''Anita'' is a 1967 Indian suspense film, directed and written by

Raj Khosla Raj Khosla (31 May 1925 – 9 June 1991) was one of the top director, producer and screenwriter in Hindi film industry from the 1950s to the 1980s. He was known for bringing in "neo-noir" and style in Indian cinema, and also as a "women's direc ...

, and starring

Manoj Kumar Harikrishan Goswami (born 24 July 1937), better known by his screen name Manoj Kumar, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, lyricist and editor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is known for acting and making films with patriotic theme ...

and Sadhana. The film is the last of the suspense-thriller trilogy of Khosla-Sadhana partnership. ''

Woh Kaun Thi? ''Woh Kaun Thi?'' () is a 1964 Indian Hindi-language mystery thriller film directed by Raj Khosla, starring Sadhana, Manoj Kumar and Prem Chopra. Though the screenplay was written by Dhruva Chatterjee, parts were later rewritten, wherein Manoj K ...

'' (1964) and ''

Mera Saaya ''Mera Saaya'' () is a 1966 Indian Hindi-language thriller film directed by Raj Khosla. The 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 Sadha ...

'' (1966) were the two previous films in the series. The movie flopped at the box office. The plot twist of the movie was based on that of the 1958 film ''

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

''.

Plot

Neeraj (Manoj Kumar) and Anita (Sadhana) are deeply in love and wants to marry but is unacceptable to her father Mr. Bihari Lal, a millionaire as Neeraj do an ordinary job and Anita is a millionaire. When her father rejects her marriage with Neeraj, Anita visits Neeraj and asks him to marry her by Civil Marriage. When both reach court, her father comes and tells her not to sign otherwise the consequences will be bad. She comes home with her father. Anita's father wants her to marry Anil Sharma (Kishen Mehta), a business tycoon. When Neeraj tries to talk with her, she tells him to not come back in her life. Initially, Anita wants Neeraj to walk out of her life but later, Neeraj gets a letter from Anita, which raises some suspicions in his mind. He goes to meet her, only to learn that she has committed suicide. Neeraj suspects foul play and decides to find out the truth on his own. He sees Anita at the same exact place where she supposedly committed suicide. His friend advises Neeraj to go on a vacation and try to forget the incident. During his vacation, at a picnic, Neeraj once again sees Anita as a saffron clad sadhvi (saint), Maya. Neeraj learns that he saw Maya Jogan(also played by Sadhana), who died 20 years ago. He sees her again in a train coach while travelling 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- ...

. Anita sends a letter to Neeraj asking him to meet at a hotel so that she can disclose the truth. To avoid the police, Anita meets Neeraj in his house. Anita then takes Neeraj to the secret building where Anil reveals that he killed his lover who was pregnant and threw her into the river and made it look like Anita committed suicide. Later the police come chasing Anil and he is killed in an encounter. After that, Neeraj and Anita are reunited and hug each other.

Cast

as Neeraj * Sadhana as Anita/Maya *

Sajjan (actor) Sajjan (15 January 1921 – 17 May 2000) was a Bollywood and stage actor. He acted in several plays and movies from the 1950s to the 1980s. His best known films are ''Bees Saal Baad'', ''Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi'', ''April Fool'', ''Rail Ka Dibba'' ...

as Anita's father * Ulhas as Maharaj, astrologer * Kishan Mehta as Anil Sharma *

Chand Usmani Chand Usmani (3 January 1933 – 26 November 1989) was an Indian actress in Hindi films from the 1950s to the late 1980s. She won the 1971 Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is best remembered for playing self-sacrificing wives an ...

as Varsha * Shah Agha as Varsha's husband * Dhumal as Razdhan detective *

Mukri Mohammed Umar Mukri (5 January 1922 – 4 September 2000), popularly known as Mukri, was an Indian actor, who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. Born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Uran, in Kokani Muslim Family. He started his film career with th ...

as Joseph Baker * Tun Tun (Uma Devi Khatri) as Mrs. Joseph Baker *

Shivraj Shivraj ( hi, शिवराज; 1920 - 3 June 2017) was an Indian actor. Selected filmography *''Singaar'' (1949) *'' Andolan'' (1951) (He played a key role) *'' Patita'' (1953) *''Devdas'' (1955) *'' Seema'' (1955) *''Dekh Kabira Roya'' ( ...

as Police Commissioner *

Birbal Birbal (; born Mahesh Das; 1528 16 February 1586), or Raja Birbal, was a Saraswat Hindu Bhatt Brahmin advisor and main commander (''Mukhya Senapati'') of army in the court of the Mughal emperor, Akbar. He is mostly known in the Indian subcon ...

(Who was Satyendra Khosla - got screen name as Birbal in this movie) as Roshandan, assistant to Dhumal *

I. S. Johar Inder Sen Johar(16 February 1920 – 10 March 1984), better known as I. S. Johar, was an Indian actor, writer, producer and director, who excelled in comedic roles. Early life Inderjeet Singh Johar was born on 16th February, 1920 in Talagang ...

as painter *

Bela Bose Bela Bose is an Indian dancer and actress who was active in Hindi films during the 1960s and 70s. Early life Bela Bose was born in Calcutta in a well-to-do family. Her father was a cloth merchant and her mother was a homemaker. Following a ...

as dancer in La Bella * Madhumati as blonde dancer in La Bella * Meena T as typist in Razdhan's office * Kedarnath Saigal as Peter

Music

Composed by the musical duo Laxmikant Pyarelal, the songs of the film are penned by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Anand Bakshi and Arzoo Lucknavi. The music album also has two instrumentals, the title music track and the suspense theme track.

Filming

This is probably the only movie where a full song "Gore gore chand se mukh par" is played before the opening credits. Some of the scenes in the movie were shot in

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

. The ashram and temple is Hanuman Garhi in Nainital, where the song "Tum bin jeevan kaise beeta" is shot. The final scene is shot at Mumbai'S Vihar Lake area. The popular 'Humpty Dumpty' cartoon structures can be seen.

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0231150, Anita * Reference for Birbal's original name , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MheN2i1Y0W8&t=1929s 1967 films 1960s Hindi-language films Films directed by Raj Khosla Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal