''Hamraaz'' () is a 1967 Indian Bollywood suspense

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

, produced and directed by B. R. Chopra and written by

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 '' ...

. It stars

Raaj Kumar Raaj Kumar (born Kulbhushan Pandit; 8 October 1926 3 July 1996) was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi films. He appeared in the Oscar-nominated 1957 film '' Mother India'' and starred in over 70 Hindi films in a career that spanned over fo ...

, Sunil Dutt,

Vimi Vimi (1943 – 22 August 1977) was an Indian actress who acted in Indian films such as '' Aabroo'', ''Hamraaz'' and '' Patanga''. She starred with Sunil Dutt in ''Hamraaz'' and became notable. Career Vimi debuted opposite Sunil Dutt i ...

Mumtaz Mumtaz ( ar, ممتاز) is a name commonly used in various countries in the Muslim world, mainly Afghanistan, Brunei, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Turkey. It can also be used as a female name. ''Mumtazah'' is a related female versio ...

in lead roles, with Balraj Sahni, Madan Puri, Jeevan,

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 ...

Sarika Sarika Thakur is an Indian actress and costume designer. In 2005, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for the English-language film '' Parzania''. She was also awarded the National Film Award for Best Costume Design for her work ...

in other important roles. The film's music is by

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...

, while the lyrics were penned by

Sahir Ludhianvi Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980), popularly known by his pen name (takhallus) Sahir Ludhianvi, was an Indian poet and film song lyricist who wrote primarily in Urdu in addition to Hindi. His work influenced Indian cinema, i ...

. The film was a super hit at box office. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Plot

Kumar ( Sunil Dutt) is a well-known stage actor in Bombay, who performs plays along with his partner Shabhnam (

). While on a trip to scenic Darjeeling, he meets and falls in love with Meena (

), the only daughter of a wealthy military contractor, Verma (

Manmohan Krishna Manmohan Krishna (26 February 1922 – 3 November 1990) was a popular Indian film actor and director, who worked in Hindi films for four decades, mostly as a character actor. He started his career as a professor in Physics and held master's de ...

). Shortly thereafter, Kumar and Meena get married and return home to Bombay. Four years later, Meena's dad passes away after telling her that she had given birth to a baby girl which he had hidden from her for her future life ahead and takes a promise to not reveal this to Kumar. He gives her some papers before passing away as a proof of that girl child. After her Father's death Meena goes to Orphanage and checks on that girl and brings her home to Mumbai saying she wants to adopt the girl. Kumar refuses this and Meena has to send the kid back to Orphanage. During a christmas party in Mumbai, Meena meets Mahender(Rajesh's friend) and Mahender starts blackmailing Meena that he has some letters which she had written to Rajesh. He keeps calling Meena to visit him in hotel. Soon, Kumar notices that Meena does not accompany him to the stage any more, and excuses herself on the pretext of being ill. He finds clues that suggest that she is meeting somebody else on the sly. Suspicious, Kumar makes the excuse of going to Pune, and instead dons a beard and goes by the name of S.N. Sinha. He checks into a hotel, and writes his name in the hotel register. That night, he returns to his home, to find the door open, and before he can investigate anything, he hears a gunshot. Kumar runs into the room and finds Meena dead, shot in her chest. Enraged, he decides to call the police station, but realizes that he will be implicated in the murder – his fingerprints are on the gun, he is in disguise, and he is next to the body. Kumar returns to the hotel instead, and smokes a lot of cigarettes. The case is assigned to Inspector Ashok ( Balraj Sahni), and the next day, when Kumar "returns" to Bombay, Ashok observes that Kumar knows which room the body is in, without being told by anyone. The coconut seller near Kumar's house says that he saw a bearded man in the area the night of the murder, and the owner of the hotel which Kumar had checked into calls the police, saying that a bearded man had checked into his hotel. The cigarettes that Kumar had smoked are recovered, and handed over to Ashok. When he visits Kumar at his house the next day, Kumar offers him the same brand of cigarette, rousing his suspicion. Soon, more clues surface, pointing at Kumar as the killer. In a fit of haste, Kumar decides to run away from the growing suspicion of Inspector Ashok. His friend, lawyer Jagmohan (

