Gomti Ke Kinare

1972 Indian film

22 November 1972 (1972-11-22)

CountryIndiaLanguageHindi

Gomti Ke Kinare is a 1972 Bollywood drama film, directed by Saawan Kumar Tak in his directorial debut. The film stars Meena Kumari and Mumtaz. It was the last release of Meena Kumari, and was released posthumously on 22 November 1972, 8 months after her death on 31 March.

She shot the film through her failing health in 1971, and was apprehensive whether she would be able to complete the filming. Eventually, she did with the last schedule on 29 December 1971.^[2] However, despite the music score by R.D. Burman,^[3] the film failed at the box office.^[4]

Amitabh Bachchan was being considered (to play the hero, opposite Mumtaz) by Saawan Kumar and Meena Kumari. However, Mumtaz, who was close to the Khan brothers at the time, recommended Sameer Khan instead.

Plot

Sameer lives a poor lifestyle in Bombay with his mother, Ganga, and maternal uncle, Nekiram. Nekiram works at a petrol pump, and his mother paints pictures and statuettes of Hindu deities. Sameer grows up, becomes an engineer, and lands a job with Khosla Enterprises, which is run by Chairman Gopaldas Khosla, where he proves his abilities and is soon promoted as Chief Engineer, and gets a bungalow to live in as well as a fancy car. He meets with Roshni, the daughter of Gopaldas; they fall in love, and soon get engaged. His idyllic lifestyle is shattered when a rival businessman, Chaganmal, alleges that Sameer's mother was actually Gangabai, a Lucknow-based courtesan (tawaif), who was never married, and that Nekiram is not his maternal uncle.^[5]

Cast

Meena Kumari as Ganga
Bharat Bhushan as Bharat
Mumtaz as Roshni Das
Shyama as Mrs. Shyama Das
Agha as Nekiram
Jalal Agha as Dhobi
Sameer Khan as Sameer "Munna"
Harbans Darshan M. Arora as Doctor
Chandrima Bhaduri as Shyama's Mother
Rajan Haksar as Khan
Helen as herself
Daisy Irani as Chandni
I. S. Johar as Seth Chellamal
Alankar Joshi as Young Sameer "Munna" (as Master Alankar)
Lalita Kumari as Champa (as Lalita Sinha)
Manorama as Manoramabai
Mukri as Himself
Paintal as Film Kumar
Randhir as Ramu
Rehman as Gopal Das
Asit Sen as Petrol Pump owner
Tun Tun as Petrol Pump owner's wife

Soundtrack

"Jeene Ka Din" - Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
"Aao Aao Jaane Jahan" - Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle
"Jackpot Lag Gaya" - Manna Dey and Asha Bhosle
"Aaj To Meri Hasi Udai" - Lata Mangeshkar
"Khwab Ki Tasveer" - Manhar Udhas

References

^ Gomti Ke Kinare at Bollywood Hungama
^ Mehta, Vinod (1972). Meena Kumari: On the life and art of Meena Kumari, 1932-1972, Indian screen tragedienne. Jaico Publishing House. p. 84.
^ Vittal, Anirudha Bhattacharjee Balaji (21 July 2012). R. D. Burman: The Man, The Music. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 72–. ISBN 978-93-5029-236-5.
^ Somaaya, Bhawana (2003). The Story So Far. Indian Express Group. p. 101.
^ "Gomti Ke Kinare". IMDb. 22 November 1972.