''Dharmputra'' is a 1961

Hindi film 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 " Hollywood". The industry, producing films in t ...

directed by

Yash Chopra Yash Raj Chopra (27 September 1932 21 October 2012) was an Indian film director and film producer who worked in Bollywood, Hindi cinema. The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chopra was the reci ...

based on a novel of the same name by Acharya Chatursen. This is Yash's second directorial venture. It was the first

to depict the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, and Hindu fundamentalism. Produced by his elder brother B.R. Chopra, who was himself uprooted from

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, during the partition of India and established B.R. Films in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

in 1956. The film dealt with issues of religious bigotry, fanaticism and communalism amidst the backdrop of the partition.Dharmputra (1961): Review
/ref> Two years earlier, Yash Chopra had made his debut with '' Dhool Ka Phool'' (1959), steeped in Nehruvian

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

, wherein a Muslim brings up an "illegitimate" Hindu child and featured the classic song "Tu Hindu Banega Na Musalman Banega, Insaan Ki Aulaad Hai, Insaan Banega". The theme was reversed in this film as herein a Hindu family brings up an illegitimate Muslim child. This was Shashi Kapoor's first film as an adult actor playing the pivotal role of a Hindu fundamentalist. Noted actor

Rajendra Kumar Rajendra Kumar (born as Rajendra Kumar Tuli; 20 July 1927 – 12 July 1999), was an Indian actor who starred in Bollywood films. Starting his career in 1949, he appeared in more than 80 films in a career spanning over four decades. Kumar was on ...

made a special appearance for a song as did

Shashikala Shashikala Saigal (née Jawalkar; 4 August 1932 – 4 April 2021), better known by her first name, was an Indian film and television actress, who played supporting roles in hundreds of Bollywood films beginning in the 1940s. Early years Shas ...

. At the 9th National Film Awards it was awarded the Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Plot

The film opens in 1925, during the

British rule in India The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

and at the height of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

it is the tale of two

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

families, that of Nawab Badruddin and Gulshan Rai. The two families are so close that they virtually share the same house. The Nawab's daughter, Husn Bano, has an affair with a young man named Javed and gets pregnant. When the Nawab attempts to arrange her marriage with Javed, he finds that Javed has disappeared. Amrit Rai and his wife Savitri assist Husn with the birth of a baby boy, Dilip, and even adopt him and give him their family name. Young Dilip is the apple of the Badruddin and the Rai households. Husn is then reunited and marries Javed. In the meantime, while participating in a protest to force the British to leave India, the Nawab is killed. Years later, Husn Bano and Javed return to a warm welcome by the Rai family. Then she meets Dilip - not the Dilip she had left behind - this Dilip is fascist, a Muslim-hater, who has joined forces with other extremists, in order to force Muslims to leave India and even go to the extent of burning buildings and killing them. How can Husn and Dilip adapt to each other with so much hate and distrust between them?

Cast

* Shashi Kapoor as Dilip Rai *

Mala Sinha Mala Sinha (born Alda Sinha; 11 November 1936) is a former Indian actress who mainly worked in Hindi, Bengali films. Initially starting her career with regional cinema, she went on to become a top leading actress in Hindi Cinema in the 1960s a ...

as Husn Bano * Rehman as Javed *

Manmohan Krishna Manmohan Krishna (26 February 1922 – 3 November 1990) was an 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 degree i ...

as Dr. Amrit Rai * Indrani Mukherjee as Meena * Tabassum as Rekha Rai *

Deven Verma Deven Verma (23 October 1937 – 2 December 2014) was an Indian film and television actor, particularly known for his comic roles, with Bollywood directors like Basu Chatterji, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Gulzar. He also produced and directed fi ...

as Sudesh Rai * Nirupa Roy as Mrs. Savitri Amrit Rai * Leela Chitnis as Meena's Mother *

Ashok Kumar Ashok Kumar (born Kumudlal Ganguly; 13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema. He is considered to be the first Super-st ...

as Nawab Badruddin (Husn Bano's Father) *

as Party Leader *

as Dancer

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by N. Dutta with lyrics written by Sahir Ludhianvi. *The song "Saare Jahan Se Achha", was written by poet

Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

Reception

The raw reconstruction of partition riots and sloganeering led to riot-like situations at theatres during screening the film, and the film flopped at the box office. After ''Dharmputra''s debacle, few directors ventured into the communal theme in

Hindi cinema 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 ...

that took it so bluntly, the next film which dealt with the issue was '' Garm Hava'', by M.S. Sathyu, made in 1973. The film's director Yash Chopra never made a political film again, and stuck to love stories till many decades later, when he touched the theme of religious harmony again with '' Veer Zaara'' (2004).

Awards

;

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

: President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Hindi ;

Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Time ...

* 1963: Best Dialogue:

Akhtar ul Iman Akhtar ul Iman (12 November 1915 9 March 1996) was a noted Urdu poet and screenwriter in Hindi cinema, who had a major influence on modern Urdu nazm. He won the Filmfare Award for Filmfare Best Dialogue Award, Best Dialogue in 1963 for ''Dh ...

References

External links

* 1961 films 1960s Hindi-language films 1960s Indian films Films directed by Yash Chopra Yash Raj Films films Films set in Delhi Films set in the partition of India Films scored by Datta Naik Films based on Indian novels Best Hindi Feature Film National Film Award winners {{1960s-Hindi-film-stub