Mera Saaya

Mera Saya
Directed by	Raj Khosla
Written by	Originally written by G.R. Kamath & developed by Akhtar-Ul-Iman
Starring	Sadhana Sunil Dutt K.N. Singh Prem Chopra
Music by	Madan Mohan
Release date(s)	1966
Running time	140 min.
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Mera Saaya is a 1966 Indian Hindi film directed by Raj Khosla. The film was a remake of Marathi film called Pathlag. The film's music is by Madan Mohan and lyrics by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan. The film stars Sunil Dutt and Sadhana. This is director Raj Khosla's third film with Sadhana after Ek Musafir Ek Hasina(1963) and Woh Kaun Thi? (1964). The film became a "superhit" at the box office.^[1]. It won the Filmfare Best Sound Award for Manohar Amberkar. The songs 'naino mein badara chhaye', 'aapke pahaloo mein aakar ro diye', 'tu jahan jahan chalega' became superhit.^[2]

Plot summary

The film is an interesting courtroom drama, with the elements of a thriller.

Thakur Rakesh Singh (Sunil Dutt) is a lawyer whose wife Geeta (Sadhana) dies after a prolonged illness. Rakesh was abroad during most of the illness and returns home just in time to see her die. After her funeral Rakesh still keep thinking of her and gets depressed. Sometimes later he is informed that a criminal named Naina, who recently has been arrested with her gang members, claims that she is Rakesh's wife Geeta. In disbelief, he goes to meet this woman and finds that she indeed resembles his wife. Rakesh doesn't believe her, as he had himself cremated his wife, but Naina is stubborn and the matter goes to court. A courtroom drama ensues.

In the court, Naina tells many facts that Geeta would know. Rakesh rebuts everything saying this was all public knowledge. She then ask him to take off his shirt and tells the court about a birthmark that even Rakesh does not know. It proves to be true. Rakesh still does not believe her. In the following days she tells him many other facts that only Geeta could know. But still Rakesh does not believe her. He then one day remembers of a diary that Geeta used to write and she wrote every detail of her day in it. He tries to find it in the house but does not find it. He believes Naina stole the diary and hence she knew so much. Next day he asks Naina about her mangalsutra which she does not have despite her claim that she is married to him. She refuses to tell him about her mangalsutra, but again she tells some facts about the mangalsutra which was broken and then got repaired. However, she cannot prove why she does not wear the mangalsutra. He concludes before the court that she is not his wife. He pressurises her a lot and she loses her mental balance and confesses that she is Naina. She is then taken to the mental hospital.

Meanwhile, some people occupy a hotel room. They seem to be the dacoits with whom Naina was found. In the mental hospital Naina first refuses to admit she is Naina, but then gives in to the pressure by the doctors. One day while cleaning the windows she sees one man from the dacoits and shouts for help and is taken by the doctors to have lost her mental balance again. That night she escapes from the hospital and goes to Rakesh's house.

At Rakesh's house, she takes off the wreath from Geeta's photo. Rakesh sees her doing so and asks her if she has run from the hospital. She replies in the positive. He then asks her why she was here. She tells him the story about how she is the real Geeta and that the person who died was her twin sister Naina. Naina had come to their house to take help as she had run away from the dacoits' home. While hiding Naina in the house, Geeta had told everybody in the house (like Mausi and servants) that since she will be praying for her husband's well-being in the whole night hence, while she is doing so, nobody should enter her room. But Naina became serious and when Geeta went out to buy medicines for her late in the night through the fire-escape, the dacoits mistook her for Naina; kidnapped her and took her with them. Geeta did not reveal this earlier as she did not want to publicly acknowledge having Naina as a sister.

Suddenly Rakesh and Geeta hear gunfire. Rakesh runs out to find what it was. In the police crossfire a dacoit (Prem Chopra, the leader of the gang) is injured who later dies. Before dying, he tells Rakesh that the woman with him is actually Geeta. The twin sister who Rakesh cremated was the dacoit's love Naina. Rakesh and Geeta are united.

Cast

• Sunil Dutt - Thakur Rakesh Singh
• Sadhana - Geeta/Sunaina
• K.N. Singh - Prosecuting Lawyer
• Anwar Hussain - Inspector Daljit
• Prem Chopra - Daku Suryavar Singh/Ranjit Singh

Music

The music composer for this film was Madan Mohan.

The best song can arguably be Nainon Mein Badra Chhaaye, Bijlee See Chamke Haay sung by Lata Mangeshkar. This song has beautiful rendition of Sitar. This song won Madan Mohan the "Sur Singar" Award for the best classical song for the year 1966.

Another soulful song is Aapke Pahaloo Mein Aakar Ro Diye sung by Mohammed Rafi.

One haunting song appears twice, once in a faster version and once in a slower version. Too Jahaan Jahaan Chalegaa Meraa Saayaa Saath Hogaa (again, sung by Lata Mangeshkar) Composed by Ustad Mohammad Hussain Sarahang of Afghanistan.

But the song that went on to be the most popular song from this movie was sung by Asha Bhosle. Jhumkaa Giraa Re Barelee Ke Baazaar Mein...

All lyrics were written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan. The music became very famous and it was considered unfortunate to miss out on the nomination for the Filmfare award that year.

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]

External links

• Mera Saya at the Internet Movie Database