Mere Sanam

Mere Sanam
Directed by	Amar Kumar[1]
Produced by	G.P. Sippy
Written by	Narendra Bedi (Story) Rajinder Singh Bedi (Screenplay & Dialogue)
Starring	Biswajeet Asha Parekh Mumtaz Pran
Music by	O.P. Nayyar Lyricist; Majrooh Sultanpuri Playback Artists; Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi
Cinematography	K. Vaikunth
Edited by	M. S. Shinde
Distributed by	Ramesh Sippy Entertainment[2]
Release date	13 November 1965
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Mere Sanam (English: My Lover Hindi: मेरे सनम) was a Hindi film released in 1965 starring Asha Parekh, Biswajeet, Pran, Rajendra Nath and Mumtaz. The film was a hit at the box office, especially because of the musical score by Majrooh Sultanpuri, O.P. Nayyar and Asha Bhonsle-Mohammed Rafi combination. The film was shot in the beautiful locales of Kashmir.^[3]

The Songs 'Jaiye Aap Kahan Jayenge', 'Yeh Hai Reshmi Zulfon Ka Andhera', 'Pukarta Chala Hoon Main' and 'Humdum Mere Maan Bhi Jao' are milestones in Hindi film music.

This film is the unofficial remake of Come September which is a 1961 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Mulligan, and starring Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin.^[4][5]

Story

Neena (Asha Parekh) is on an excursion trip to Kashmir, in the company of her mother Savitri Devi (Achala Sachdev), who is also the warden of their girls hostel in Lucknow and several female friends. During their journey they decide to stay overnight at the Dreamland Hotel. Another lodger, Ramesh Kumar (Biswajit Chatterjee), who arrives there subsequently, finds their presence undesirable and asks the caretaker to get the surprised group to leave, as he is perturbed by the fact that his residential bungalow has been converted into the Dreamland Hotel! The caretaker, Shyam (Pran (actor)) explains to the girls that Kumar is mentally unstable and under the impression that he is the owner of the hotel, as Shyam is involved in illegal activities there, for which he had converted the bungalow into a vice den.

Kumar is the heir apparent to his uncle, Mr. Mehra's (Nazir Hussain), industrial empire and cotton mills as his father and Mr. Mehra were the best of friends. Mr. Mehra had relocated to Africa for business, leaving his 2 year old daughter and his wife in her paternal home, subsequent to which came Partition of India, which displaced his family.

Meanwhile during the trip itself, Shyam discovers through his servant, who had previously served under Mr. Mehra, that Savitri Devi is the lost wife of Mr. Mehra and Neena their daughter and thus true heir apparent. He thus tries to cultivate both mother and daughter in the hope of usurping Mr. Mehra's wealth.

After several misunderstandings and altercation with goons at the nightclub of the hotel, because of Neena, Kumar and Neena fall in love and express their desire to get married, to Mr. Mehra, who disapproves.

Subsequently Neena and her mother are given some intimate photographs of Kumar and Kamo by Kamo, alias Kamini (Mumtaz (actress)), who has been paid by Shyam to do so. But her greed makes her blackmail Shyam to give her more money to keep these secrets, whereupon he gets her killed. Kumar to prove his innocence barges into Kamini's room, to find her dead, and is thus framed for her murder by eye witnesses who see him there!

Savitri devi is united with her husband, on a chance meeting, but Neena has already left with her friend Pyare (Rajendra Nath), who enlightens her about her true father, Shyam's bad intentions for her, and Kumar's innocence in Kamo's murder. Both of them chance to hear Shyam plotting to get Kumar shot at the beat of cymbals, to be killed during a dance performance at the International club. Pyare silences the real dancer and replaces Neena with her and thus they are able to save Kumar from an untimely ghastly death. But Shyam grabs hold of Neena and escapes in his car to his hide out. He is chased by Kumar, and overpowered there, along with the timely arrival of the police, thus resulting in a happy ending of the real family uniting together.

Cast

• Asha Parekh as Neena Mehra
• Biswajit Chatterjee as Ramesh Kumar
• Pran (actor) as Shyam
• Mumtaz (actress) as Kamini (Kamo)
• Nazir Hussain as Mr. Mehra
• Rajendra Nath as Pyare
• Dhumal (actor) as Bankhe
• Achala Sachdev as Savitri Mehra
• Asit Sen (actor) as Gopichand Police Inspector

Soundtrack

The soundtrack^[6] is composed by OP Nayyar while the lyrics are penned by lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri. The soundtrack consists of 9 songs. Singers like Mohammad Rafi & Asha Bhosle has done the playback for the songs of the album. Songs like "Pukarta Chala Hoon Main", "Jaiye Aap Kahan Jayenge" and "Yeh Hai Reshmi Zulfon Ka" are still considered to be as classics while the others songs are also popular. There is also a small alap which Mohd Rafi takes in the beginning of the song "Jaiye Aap Kahan Jayenge".

References

1. ↑ Amar Kumar
2. ↑ Ramesh Sippy Entertainment
3. ↑ http://www.boxofficeindia.co.in/worth-their-weight-in-gold/
4. ↑ Parekh, Asha and Mohammed, Khalid. The Hit Girl. New Delhi: Om Books International (2017), p. 100
5. ↑ Come September 9-8-1961)
6. ↑ http://www.hindigeetmala.net/movie/mere_sanam.htm

External links

• Mere Sanam on IMDb
• Mere Sanam on YouTube