''Jeevan Dhaara'' is a 1982 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 film directed by

T. Rama Rao Tatineni Rama Rao (1938 – 20 April 2022) was an Indian filmmaker. He directed 75 Hindi and Telugu feature films between 1966 and 2000. Career Rao started his work in the film industry in the late 1950s as the assistant director of his cousi ...

. The film is a remake of the 1974 Tamil film ''

Aval Oru Thodar Kathai ''Aval Oru Thodar Kathai'' () is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. The lead role was played by Sujatha in her first Tamil film, which was also her first starring role. Kamal Haasan, Vijayakumar, ...

''. The film stars

Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (; born 10 October 1954), better known by her mononymous stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in mo ...

in the pivotal role along with

Raj Babbar Raj Babbar (born 23 June 1952) is an Indian Hindi and Punjabi language, Punjabi film actor and politician belonging to Indian National Congress. He is a three-time member of the Lok Sabha and a two-time member of the Rajya Sabha. He was the sta ...

Rakesh Roshan Rakesh Roshan (born 6 September 1949) is an Indian film producer, director, screenwriter and actor who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. He appeared in 84 films in the 1970s and 1980s. As an actor, he is mostly known for his supporting roles in ...

Amol Palekar Amol Palekar (born 24 November 1944) is an Indian actor, director and producer of Hindi and Marathi cinema. Early life and education Palekar was born to Kamlakara and Suhasini Palekar in a Marathi language, Marathi speaking middle-class family ...

, Kanwaljit Singh and

Simple Kapadia Simple Kapadia (15 August 1958 – 10 November 2009) was a Bollywood, Hindi film actress and costume designer, who was active in her professional career from 1987 until her death in 2009. She won the National Film Award for Best Costume Design ...

. The movie bridges the mainstream genre with

Parallel Cinema Parallel cinema, or New Indian Cinema, is a film movement in Cinema of India, Indian cinema that originated in the state of West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema. Inspired by Italian Neorealism, ...

. Rekha received a nomination for

Filmfare Best Actress Award The Filmfare Award for Best Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise the female performer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role. The award was first given in 1 ...

, the only nomination for the film and is credited with the film's box office success.BoxOffice India.com

Plot

Sangeeta (

) is a young, strong and idealistic girl. in her late twenties who unlike her contemporaries, is still not married as she has to take care of a large family. Her father has abandoned their family in the guise of sans; her mother is a homemaker; her alcoholic brother (Raj Babbar) is unemployed despite being married and the father of three children; one younger sister Geeta (Madhu Kapoor) is widowed; Sangeeta has another younger sister and a younger brother that are studying. All members of this family live under one roof. Sangeeta is the only earning member. Secretly, Sangeeta dreams of the day when she will have her own husband and children. Prem (Kanwaljit) is her longstanding friend and is in love with her. She realizes her feelings for him after she is unable to find him on the bus one day. They start dating and she brings him home to meet her family. Her widowed sister falls in love with Prem as well. When Sangeeta finds out about this she asks Prem to forget her and marry her sister instead and he accepts. After some unfortunate incidents, involving her brother and her best friend (Simple Kapadia) Sangeeta's boss (Rakesh Roshan) offers Sangeeta's brother a job in his company and proposes to Sangeeta. However, on the day of the wedding Sangeeta's brother is killed by a goon he owed money to and Sangeeta must break off the wedding so she can continue to support her family. The film ends with Sangeeta telling the bus conductor that a woman who has a mother, a widowed sister-in-law, two siblings and three young children to take care of, cannot dream for her individual self.

Cast

as Sangeeta *

* Kanwaljit Singh as Prem *

as Kalpana *

Sulochana Latkar Sulochana Latkar (born Rangu Diwan; 30 July 1928 – 4 June 2023), better known by her screen name Sulochana, was an Indian actress of Marathi and Hindi cinema, who acted in 50 films in Marathi and around 250 films in Hindi. She was most known ...

*Madhu Kapoor as Geeta

Music

References

External links

* 1982 films 1980s Hindi-language films 1980s Indian films Hindi remakes of Tamil films Films directed by T. Rama Rao Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal Films about women in India {{1980s-Hindi-film-stub