''Mehrban'' () is a 1967 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

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by A. Bhimsingh, and produced by A. V. Meiyappan. It is a remake of the 1953

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

film ''Jog Biyog'', based on the novel of the same name by

Ashapurna Devi Ashapurna Devi (8 January 1909 – 12 July 1995), also Ashapoorna Devi or Ashapurna Debi, was a prominent Indian novelist and poet in Bengali. In 1976, she was awarded the Jnanpith Award and Padma Shri by the Government of India, D.Litt. by ...

. The film stars

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 ...

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 ...

Nutan Nutan Samarth-Bahl ( Samarth; 4 June 1936 – 21 February 1991), known mononymously as Nutan was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, Nutan was noted for her natu ...

, Mehmood,

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 ...

and

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 ...

. It was released on 21 April 1967.

Plot

Shanti Swarup, a wealthy businessman, lives with his three sons Ram, Shyam, and Sunder; his wife Parvati; widowed daughter Devki; unmarried daughter Geeta; and adopted orphan Kanhaiya. Kanhaiya is raised as Shanti Swarup's family member and he in return is very dedicated to this family, especially his adopters – Shanti and Parvati. They come across Laxmi whose parents, known to the Swarups, died and so they also bring Laxmi into their family. Parvati wants Sunder to marry Laxmi, but Sunder wants to marry his lover Rachna. Eventually, Kanhaiya marries Laxmi and Sundar marries Rachna. Shanti arranges for Geeta to marry Ramesh, the son of his friend Lala Karamchand. Financial losses cause Shanti to lose all his wealth. Ram and Shyam refuse to help him at all, and Karamchand cancels the impending marriage. Kanhaiya and Laxmi leave the house due to the instance of Shanti to make him self-dependent and also ill-treatment by his sons. But they are given shelter by Laxmis long-lost brother Madhu who doesn't reveal his identity to Laxmi. Disheartened, depressed and unable to face anyone, Shanti dies. Even as his palatial house is to be auctioned by Karamchand, who is voracious, a devastated Parvati is on her deathbed as she cannot think of living anywhere else, and only a miracle can save the now ruined family. Kanhaiya saves Karamchand's son Ramesh from a car accident. Thus Karamchand gives the palatial house in favour of Kanhaiya and on turn reunites with the family and fulfils the wishes of Shanti Swaroop.

Cast

as Shanti Swaroop *

as Kanhaiya *

as Laxmi * Mehmood as Madhu *

as Devki *

as Parvati

Production

''Mehrban'' was written and directed by A. Bhimsingh and produced by A. V. Meiyappan under

AVM Productions AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar. It is the oldest film studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

. It was remade from Bhimsingh's own

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

film ''

Padikkadha Medhai ''Padikkadha Medhai'' () is a 1960 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed and co-written by A. Bhimsingh. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, S. V. Ranga Rao, Kannamba and Sowcar Janaki. It is a remake of the 1953 Bengali film ''Jog Biyog'', ...

'' (1960), which itself was a remake of the

film ''Jog Biyog'', based on the novel of the same name by

. The dialogues were written by

Rajendra Krishan Rajinder Krishan Duggal (6 June 1919 – 23 September 1987) also credited as Rajendra Krishan, was an Indian poet, lyricist and screenwriter. His poems and lyrics were in the Urdu language. Biography Rajinder Krishan was born in a Duggal famil ...

. A. K. Sekhar was the art director, A. Paul Duraisingam was the editor, and

A. Vincent Aloysius Vincent (14 June 1928 – 25 February 2015) was an Indian cinematographer and director known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu and Hindi language, Hindi language films. From the mid-1960s on, he ...

was cinematographer.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (rapper) (born 1993), a Sou ...

and the lyrics by Rajinder Krishan.

Release

''Mehrban'' was released on 21 April 1967, and was distributed by Vidyut.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{A. Bhimsingh 1960s Hindi-language films 1960s Indian films 1967 drama films AVM Productions films Films based on adaptations Films based on works by Ashapurna Devi Films directed by A. Bhimsingh Films scored by Ravi Hindi remakes of Bengali films Hindi-language drama films Indian drama films