''Sajan'' (Boyfriend) is a

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

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 ...

romantic film directed by

Kishore Sahu Kishore Sahu (22 November 1915 – 22 August 1980) was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He appeared in 22 films between 1937 and 1980, and he directed 20 films between 1942 and 1974. His directorial ven ...

. The film was produced by Filmistan and had music by C. Ramchandra. The story and screenplay were by Kishore Sahu. The film had Rehana in the female lead, and following the success of this film, as well as ''

Shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a type of oboe from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end. It was one of the nine instruments found in the royal court. The shehnai is sim ...

'' (1947), she became an "overnight star". The cast included

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 ...

, Rehana, Ramesh Gupta, Anant Prabhu and

Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...

. The story revolves around Prakash (Ashok Kumar), a man suffering from amnesia following a train accident. A man pretending to be Prakash surfaces at his house. The film was a big commercial success.

Plot

Prakash (Ashok Kumar) is returning home after eleven years from UK, and is now on a train for his journey back home. He meets a young man, also called Prakash (Ramesh Gupta), on the train who befriends him. The train meets with an accident and Prakash loses his memory. While Prakash is wandering around trying to regain his memory, the man from the train thinking that Prakash (Kumar) is dead, pretends to be Prakash and reaches his house. There everyone believes him to be Pakash except for his wife, Kamla (Rehana), who then runs away from home. She joins a band of wandering gypsies. Kamla and Prakash meet, both unaware of each other's true identity. Forming a close bond, the two finally realise the truth when Prakash's memory returns. The fake Prakash is revealed as the villain.

Cast

as Prakash * Rehana as Kamla * Ranjit Kumari as Bijli *

* S. L. Puri as Gypsy Chief

Reception

Filmindia ''filmindia'' is an Indian monthly magazine covering Indian cinema and published in English language. Started by Baburao Patel in 1935, ''filmindia'' was the first English film periodical to be published from Bombay. The magazine was reportedly ...

'' called it a "highly improbable and unrealistic story", but praised it for its fast pace and "good entertainment". The story was inspired by ''

Random Harvest ''Random Harvest'' is a novel written by James Hilton, first published in 1941. Like previous Hilton works, including '' Lost Horizon'' and '' Goodbye, Mr. Chips'', the novel was immensely popular, placing second on ''Publishers Weekly'' li ...

'' (1942), however unlike it, ''Sajan'' made "no effort" to remain "plausible".

Baburao Patel Baburao Patel (1904–1982) was an Indian publisher and writer, associated with films and politics. Career Baburao: A Pioneer of Indian Cinema. Baburao was a key figure in the early days of Indian cinema. He started his career as a journalist ...

, the editor of ''Filmindia'', remarked on the implausible situation of a mother, servants and others not recognising someone only after a period of eleven years. Critical of Rehana's acting, citing it as "Rehana flops", Patel praised S. L. Puri, in his role of the gypsy leader, as the only actor to show any "authenticity" in the film.

Soundtrack

Ashok Kumar, who was to sing his songs in the film, was replaced by playback singer

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 ...

. In his book "A Journey Down Melody Lane", Bharatan states that Ashok Kumar was unable to reach the recording studios due to the Hindu-Muslim riots (1947), and hence the composer of the film, C. Ramchandra, "daringly" chose Rafi to sing "Hum Ko Tumhara Hi Aasra", which became "an instant hit". The lyricists were Moti B. A. , Qamar Jalalabadi, Ram Murti chaturvedi.

Song List

References

External links

* {{Kishore Sahu 1947 films 1940s Hindi-language films 1940s Indian films Films directed by Kishore Sahu Films scored by C. Ramchandra Indian romance films 1940s romance films Indian black-and-white films Hindi-language romance films