Aradhana (1969)

Dashing pilot Arun romances Vandana Tripathi, and both in love with each other, become very intimate, and as a result Vandana gets pregnant. Arun and Vandana have a quiet temple wedding ... See full summary »

Director:

Shakti Samanta

Writers:

Sachin Bhowmick (screenplay), Sachin Bhowmick (story),

Stars:

Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore, Sujit Kumar

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rajesh Khanna	...	Arun / Suraj Prasad Saxena
Sharmila Tagore	...	Vandhana Tripathi
Sujit Kumar	...	Madan Verma
Farida Jalal	...	Renu
Anita Dutt	...	Mrs. Prasad Saxena (Woman in the silhouette)
Madan Puri	...	Prison Warden
Ashok Kumar	...	Air Commodore Ganguly
Abhi Bhattacharya	...	Ram Prasad Saxena (Man in the silhouette)
Asit Sen	...	Sitaram
Manmohan	...	Shyam
Pahadi Sanyal	...	Gopal Tripathi (as Pahari Sanyal)
Master Puran
Master Shahid
Dulari	...	Lady Doctor
Sadhana Patel

Storyline

Dashing pilot Arun romances Vandana Tripathi, and both in love with each other, become very intimate, and as a result Vandana gets pregnant. Arun and Vandana have a quiet temple wedding ceremony, and Arun leaves to re-join his duties. Unfortunately, Arun is killed, and Vandana is unable to convince anyone of her marriage with him, and as such must re-locate to hide her shame. She gives birth to a baby boy, who she must place in an orphanage, and then adopt. Unfortunately for her, the boy, Suraj, is adopted by someone else. She manages to find out their whereabouts, and gets a job as a servant. When she is about to be molested by Shyam, a relative, Suraj witnesses this, and kills him. Vandana takes the blame for this killing and is sentenced to imprisonment, leaving her son and her life behind, for a crime she did not commit. When she returns everything has changed, and she is unable to locate the family where her son was.

---

Plot Keywords:

pilot | love | imprisonment | wedding | pregnancy | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Musical | Romance

---

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

27 September 1969 (India)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shakti Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

169 min

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film of hit pair Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore.

---

Goofs

In the opening song sequence , Sharmila Tagore is seen reading a book while seated in the train. The book's name is When Eight Bells toll, a thriller novel written by Alistair Maclean published in the year 1966. The film was released in 1969, so it is clear that the flashback was shown in a time which was actually a "flash-forward", which is impossible.She should have been shown reading The Heart of the Matter (1948), a novel by the English author Graham Greene.

---

Connections

Referenced in Today's Special (2009)

---

Soundtracks

"Roop Tera Mastaana"
Sung by Kishore Kumar
Music composed by Sachin Dev Burman
Lyrics by Anand Bakshi

User Reviews

The self-sacrifice and the devotion of a mother for her child

Aradhana is both an entertaining and touching film. It has romance, love, dedication, but most importantly it's about the sacrifice of a mother for her child. The film has been known as one of the greatest classics of mainstream Hindi cinema, and it's easy to see why. It had a beautiful Sharmila Tagore, it had Rajesh Khanna making his first steps towards stardom, it had some fantastic songs (well, how can one forget "Roop Tera Mastana" and "Mere Sapno Ki Rani"?), and above-all, a very memorable story that carried the whole concept of humanity and love. I think these are the aspects that made the film unforgettable, although I think it could have been left without some overly melodramatic sequences.

It's frankly puzzling to me that die-hard fans of Rajesh Khanna write very biased comments here about the film being a Rajesh Khanna film, about him stealing the show etc., when actually it's clear that the film belongs to Sharmila Tagore completely. She is a lovely actress - beautiful, dignified, and she was convincing as both the young lady and the old mother, though clearly it's not her best role. The entire cast makes great appearances, from Khanna to Farida Jalal. The moments towards the end when the truth is revealed were very emotional and moving. This may be the film's highlight, which made up for its flaws. This one is a memorable picture, a picture that I feel many would enjoy watching.