''Rivaaj'' (The Custom) is a 1972

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 ...

directed by T. Prakash Rao, and produced by

K. C. Bokadia K.C. Bokadia Kistur Chand Bokadia is an Indian film Producer and Director. He was born in Merta City, Nagaur, Rajasthan. He has produced , Teri Meherbaniyan, Naseeb Apna Apna, Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam, Pyaar Zindagi Hai and Main Tera Dushman. He ...

. The film stars

Sanjeev Kumar Sanjeev Kumar (born Harihar Jethalal Jariwala; 9 July 1938 – 6 November 1985) was an Indian actor. Considered as one of the greatest actors of Indian Cinema, he is well remembered for his versatility and genuine portrayal of his characters. ...

Farida Jalal Farida Jalal (born Farida Sami; 18 May 1950) is an Indian actress who primarily worked in Hindi films. In a film career spanning almost fifty years, Jalal appeared in over 200 films. Best known for her character-driven roles in independent cin ...

and

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 ...

Synopsis

The movie Rivaaj, meaning custom, starts with the melodious resounding of the voice of a young widow Lakshmi singing in the precincts of the famous temple,

Jagdish Temple, Udaipur Jagdish Temple is a large Hindu temple in the middle of Udaipur in Rajasthan, just outside the royal palace. It has been in continuous worship since 1651. A big tourist attraction, the temple was originally called the temple of Jagannath Rai but ...

, praises of love for God Shri

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

Meera Meera, better known as Mirabai, and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. She is mentioned in '' Bhaktama ...

. She stays in the temple with her father, temple priest. In the temple itself she meets Shekhar, where both fall in love and want to get married, when opposition comes from Shekhar's mother, who is against child widow's re-marriage. She gets her son married to a woman of her choice. Lakshmi starts leading the life of a widow. Shekhar's is blessed with a daughter Rajji and starts leading a contented married life, when destiny jolts him with loss of his job and death of his wife with cancer. Rajji happens to witness him lighting the pyre of her mother by Hindu custom, is unable to understand, and suffers a psychological shock thinking that her father had burnt her mother alive and would burn her too! She starts hating him and is scared of him, which further deepens the pain and loss of Shekhar. Here respite comes for Rajji when her grandmother tells her that her mother will come back in the form of a plant or take up another woman's form and return to her beloved daughter from God. Rajji goes to the cremation grounds again and sees a plant where her mother had been cremated. She starts talking to it as if it was her mother. Lakshmi who had come to the river near by, chances to hear Rajji talking to the plant and filled with emotion starts talking back from the back of a small temple of God

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

, pretending to be her mother. Rajji is overjoyed and the ritual is repeated everyday with Lakshmi being unaware as to whose daughter Rajji is. Meanwhile Shekhar saves the life of the wheel chair ridden sister and heiress who appoints him as her estate manager, much to the chagrin of her brother. He is involved in saving her assets from her rogue brother many times which creates ill-will amongst them. Shekhar is also told by his mother that Rajji meets some woman pretending to be her dead mother and Shekhar discovers that she is no other than Lakshmi who loves his daughter as her own now. Again Lakshmi is derided by Shekhar's mother as well as her own father Pujari ji for dreaming of having a family. Shatrughan Sinha kidnaps Rajji and there ensues a bloody struggle which however nasty, brings back and unites Rajji, Lakshmi and Shekhar, bringing them back to the precincts of the holy Jagdish Ji Temple, the bells resounding the power and glory of God.

Cast

as Lakshmi *

as Shekhar *

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (18 September 1928 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted ...

as Shekhar's Mother *

Shatrughan Sinha Shatrughan Prasad Sinha (born 15 July 1946) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he was elected as Member of Parliament ...

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 ...

Soundtrack

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0254737, title=Rivaaj 1972 films 1970s Hindi-language films 1970s Indian films 1972 drama films Films scored by Shankar–Jaikishan Films directed by T. Prakash Rao