''Daag: A Poem of Love'' () 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 ...

-language romantic drama film produced and directed by

Yash Chopra Yash Raj Chopra (27 September 1932 21 October 2012) was an Indian people, Indian film director and film producer who worked in Bollywood, Hindi cinema. The founding chairman of the film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films, Chop ...

in his debut as a producer, which laid the foundation of Yash Raj Films. It is an adaptation of the 1886

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

novel ''

The Mayor of Casterbridge ''The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character'' is an 1886 novel by the English author Thomas Hardy. One of Hardy's Wessex novels, it is set in a fictional rural England with Casterbridge standing in for Dorchester in D ...

''. The film stars

Rajesh Khanna Rajesh Khanna () (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. He is called as the "First Superstar of Hindi cinema", he consecutively starred in a record ...

, Sharmila Tagore and Raakhee in lead roles, with

Madan Puri Madan Puri (30 September 1915 – 13 January 1985) was an Indian actor of Hindi and Punjabi films. His brothers were actors Chaman Puri and Amrish Puri. As a character actor mainly in negative roles (villain), he acted in about 430 films in a ca ...

Kader Khan Kader Khan (22 October 1937 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and film director. As an actor, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films after his debut film in the 1973 film '' Daag'', starring Rajesh Khanna, in which he ...

, Prem Chopra and

A. K. Hangal Avtar Kishan Hangal (1 February 1914 – 26 August 2012) was an Indian freedom fighter from 1929 to 1947 and also stage actor from 1936 to 1965 and later became a character actor in Hindi language films from 1966 to 2005. His most notable role ...

. ''Daag'' was made at the peak of the Rajesh Khanna's craze and became a superhit at the box office. The music by Laxmikant Pyarelal dominated the charts for the year. The film was later remade into the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

film ''

Vichitra Jeevitham ''Vichitra Jeevitham'' () is a 1978 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao. The film stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Vanisri and Jayasudha, with music composed by Chakravarthy. It is a remake of the Hindi film '' Daag ...

'' (1978). This film was

's debut as an actor. At the

21st Filmfare Awards The 21st Filmfare Awards were held in 1974. ''Anuraag'' won Best Film, but fail to win any other awards, a feat which was repeated by a few films in the 1970s. ''Bobby'' led the ceremony with 14 nominations, followed by ''Zanjeer'' with 9 n ...

, ''Daag: A Poem of Love'' received 7 nominations, including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to th ...

(Khanna) and Best Actress (Tagore), and won 2 awards –

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

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

Plot

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

as Sunil Kohli / Sudhir * Sharmila Tagore as Sonia Kohli * Raakhee as Chandni * Prem Chopra as Dheeraj Kapoor *Baby Pinky as Pinky *

Raju Shrestha 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 ...

(

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 ...

) as Rinku * Manmohan Krishna as Deewan, Chandni's father *

as K. C. Khanna * Achala Sachdev as Mrs. Malti Khanna *

Iftekhar Sayedna Iftekhar Ahmed Sharif (22 February 1924 – 4 March 1995), often mononymously credited as Iftekhar, was an Indian actor who mainly worked in Hindi cinema. He is known for his role as a police officer. Career Iftekhar was born in ...

as Inspector Singh *

Hari Shivdasani Hari Shivdasani (1909–1994) was an Indian character actor in Hindi cinema from 1930s-1980s. Personal life Hari Shivdasani was a Sindhi Hindu from Karachi and had moved with his family to Mumbai at the time of the partition of the British Raj ...

as Jagdish Kapoor *Yashodra Katju as School Principal *

as Prosecuting attorney *

as Prosecuting Attorney / Judge *S. N. Banerjee as Judge *

Karan Dewan Karan Dewan (born Dewan Karan Chopra; 6 November 1917 - 2 August 1979) was an Indian cinema actor in Hindi films. He worked in over seventy films from 1941 to 1979. He started as a journalist while still in college, editing a film-based magazin ...

as Doctor Kapoor who treats Chandni's father *

Surendra Surendra is an Indian masculine given name. Notable people with this name include: * Surendra (actor/singer) * Surendra Bhave * Surendra Chaturvedi * Surendra Dubey * Surendra Gambhir * Surendra Hiranandani * Surendra Jain * Surendra Jha 'Sum ...

as Sunil's uncle * Jagdish Raj as Ram Singh (driver) *

Manmohan Manmohan means 'Winner of the heart'. It is another name of Krishna, the Hindu deity, one of the "avatars" (or "incarnation") of Lord Vishnu. Manmohan may also refer to: *Man Mohan Adhikari (1920–1999), former Prime Minister of Nepal *Manmohan (a ...

as Prisoner in van fighting with Sunil *

Padma Khanna Padma Khanna is an Indian actress, dancer and director. She appeared mainly in Hindi and Bhojpuri films in the 1970s and 1980s. She is most remembered for her role in the film '' Saudagar'' with Amitabh Bachchan and also as Queen Kaikeyi in Rama ...

as Dancer * Aruna as Dancer * Habib as Blacksmith removing Sunil's handcuffs * Saul George as Jr. Artist

Crew

*''Director'' –

*''Story'' –

Gulshan Nanda Gulshan Nanda (1929 – 16 November 1985) was an Indian novelist and screenwriter. Many of his novels were adapted into Hindi films in the 1960s and 1970s, including more than a dozen big hits of the period — ''Kaajal'' (1965), ''Kati Patang'' ( ...

*''Dialogue'' –

Akhtar-Ul-Iman Akhtar ul Iman (12 November 1915 9 March 1996) was a noted Urdu poet and screenwriter in Hindi cinema, who had a major influence on modern Urdu nazm. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue in 1963 for ''Dharmputra'' and 1966 for '' ...

*''Producer'' –

*''Editor'' – Pran Mehra *''Art Director'' – R. G. Gaekwad *''Cinematographer'' – Kay Gee *''Stunts'' –

Ravi Khanna Ravi Khanna (born 15 March 1957) is an Indian actor, journalist and writer. Ravi Khanna is a Mumbai-based international character actor who spent more than 24 years as a radio and TV journalist in the Voice of America Newsroom in USA, after doi ...

M. B. Shetty Muddu Babu Shetty (1 January 1931 – 23 January 1982) simply known as, M. B. Shetty, or Shetty was an Indian film stuntman and action choreographer and actor in Hindi cinema in 1970. He had a towering personality with a bald head, often ca ...

*''Choreographer'' – Suresh Bhatt *''Lyricist'' –

Sahir Ludhianvi Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980), popularly known by his pen name (takhallus) Sahir Ludhianvi, was an Indian poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described ...

*''Music Director'' – Laxmikant Pyarelal *''Playback Singers'' –

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 ...

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 ...

Soundtrack

The soundtrack includes the following tracks, composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal, and with lyrics by

*The song "Ab Chahe Ma Roothe Yaa Baba" was listed at #7 on

Binaca Geetmala annual list 1973 ''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 Service ...

*The song "Mere Dil Mein Aaj Kya Hai" was listed at #20 on

Awards and nominations

: Won *

–

* Best Supporting Actress – Raakhee Nominated *

–

* Best Actress – Sharmila Tagore * Best Music Director – Laxmikant Pyarelal * Best Male Playback Singer –

for "Mere Dil Mein Aaj Kya Hai"

References

External links

*
''Daag'' (1973)
at Yash Raj Films {{The Mayor of Casterbridge 1973 films 1970s Hindi-language films Films directed by Yash Chopra Yash Raj Films films 1973 romantic drama films Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal Hindi films remade in other languages Indian romantic drama films Films based on The Mayor of Casterbridge