''Abhimaan'' () is a 1973 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

musical drama film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

directed by

Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Popularly known as ''Hrishi-da'', he directed 42 films during his ca ...

, starring

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

Jaya Bachchan Jaya Bachchan (''Birth name, née'' Bhaduri; born 9 April 1948) is an Indian actress and politician. She is a member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from the Samajwadi Party, serving four terms since 2004. Known primarily for her work in Hindi ...

Asrani Govardhan Asrani (born 1 January 1940), popularly known simply as Asrani, is an Indian actor and director whose Bollywood career has spanned five decades. He has acted in over 350 Hindi films. Asrani has played the lead roles, character roles ...

, Bindu and

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

. According to Aalif Surti, the film is based on the troublesome marriage between two Hindustani classical music maestros, the sitarist Ravi Sankar and the surbahar player

Annapurna Devi (1927 – 13 October 2018) was an Indian surbahar (bass sitar) player of Hindustani classical music. She was given the name 'Annapurna' by former Maharaja Brijnath Singh of the former Maihar Estate (M.P.), and it was by this name that she was p ...

, though author

Raju Bharatan Raju Bharatan (1934 – February 7, 2020) was a journalist and writer on Indian cricket and Bollywood music. He worked for a weekly features magazine, ''The Illustrated Weekly of India,'' and an Indian films weekly newspaper, ''Screen''. He also ...

states that Hrishikesh Mukherjee based the film's story on the life of singer

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. He ...

and his first wife, Ruma Ghosh. The 1954 film '' A Star Is Born'' has also been cited as a vague influence. The film is perhaps best remembered for its songs, composed and arranged by

S. D. Burman Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. A member of the Tripura royal family, he started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one o ...

, written by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in India's Hindi language film industry. He wrote Hindustani lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was ...

, and sung by playback singers

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

, and

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...

. The film was a major hit at the box office and is amongst the earliest hits of Bachchan's career. Jaya Bachchan won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for ''Abhimaan''.

Synopsis

Subir is a professional singer with a soaring career. He does not plan to marry—until he meets Uma, a sweet village girl who is musically gifted. Subir falls in love with Uma and marries her. He returns to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

with his new bride. Subir continues as a singer and also fosters Uma's singing career. His career falters, however, just as Uma's singing career begins to thrive. Eventually, she becomes more successful than her husband, sparking jealousy from Subir. His pride and jealousy tear the marriage apart. The question becomes whether Subir can overcome his jealousy. The movie reaches a very sensitive situation when the couple separates and Uma has a miscarriage. After heavy criticism from his aunt, they comes together again in an emotional reunion and they sing together.

Cast

as Subir Kumar *

as Uma Kumar *

as Chander Kripalani *

as Brajeshwarlal * Bindu as Chitra *

Durga Khote Durga Khote (14 January 1905 − 22 September 1991) was an Indian actress, beginning as one of the foremost leading ladies of her times, she remained active in Hindi and Marathi cinema, as well as theatre, for over 50 years, starring in around ...

as Durga Mausi * A. K. Hangal as Sadanand * Lalita Kumari as Radha *

Master Raju Fahim Ajani or Raju Shrestha, initially credited as Master Raju or Master Rajoo, is an Indian film and television actor, who started his film career as a child actor, in the 1970s. Raju has acted in films like Gulzar's '' Parichay'', Hrishikes ...

Crew

* Director :

* Story :

* Screenplay :

Nabendu Ghosh Nabendu Ghosh (27 March 1917 – 15 December 2007) was an Indian author in Bengali literature, and screenwriter. He has written screenplays of classic Bollywood movies like, Sujata, Bandini, Devdas, Majhli Didi, Abhimaan and Teesri Kasam. He ...

, Biresh Chatterjee, Mohini N. Sippy * Dialogue :

Rajinder Singh Bedi Rajinder Singh Bedi (1 September 1915 – 1984) was an Indian Urdu writer of the progressive writers' movement and a playwright, who later worked in Hindi cinema as a film director, screenwriter and dialogue writer and he is grandfather Rajat Be ...

* Producer : Susheela Kamat, Pawan Kumar Jain * Editor : Das Dhaimade * Cinematographer : Jaywant Pathare * Art Director : Ajit Banerjee * Costume and Wardrobe : Shalini Shah, Ramlal Maheswari * Production Manager : J.S. Tripathy, Prakash Walawalkar, Uday Walawalkar * Assistant Director : Shakeel Chandra, Susheela Kamat,

Nitin Mukesh Nitin Mukesh Mathur is an Indian playback singer known for his work as a playback singer in Hindi films as well as Bhajans. He has toured internationally, including to the United States in 1993, and a world tour in 2006 with his show ''Kal K ...

* Assistant Editor : Hari Bhoir, Shridhar Mishra, Shankar Pradhan * Assistant Art Director : Mahendra Balasinorwala, Shanker Kurade * Music Director : Sachin Dev Burman * Music Assistant : Meera Dev Burman, Anil Mohile, Arun Paudwal, Maruti Rao * Playback Singers :

Mohammad Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

Manhar Udhas Manhar Udhas is a Hindi and Gujarati language singer and Bollywood playback singer. Early life Manhar Udhas is the eldest son of Keshubhai Udhas and Jituben Udhas, and the elder brother of singers Pankaj Udhas and Nirmal Udhas. He completed his ...

Production

The movie was made under the production AmiYa (Amitabh + Jaya), although the copyrights are owned by their secretaries. Lata Mangeshkar was the sole voice of Jaya Bachchan in the movie, whereas Amitabh Bachchan was voiced by three singers. Manhar Udhas recorded the demo for "Loote Koi Man Ka Nagar" and it was supposed to be sung by

Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...

; however Mukesh refused because he thought the demo sounded good and Udhas ought to be given a chance.

Soundtrack

All of the music of the movie was composed by

, winning him the

Filmfare Award for Best Music Director The Filmfare Best Music Album Award is given by the '' Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to the best composer/arranger of a soundtrack. This category was first presented in 1954. Naushad Ali was the fir ...

. The lyrics were penned by

. The songs "Tere Mere Milan Ki Yeh Raina" and "Meet Na Mila Re Man Ka" were listed at the 16th and 23rd spots, respectively, on

Binaca Geetmala ''Binaca Geetmala'' was a weekly countdown show of top filmi songs from Hindi cinema. It was popular and had millions of listeners. ''Binaca Geetmala'' was broadcast on Radio Ceylon from 1952 to 1988 and then shifted to the Vividh Bharati ...

's Annual List for 1973.

Awards and nominations

Influence

The film was also a turning point for Bindu, who, for the first time, played a sympathetic character. Previously, she was known for playing vamps/cabaret dancers, such as in Amitabh's star-making hit '' Zanjeer'' (1973). This film was very popular in Sri Lanka more than in India and was screened continuously for 590 days in the same cinema, Empire, Colombo.

References

External links

*
The Haunting Notes of Abhimaan
{{Authority control 1970s Hindi-language films 1973 films Films scored by S. D. Burman Films directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee Films about singers