), says that he will now definitely be implicated as the murderer of Meena. Desperate, he finds a clue about the suspected killer from his home – a key with room number of a hotel. Kumar visits the room as a last attempt to clear things before he is caught. There, he meets Captain Rajesh (Raaj Kumar) who calms him down and tells him that none of them is the real killer. He tells Kumar that he is his wife's first husband, who was supposedly killed on the front, and how he wanted her to acquire their illegitimate child, Sarika, because she wouldn't be able to raise a child born out of wedlock. Captain Rajesh tells Kumar that whoever the killer is, he was seen by Sarika because she was present in the room where Meena was murdered while both mother and daughter were playing and their activities being recorded by a video camera. Together, they try to find the girl, eventually tracing her to Ooty. Unknown to them, Inspector Ashok is on their trail. Soon, they both are arrested by him with the help of Ooty Police. Kumar explains his case, and they try to find Sarika, and she is at the house of a man called Tejpal ( Madan Puri), who tries to run away from there. Shabnam and Jagmohan arrive with the videotape of the night that Meena was murdered. It is revealed that Tejpal is the killer, but he quickly draws a gun and picks up Sarika, threatening to kill her should any of them try to stop him. Captain Rajesh manages to save Sarika from Tejpal, but he is shot twice by the latter. Now free to attack him, Ashok draws his gun and shoots Tejpal, and Kumar rushes over to Captain Rajesh. Tejpal is killed by Ashok and Sarika is safe. Captain Rajesh dies, and at the end of the movie, Kumar tells Shabnam that he cannot work – Meena was his only inspiration. Shabnam shows him Sarika sitting in Meena's seat, and he embraces Shabnam.

Cast

as Captain Rajesh * Sunil Dutt as Kumar *

as Meena *

as Shabnam * Balraj Sahni as Inspector Ashok * Madan Puri as Tejpal * Jeevan as Thakur *

as Advocate Jagmohan * Anwar Hussain as Captain Mahendra *

as Major Verma *

Achala Sachdev Achala Sachdev (3 May 1920 – 30 April 2012) was an Indian actress who appeared in classic films of Hindi language film industry. She was from Peshawar and started her career as a child actor. She later became known for mother and grandmother ...

as Matron *

Urmila Bhatt Urmila Bhatt (1 November 1933 – 22 February 1997) was an actress of Hindi cinema. She started acting in Drama Theatre. She joined Sangeet Kala Academy in Rajkot as a folk dancer and singer. It was during that time that her famous Gujarati dra ...

as Mrs. Tejpal *

as Sarika *Mubarak as Mr. Sahni *Keshav Rana as Hotel Shiraz's Receptionist *

Nana Palsikar Nana Palshikar ( mr, नाना पळशीकर) (1907 – 1 June 1984) was an Indian actor who appeared in over 80 Hindi films. He made his film debut in 1935 with ''Dhuwandhar'', and went on to play character roles in both Hindi mainstream ...

as Jamna *

Nazir Kashmiri Nazir Kashmiri was a prolific character actor in Hindi cinema who appeared in over 100 films. His career extended from 1941 to 2008 spanning 67 years. He started his career in Lahore. He appeared in several Lahore productions before moving to Bo ...

as Doctor *

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

as Dancer

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

, and the lyrics were penned by

. All the songs were huge hits and remain popular to this day. Mahendra Kapoor won the Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer for the song "Neele Gagan Ke Tale".

Awards

*1968

Filmfare Best Male Playback Award The Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award is given by Indian film magazine ''Filmfare'' as a part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a male playback singer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a film son ...

for Mahendra Kapoor for the song "''Neele Gagan Ke Tale''" *1968

National Film Award for Best Cinematography The National Film Award for Best Cinematography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards p ...

for M. N. Malhotra *1968

Filmfare Best Cinematographer Award The Filmfare Best Cinematography Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. The category was first awarded in 1954. Superlatives Most Awards Kamal Bose – 5 Radhu Karmakar – 4 Jal Mi ...

for M. N. Malhotra

References

External links

* {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Hindi}
Hamraaz
1967 films 1960s Hindi-language films Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography National Film Award Films directed by B. R. Chopra Films scored by Ravi Best Hindi Feature Film National Film Award winners