''Mere Sanam'' (English: ''My Lover)'' is a 1965

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 ...

film starring Biswajeet,

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 ...

, Mumtaz, Pran and Rajendra Nath. The film was a hit at the box office, especially because of the musical score by Majrooh Sultanpuri, O. P. Nayyar and the

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; ; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur, actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the media as one of the ...

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 ...

collaboration. The film was shot in the beautiful locales of

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

just before the outbreak of Indo-Pakistani war of 1965. The Songs "Jaiye Aap Kahan Jayenge", "Yeh Hai Reshmi Zulfon Ka Andhera", "Pukarta Chala Hoon Main" and "Humdum Mere Maan Bhi Jao" are milestones in Hindi film music. This film is the unofficial remake of '' Come September'', which is a 1961 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Mulligan, starring Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin.

Story

Neena is on an excursion trip to

, in the company of her mother Savitri Devi, who is also the warden of their girls hostel in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

and several female friends. During their journey, they decide to stay overnight at the Dreamland Hotel. Another lodger, Kumar, who arrives there subsequently, finds their presence undesirable and asks the caretaker to get the surprised group to leave, as he is perturbed by the fact that his residential bungalow has been converted into the Dreamland Hotel! The caretaker, Shyam explains to the girls that Kumar is mentally unstable and under the impression that he is the owner of the hotel, as Shyam is involved in illegal activities there, for which he had converted the bungalow into a vice den. Kumar is the

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

to his uncle, Mr. Mehra's industrial empire and cotton mills as his father and Mr. Mehra were the best of friends. Mr. Mehra had relocated to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

for business, leaving his two-year-old daughter and his wife in her paternal home, subsequent to which came

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 ...

, which displaced his family. Meanwhile, during the trip itself, Shyam discovers through his servant, who had previously served under Mr. Mehra, that Savitri Devi is the lost wife of Mr. Mehra and Neena their daughter and thus true heir. He thus tries to cultivate both mother and daughter in the hope of usurping Mr. Mehra's wealth. After several misunderstandings and an altercation with goons at the nightclub of the hotel, because of Neena, Kumar and Neena fall in love and express their desire to marry to Mr. Mehra, who disapproves. Subsequently, Neena and her mother are given some intimate photographs of Kumar and Kamo by Kamo, alias Kamini, who has been paid by Shyam to do so. But her greed makes her blackmail Shyam to give her more money to keep these secrets, whereupon he gets her killed. Kumar, to prove his innocence, barges into Kamini's room to find her dead, and is thus framed for her murder by eyewitnesses who see him there! Savitri Devi is united with her husband, on a chance meeting, but Neena has already left with her friend Pyarelal, who enlightens her about her true father, Shyam's bad intentions for her, and Kumar's innocence in Kamo's murder. Both of them chance to hear Shyam plotting to get Kumar shot at the beat of

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

s, to be killed during a dance performance at the International club. Pyare silences the real dancer and replaces Neena with her and thus they are able to save Kumar from an untimely ghastly death. But Shyam grabs hold of Neena and escapes in his car to his hide out. He is chased by Kumar and overpowered there, along with the timely arrival of the police, thus resulting in a happy ending of the real family uniting together.

Cast

* Biswajeet as Kumar *

as Neena Mehra * Mumtaz as Kamini 'Kammo' * Pran as Shyam * Rajendra Nath as Pyarelal * Nazir Hussain as Mr. Mehra *

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. ...

as Savitri Mehra * Dhumal as Banke * Asit Sen as Inspector Gopichand * Laxmi Chhaya as Rita * Ram Avtar as stout jeep owner at check post * Jeevankala as lady car owner * Dev Kishan as Lalchand, Shyam's assistant * Maqsood as goon in Shyam's den

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is composed by O. P. Nayyar, while the lyrics are penned by lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri. The soundtrack consists of 9 songs. Singers such as Mohammad Rafi and

have done the playback for the songs of the album.. There is also a small alap, which

takes in the beginning of the song "Jaiye Aap Kahan Jayenge".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title , id=0059445
Mere Sanam on YouTube
1965 films 1960s Hindi-language films 1960s Indian films Films scored by O. P. Nayyar Indian remakes of American films