''Heer Raanjha'' is a 1970 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language romantic musical film directed by Chetan Anand and produced by his son Ketan Anand. The film stars

Raaj Kumar Raaj Kumar (born Kulbhushan Pandit; 8 October 1926 3 July 1996) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi films. In a career that spanned over four decades, he went on to star in 70 films and is regarded as one of the most successful actors of ...

Priya Rajvansh Priya Rajvansh (30 December 1936 – 27 March 2000), born Vera Sunder Singh, was an Indian actress, who is known for her performance in Hindi films like ''Heer Raanjha'' (1970) and '' Hanste Zakhm'' (1973), amongst a handful of films she did du ...

Pran PRAN-RFL Group () is a Bangladeshi conglomerate, founded in 1981 by Amjad Khan Chowdhury. It is one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh Pran-RFL Group is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and employs over 1,00,000 people worldwide ...

Prithviraj Kapoor Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...

, Ajit, Jayant, Sonia Sahni,

Kamini Kaushal Kamini Kaushal (born as Uma Kashyap; 24 February 1927) is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films and television. She is regarded as one of the finest actresses of Hindi cinema. She is noted for her roles in films such as (1946), which wo ...

Indrani Mukherjee Indrani Mukherjee is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films during the 1960s and 1970s and starred in over 70 films. After playing the heroine in some films, notably ''Usne Kaha Tha'' (1960) and ''Aakhri Khat'' (1966), she moved to playin ...

, Achla Sachdev and

Tun Tun Uma Devi Khatri
Press Release, 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 ...

. The film is based on the legend of

Heer Ranjha '' Ranjha'' () is a classical Punjabi folk tragedy with many historic poetic narrations; with the first one penned by Damodar Gulati in 1600s, on the preexisting oral legend; and the most famous one, ''Heer'', written by Waris Shah in 17 ...

, the

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

''Heer'' by Punjabi poet,

Waris Shah Pir Waris Shah ( ; 1722 1798) was an 18th-century Punjabi Muslims, Punjabi Muslim Sufi poet of the Chishti order, known popularly for his contribution to Punjabi literature. He is primarily known as the author of the ''Heer Ranjha'' love ...

, written in 1766. As with Waris Shah's classical retelling of the tragic romance of Heer Ranjha, the entire film and its dialogue is in verse, with Urdu poet

Kaifi Azmi Kaifi Azmi (born Athar Husain Rizvi; 14 January 1919 – 10 May 2002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participa ...

writing the verse dialogue. The film's songs and music are notable as is the photography by Jal Mistry, who shot most of Chetan Anand's films and won the

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 ...

for the film. The film also showcases some of the best dialogues from the legendary actor

. It was a box-office hit.

Plot

Raanjha (

), a handsome, carefree young man, is the local Romeo of the village of Takht Hazara. He lives with his seven wealthy older brothers and their families in a large house. He plans to travel to the village of Jhang where his close friend is getting married. His family stops him as the people of Takht Hazara and Jhang have been fierce enemies for ages. He ignores their warning and leaves for the wedding. During the wedding dance, he crosses paths with a charming young girl, Heer (Priya Rajvansh), the daughter of a landlord from Jhang. He falls for her beauty and grace. Later, when playing hide and seek with her friends, Heer accidentally catches hold of Raanjha. He expresses his desire of getting to know her. When she hears that he is from the enemy village,she fears for his life and asks him to go away. Raanjha refuses to leave. He promises to stay for as long as the river Chenab flows. Heer is elated and persuades her parents to employ him as their cowherd. They agree without knowing her true feelings for him. She regurlalry brings food for Raanjha and they develop a warm friendship. He confesses his love and asks if she feels the same. Too shocked to reply, she runs away to her home. The next day, she waits to meet him at the village fair. To her dismay, he doesn't turn up. She visits his home and asks why he didn't come to meet her. A quiet Raanjha replies that he is still waiting for her reply to his proposal. By means of a song, Heer reveals that she loves him. Raanjha is filled with happiness. Heer's mother and friends come searching for her. Trying to hide from them, she falls into the nearby river and almost drowns. Raanjha risks his life and saves her. Heer's father Bade Choudhary ( Jayant) gifts him a hefty amount as a reward. Using this money, he buys new clothes, jewellery and gifts to woo her. The lovers continue meeting in secret with the help of her friends. Chote Choudhury (

