Daag (1973 film)

Summary

Daag: A Poem of Love (transl. Smear) is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film produced and directed by Yash Chopra in his debut as a producer, which laid the foundation of Yash Raj Films (which till today the biggest production house in India). It is an adaptation of the 1886 Thomas Hardy novel The Mayor of Casterbridge. The film stars Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore and Raakhee in lead roles, with Madan Puri, Kader Khan, Prem Chopra and A. K. Hangal.[2]

Daag – A Poem Of Love
Theatrical Poster
Directed byYash Chopra
Written byStory:
Gulshan Nanda
Dialogue:
Akhtar-Ul-Iman
Based onThe Mayor of Casterbridge
by Thomas Hardy
Produced byYash Chopra
StarringRajesh Khanna
Sharmila Tagore
Raakhee
CinematographyKay Gee
Edited byPran Mehra
Music byLaxmikant Pyarelal
Production
company
Yash Raj Films
Distributed byYash Raj Films
Release date
27 April 1973 (1973-04-27)
Running time
146 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget10.2 million[1]
Box office48 million[1]

Daag was made at the peak of Rajesh Khanna's craze and became a box office superhit.[3] The music by Laxmikant Pyarelal dominated the charts for the year. The film was later remade into the Telugu film Vichitra Jeevitham (1978).[4] This film was Kader Khan's debut as an actor.[5]

At the 21st Filmfare Awards, Daag: A Poem of Love received 7 nominations, including Best Film, Best Actor (Khanna) and Best Actress (Tagore), and won 2 awards – Best Director (Chopra) and Best Supporting Actress (Raakhee).[6]

Chopra used Raakhee's character name 'Chandni' from this film also in his later films Silsila (1981) and Chandni (1989).

Plot edit

A young man, Sunil Kohli, falls for the beautiful Sonia. Soon, they get married and leave for their honeymoon. On the way, owing to bad weather, they decide to spend a night at a bungalow owned by Sunil's boss. The boss's son, Dheeraj Kapoor, tries to rape Sonia when she is alone. But Sunil arrives in time, and a fight ensues, resulting in the death of Dheeraj. Sunil is arrested and, later, sentenced to life imprisonment by the court. But, on the way to prison, the police van carrying him meets with an accident. All occupants are killed.

Years later, Sonia, working as a school teacher and bringing up Sunil's and her son, finds out that her husband is still alive. He is living with a new identity as Sudhir, and is married to a rich woman named Chandni. After escaping from the police van, Sunil met Chandni, whose lover had ditched her on learning of her pregnancy. Sunil married her to provide legitimacy to her child, in return for her help in establishing his new identity. Now, after so many years, the law is once again at his doorstep. This time, however, there is an added crime to his name: bigamy.

Cast edit

Crew edit

Soundtrack edit

The soundtrack includes the following tracks, composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal, and with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi[7]

Daag: A Poem of Love
Soundtrack album by
Released1973 (India)
GenreFilm soundtrack
LabelSa Re Ga Ma
ProducerLaxmikant Pyarelal
Laxmikant Pyarelal chronology
Gaai Aur Gori
(1973)
Daag: A Poem of Love
(1973)
Barkha Bahar
(1973)
# Title Singer(s) Duration
1 "Mere Dil Mein Aaj Kya Hai" Kishore Kumar 04:19
2 "Ab Chahe Ma Roothe Yaa Baba" Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar 05:36
3 "Hum Aur Tum Tum Aur Hum" Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar 04:07
4 "Jab Bhi Jee Chaahe" Lata Mangeshkar 04:19
5 "Main To Kuchh Bhi Nahin" Rajesh Khanna 02:28
6 "Ni Main Yaar Manana Ni" Lata Mangeshkar, Minoo Purushottam 05:48
7 "Hawa Chale Kaise" Lata Mangeshkar 05:46

Awards and nominations edit

21st Filmfare Awards:[6]

Won

Nominated

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Daag 1973 Movie Box Office Collection, Budget and Unknown Facts 1970's Box Office Collection". KS Box Office. 5 July 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  2. ^ Sood, Samira (3 October 2020). "Daag, Yash Chopra's debut as producer, broke the mould with its shades of bigamy".
  3. ^ "Box Office India". Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ Kohli, Suresh (5 June 2014). "Daag (1973)". The Hindu – via www.thehindu.com.
  5. ^ "Kader Khan". IMDb.
  6. ^ a b "1st Filmfare Awards 1953" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
  7. ^ "Daag 1973 songs". Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2009.

External links edit