Dastaan (1972 film)

Dastaan
Vinyl Record Cover
Directed by	B. R. Chopra
Produced by	B. R. Chopra
Starring	Dilip Kumar Sharmila Tagore Prem Chopra
Music by	Laxmikant-Pyarelal Lyrics Sahir Ludhianvi
Cinematography	Dharam Chopra
Editing by	Pran Mehra
Release date(s)	1972
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Dastaan is a 1972 film produced and directed by B. R. Chopra. The film stars Dilip Kumar, Sharmila Tagore, Prem Chopra, Bindu, Sachin, Iftekhar, I. S. Johar and Madan Puri. The film's music is by Laxmikant Pyarelal

Plot

Anil and Sunil are twin brothers. They have a friend named Meena (Sharmila Tagore) who has a crush on Sunil. Anil and Sunil get separated in childhood. Neither of the trio remembers about the incident. Sunil is found by a man named Sahay. Sahay rechristens him as Vishnu.

Vishnu Sahay (Dilip Kumar) goes on to become a reputed Judge. He has everything, money, happiness and wife. However, he is blissfully unaware that his wife (Bindu) and best friend (Prem Chopra) are having an affair behind his back. Meanwhile Anil has grown into a Don Juan who flirts with Meena and a dancer as well.

One day, Anil accidentally kills a man and runs to Mussorie to hide from cops. Here, Vishnu comes in the same hotel too. As Anil sees Vishnu, he observes that they are lookalikes. If Vishnu's facial hair and spectacles are removed, even police will have hard time distinguishing between them. Vishnu does not realize these things. Anil spikes Vishnu's coffee and knocks him out. After removing Vishnu's facial hair and glasses, he checks out as Vishnu. However, his plan turns out to be disastrous as Vishnu's car suffers an accident, killing Anil on the spot.

From the look of things, police assume that Vishnu has died. Meanwhile, the real Vishnu is taken into custody as Anil after he gets up. He is, however, proved innocent in court. He leaves the town and reaches his hometown, expecting to surprise his wife. However, he is shocked to see that his wife and friend are celebrating his death. He learns of their adultery and turns back to his home, distraught and dejected. His wife and friend are unaware about the truth.

On other hand, Meena does not have a clue as to what happened to Sunil. She recognizes that Vishnu is in fact Sunil, but Vishnu cannot remember anything.

He re-enters the life of his wife and friend as Anil and befriends them. One day, he invites them to see a play. Vishnu has himself staged the play. As the twosome watch the play, they realize in horror that it is their own story. After realizing that Sunil is Vishnu, his friend attacks him. However, Vishnu has already placed some policemen on the spot who promptly arrest his friend for attempt to murder. Vishnu runs to his home knowing that his wife would have run there.

He finds her sitting calmly in a chair. He just asks her to choose between death and the ignominy of living rest of her life as an unfaithful wife. She says that she has already made a choice and shows an empty poison bottle in her hand. She dies in front of Vishnu. Just then, a sad Meena comes from behind and places a hand on Vishnu's shoulder, indicating that she knows everything now and that she has no complaints against him.

Cast

• Dilip Kumar...... Anil/Sunil
• Sharmila Tagore...... Meena
• Bindu...... Mala
• Prem Chopra...... Rajen

External links

• Dastaan at the Internet Movie Database