Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Rajesh Khanna | ... | Raj Kumar 'Raju' | |
Tanuja | ... | Tanuja | |
David Abraham | ... | Johnny Chacha (as David) | |
Sujit Kumar | ... | Gangu | |
K.N. Singh | ... | Sarwan Kumar | |
Madan Puri | ... | Ratanlal | |
Abhi Bhattacharya | ... | Mr. Kumar - Raju's father | |
Randhir | |||
Bihari | ... | (as Behari) | |
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Gurnam Singh | ||
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Devar | ||
Mehmood Jr. | ... | Chhote / Jhamurey | |
Kumari Naaz | ... | Paro (as Naaz) | |
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Jaya Kumari | ||
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Udaya Kumari |
Orphaned Raju, in the company of four elephants, has to perform with them at street corners, in order to keep alive. Slowly he amasses a fortune, and is able to build his own private zoo, housing tigers, lions, bears, and of course the four elephants. He treats all the animals as his friends. He meets with Tanu, and both fall in love. Tanu's dad, Ratanlal, is opposed to this alliance, but subsequently relents, and permits the young couple to get married. Tanu is unhappy with the amount of time Raju spends with his animal friends, and this causes some bitterness between them. Things do not improve when a child is born, as Tanu fears that one day the child will be harmed by one of the animals, and hence Raju is told to make a choice between his animal friends or his wife and son. Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)
I decided to watch the film on TV because I understood that it had been extremely famous in Bulgaria in the 1970s and lots of people came out from the cinema crying.So I was curious to see "Haathi Mere Saathi" and I really enjoyed it.
The protagonist is Raj Kumar-a young man whose life had been saved by four elephants when he was a kid.Since then he loves them and doesn't think of them as "animals" but as real "friends".He falls in love with the beautiful Tanu.Unfortunately,Raj Kumar loses his fortune and becomes a poor man.But Tanu follows him and they struggle with life with the help of the faithful elephants.
Yes,the story looks naive.But what's more important is that this film made something that few films are capable of nowadays-it proved the great power of friendship and love in a really touching way.The songs are wonderful and the animals are trained incredibly well.Undoubtedly a highly recommendable film!