), Heer's uncle, visits town. Due to his physical limitations, he was unable to find a bride. When he sees people finding love or getting married, it makes him furious. He spots Heer and Raanjha embracing in the garden. He is filled with jealousy. Just before Heer can tell her parents about Raanjha, Chote Choudhary reveals their affair to her family. Teaming up with Heer's mother (Veena Sapru), he ties up Raanjha and plots to get rid of him. They plan to get Heer married to a wealthy man named Saida( Ajit). Seeing his only child heartbroken and distraught, Bade Choudhary frees Raanjha. Despite the rivalry between their villages, he asks Raanjha to bring his family and make peace. Overjoyed, he returns home and asks his brothers to talk to Heer's family. They are surprised and happy at the prospect of making peace with the people of Jhang. But Chote Choudhury hires goons who insult and chase Raanjha's family away from entering the village. Raajha's brothers feel this was a plot to humiliate them. They lock him up in a room and refuse to talk to him. The older men of Jhang tell Bade Choudhary to get Heer married as she is setting a bad example to other young girls. Crumbling under pressure, he agrees to marry her off to Saida despite Heer's repeated refusals. The man conducting the wedding, Kazi, accepts a bribe from Chote Choudhury and lies that Heer accepted the proposal of the wedding. Heer is forcibly taken to Saida's house. Raanjha escapes from his home and vents his anger on Heer's father for breaking his promise. Her father, in turn, calls him a traitor. As they talk, both the men realise who was behind the plot- Chote Choudhury. In Saida's house, Heer explains to him that their marriage is illegal as she never agreed to it. Saida refuses to believe her and tries to force himself on her. She resists him and proclaims her love only for Raanjha. Saida's younger sister comes right on time and helps her. Heer continues to live in Saida's house as a servant. Weeks later, Raanjha becomes a wanderer and travels to Saida's village not knowing Heer is there. When he comes to Saida's house, he sees Heer and is overwhelmed with happiness. Though she doesn't recognise him at first, she realises it his him in a disguise. That night, she runs away and reunites with Raanjha. Saida's men catch them and cruelly drag them to his home. But they are saved by the king's soldiers who happened to be passing by. The soldiers take them to the king to solve the matter. Upon hearing the case from Heer and Saida, the king is perplexed. Chote Choudhury and Kazi paint Heer as a malicious liar deserving of death. However,one of Raanjha's friends, a mute tailor, stands up in court and testifies to have seen Kazi accepting a bribe from Chote Choudhury. The king (

) rules in favour of Heer and Raanjha. Heer's and Raanjha's families come together and conduct the wedding in a grand manner. With great pomp and show, Raanjha takes Heer to his house in a palanquin. When they reach his home, Heer is found dead. It turns out that Chote Choudhury fed her a delicacy laced with poison. Heartbroken seeing his beloved dead, Raanjha also dies. Their families are devastated and mourn the loss of the two lovers.

Cast

as Ranjha *

as Heer * Jayant as Heer's father, Choudhury *

Veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( IAST: vīṇā), is any of various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps.

as Heer's mother *

as Chhote Choudhury, Heer's paternal uncle *

Tun Tun Uma Devi Khatri
Press Release, Ajit as Saida (Khera), Heer's husband * Mumtaz Begum as Saida's mother and Heer's mother-in-law * Jeevan as Kaazi, the Muslim priest who conducts Heer's wedding *

as The King *

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 Diwan, the King's Inquisitor * Ulhas * Manmohan * D.K. Sapru *

Irshad Panjatan Irshad Panjatan (born 7 September 1931) is an Indian actor and veteran mime artist, based in Berlin, who introduced the art form to India during the 1960s. He started his career as stage actor, acted in few Bollywood films, and later received ac ...

Ranjha had six older brothers. Their wives were played by: *

Achala Sachdev Achala Sachdev (3 May 1920 – 30 April 2012) was an Indian actress who appeared in classic films of Hindi language film industry, who started her career as a child actor. She later became known for mother and grandmother roles in Hindi films. ...

Shaukat Azmi Shaukat Kaifi (21 October 1926 – 22 November 2019), also credited as Shaukat Azmi, was an Indian theater and film actress. Her husband was the Urdu poet and film lyricist, Kaifi Azmi. The couple were leading lights of the Indian People's Th ...

Padma Khanna Padma Khanna is an Indian actress, dancer and director. She appeared mainly in Hindi and Bhojpuri films in the 1970s and 1980s. She is most remembered for her role in the film '' Saudagar'' with Amitabh Bachchan and also as Queen Kaikeyi in ...

Tabassum Tabassum (born Kiran Bala Sachdev; 9 July 1944 – 18 November 2022), was an Indian actress, talk show host and YouTuber, who started her career as child actor Baby Tabassum in 1947. She later had a television career as the host of first TV t ...

Crew

* Art Direction:

Sudhendu Roy Sudhendu Roy (1921–1999) was a noted Indian film director, art director and production designer in Hindi cinema, most known for his realistic art direction in auteur Bimal Roy's films, like '' Sujata'' (1959), ''Madhumati'' (1959) and '' Ba ...

, Shamin * Dance director: Sudarshan Dhir, Gopi Krishna * Dialogue Director: Umesh Mathur

Soundtrack

The soundtrack includes the following tracks, 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 ...

, with lyrics by

, and is especially remembered for the poignant "Yeh Duniya, Yeh Mehfil Mere Kaam Ki Nahin", sung by

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and range of voice ...

Awards

* 1971:

* Filmfare Best Cinematographer Award: Jal Mistry

References

Documentary on Heer Ranjha Kamran Saqi
Documentary Film on Heer Ranjha Produced by Kamran Saqi - Royal News
Heer Ranjha – The Cinema of Chetan Anand

External links

Heer Ranjha Story in Urdu PDF
* {{IMDb title, 0148266 1970 films 1970s Hindi-language films Films directed by Chetan Anand Films scored by Madan Mohan Indian romantic musical films 1970s romantic musical films Films based on Heer Ranjha Sung-through musical films Filmfare Awards winners 1970 musical films