''Saathi'' () is a 1968 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

romance film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

written and directed by

C. V. Sridhar Chithamur Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar (22 July 1933 – 20 October 2008) was an Indian screenwriter and film director. He has directed nearly 60 films in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu languages. Career Entry In 1951, 18-year-old Sridhar went to A ...

. The film stars

Rajendra Kumar Rajendra Kumar (born as Rajendra Kumar Tuli; 20 July 1927 – 12 July 1999), was an Indian actor who starred in Bollywood films. Starting his career in 1949, he appeared in more than 80 films in a career spanning over four decades. Kumar was on ...

and

Vyjayanthimala Vyjayanthimala Bali ( Raman; born 13 August 1933), known mononymously as Vyjayanthimala, is an Indian parliamentarian, dancer and former actress. Regarded as one of Hindi cinema's greatest actresses and dancers, she is the recipient of sever ...

, with

Simi Garewal Simi Garewal (born Simrita Garewal; 17 October 1947) is an Indian actress, director, producer and a talk show hostess. She is known for her work in Hindi films like '' Do Badan'' (1966), '' Saathi'' (1968), ''Mera Naam Joker'' (1970), '' Siddha ...

Pahari Sanyal Pahari Sanyal (22 February 1906 – 10 February 1974) was an Indian actor and singer who is known for his work in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. Sanyal acted in many Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali films, such as ''Harano Sur'', ''Bhan ...

David Abraham Cheulkar David Abraham Cheulkar (21 June 1908 – 2 January 1982), popularly known as David, was an Indian Hindi film actor. In a career spanning four decades, he played mostly character roles, starting with the 1941 film '' Naya Sansar'', and went on ...

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.

and Ram Mohan as the

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

while prominent actors such as

Shashi Kapoor Shashi Kapoor (pronounced �əʃi kəpuːɾ born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and producer known primarily for his work in Hindi films. He is considered as one of the greatest and most successful acto ...

Nanda Nanda, including Nanda (南大), may refer to: Education * Nanchang University (南昌大学), a public university in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China * Nanhua University (南华大学), a public university in Hengyang, Hunan, China * Nanjing Universi ...

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. ...

Shabnam Jharna Basak (born 17 August 1946), known by her stage name Shabnam, is a Bangladeshi–Pakistani stage and film actress. Actor Waheed Murad introduced her to the Pakistani film industry by offering her a lead role in his film '' Samundar'' in ...

, D.K. Sapru and Pratima Devi made

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s. The film was produced by S. Krishnamurthy and T. Govindarajan of Venus Pictures. The film's score was composed by

Naushad Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian composer for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the use of ...

with lyrics provided by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in the Hindi language film industry. He wrote lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was one of the dom ...

. It was edited by N. M. Shankar and filmed by

Marcus Bartley Marcus Bartley (22 April 1917 14 March 1993) was an Anglo-Indian cinematographer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema along with a few Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil films. He was the cinematographer of all time classics like '' Shav ...

. ''Saathi'' is a triangular love story among Ravi, Shanti and Rajni. The film was a remake of the 1961 Tamil film '' Palum Pazhamum'', which was directed by A. Bhimsingh. It was remade in Turkish as ' (1970) by

Türker İnanoğlu Türker İnanoğlu (18 May 1936 – 2 April 2024) was a Turkish screenwriter, film director and producer. Personal life İnanoğlu married first the film actress Filiz Akın, and after his divorce Gülşen Bubikoğlu, another former Turkish m ...

Plot

Dr. Ravi returns from abroad and takes up a position as chief surgeon in a hospital. He meets with Nurse Shanti, who lives an impoverished lifestyle with her ailing mother, on whom he decides to perform surgery, but she passes away. A guilt-ridden Ravi marries Shanti much to the chagrin of his mentor, Kaka, who had hoped that he would marry his daughter, Rajni. The couple travel to

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

for their honeymoon and settle down to a harmonious relationship. Hoping to travel more, their plans are interrupted by the hospital's head doctor, who wants Ravi to focus on cancer research. The couple drops their travel plans and immerses themselves in research so much so that Shanti becomes ill, and not wanting to become a burden, leaves. A frantic Ravi searches high and low in vain and is subsequently devastated to learn that she has perished in a train accident. Kaka then becomes very ill and Kaki tells Ravi that the cause of his illness is Rajni's insistence that she not marry anyone except Ravi. As a result, Ravi marries her but is unable to get Shanti out of his mind. An embittered Rajni feels neglected and decides to confront him, resulting in his losing his vision, perhaps never seeing again, and unable to do any further cancer research.

Cast

as Ravi *

as Shanti / Sharda *

as Rajni *

as Rajni's Father *

as Head Doctor *

as Rajni's Mother * Ram Mohan as Ravi's Colleague Guest appearances include: *

as actor during the filming of ''Raja Saab'' *

as Ashok *

* D.K. Sapru as Mr. Philips * Radhakrishan as Sadhuram * Pratima Devi as Shanti's Mother

Soundtrack

When Sridhar approached Naushad for composing, he listened to the songs of the original film which was composed by

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy w ...

in Tamil. After listening to the songs, Naushad wrote a letter to

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. Popularly known by the sobriquet "Mellisai Mannar" (), he ...

saying that he cannot replace the wonderful music which he has composed and he's declining the project. Later, Naushad accepted to compose for the film only on Viswanathan's request. The lyrics were provided by

Box office

At the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed around 1,76,00,000 and netted 88,00,000, thus becoming the eleventh highest-grossing film of 1968 with a verdict of average.

Awards

;Won *

Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress The Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role. Although the Filmfare ...

–

Filmfare Award for Best Editing The Filmfare Best Editing Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. Multiple wins List See also * Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic an ...

– N. M. Shankar

References

External links

* {{C. V. Sridhar, state=expanded 1960s Hindi-language films 1968 films Hindi remakes of Tamil films 1968 romantic drama films Indian films about cancer Films directed by C. V. Sridhar Indian romantic drama films Indian romantic musical films Indian musical drama films Films about surgeons Films set in Jammu and Kashmir Films shot in Jammu and Kashmir Films about blind people in India Films about nurses Films about scientists Films about Bollywood Films about marriage Films about adultery in India Rail transport films Indian Council of Medical Research in fiction Films set in hospitals