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50 Years of Amar Prem

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  There are a few Hindi films that touch one more than Amar Prem. The film has completed 50 years, released on 29th Jan 1972.  The film belongs to Sharmila Tagore as far as performances go. She preserves fully the dignity of the character even as she skillfully walks the audience through all the traumatic moments of the character´s life The film was  directed by  Shakti Samanta . It was a remake of the  Bengali  film  Nishi Padma  (1970), directed by  Arabinda Mukherjee , who wrote the screenplay for both the films based on the Bengali short story  Hinger Kochuri  by  Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay . The highlight of the film was its music, composed by R D Burman. The movie is about a schoolboy, who is ill-treated by his stepmother, and becomes friends with a prostitute neighbor.  The film stars  Sharmila Tagore  playing a  prostitute with a heart of gold , with  Rajesh Khanna  in the role of a l...

50 Years of Kati Patang

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  Kati Patang was released on 29th Jan 1951.By that time Rajesh Khanna was the Super Star of Bollywood. All of his films were making Jubilees   T he Rajesh Khanna phenomenon was at its peak. This was the third picture of Shakti Samanta and Rajesh Khanna together and the second film of the trio of Shakti Samanta, Rajesh Khanna and R D Burman. The film was tragic in nature with a non-glamorous heroine role but became hit because of its music.  The film gave us evergreen hits like  Yeh Shaam Mastani, Pyar Diwana Hota Hai  and  Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai. all sung by Kishore Kumar. One song 'Jis Gali Me Tera Ghar Na Ho Sajna' was sung by Mukesh. The film was b ased on the novel by Gulshan Nanda, the 1971 film features the story of the double life of Madhavi, played by Asha Parekh, who got her first Filmfare Award of the Best Heroine for this role. Sharmila Tagore who was a favourite heroine of Shakti Samanta did not get this role because she was pregnant at that ...

Shakti Samanta- The Maker of a Classic 'Amar Prem'

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  Shakti Samanta  (13 January 1926 – 9 April 2009) gave us the great  films such as Howrah Bridge, China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Aradhana, Kati Patang, and Amar Prem. He  directed 43 feature films, including 37  Hindi , and 6  Bengali  films. Amar Prem was his 3rd film with Rajesh Khanna. Initially,  Rajkumar was the original choice to play the lead hero.    When    Rajesh Khanna heard it he went to Shakti Samantha's office and asked him how can he cast another actor in this film, this was because they had already given a classic hit like Aradhana 1969 and Kati Patang 1970 was almost ready for release and they both had bonded a good relationship between them. Another interesting fact of this film is that the immortal song ' Chingari Koi Bhadke' was not shot on the Hooghly river with the Howrah Bridge on the background was shot in a studio in Mumbai. Shakti Samanta in an interview said that the entire fi...