri Aankhon Ke Siwa Duniya", for which permission was obtained.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0064164 1969 films 1960s Hindi-language films 1960s Indian films Films scored by Madan Mohan Films directed by Raj Khosla