''Kanyadaan'' () is a

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

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 ...

social romantic drama film directed by Mohan Sehgal. The film was produced by Rajendra Bhatia for Kiron Productions. The story and screenplay was written by R.A Baqueri with dialogue by Sarshar Sailani and director of photography was K. H. Kapadia. The music direction was by

Shankar Jaikishan Shankar may refer to: People *Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist * S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar *Sanka ...

and lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri and

Gopaldas Neeraj Gopaldas Neeraj (popularly known as Neeraj; 4 January 1925 – 19 July 2018) was an Indian poet and author of Hindi literature. He was also a poet of Hindi Kavi sammelan (Poets Meet). He was born in the village of Puravali, near Mahewa in Eta ...

. The film stars Shashi Kapoor,

Asha Parekh Asha Parekh (born 2 October 1942) is a retired Indian actress, film director, and producer who appeared in many commercially successful films throughout her career. She was the highest paid actress of her time and was one of the most successful ...

Om Prakash Om Prakash (born Om Prakash Chibber 19 December 1919 – 21 February 1998) was an Indian film actor. He was born in Jammu as Om Prakash Chibber and went on to become a well-known character actor of Bollywood. His most well-known movies are Na ...

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 ...

, Dilip Raj,

Sayeeda Khan Saida, Saidah (Arabic: سَعِيدة ''saʽīdah'') also spelled Sayda, Saeeda, or Sayeeda, is the female form of the Arabic male given name Sa‘id. Saida is a Japanese surname but not related to the Arabic given name. It may refer to: A ...

and

Padma Rani Padmarani, also spelled as Padma Rani, was an Indian actress who performed in Gujarati plays, Gujarati films, and Hindi films. Early life Padmarani was born to a Maharashtrian family in Pune, Maharashtra on 25 January 1937. She was brought ...

. The plot revolved around the social issue of

child marriage Child marriage is a marriage or similar union, formal or informal, between a child under a certain age – typically 18 years – and an adult or another child. * * * * The vast majority of child marriages are between a female child and a mal ...

. Rekha and Amar are married off as children, they grow up to fall in love with different people and are ultimately not accepting the marriage performed in childhood.

Plot

The film starts with a

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

match between the girls' team Bulbuls, and the boys' team Heroes. The girls win by 2 goals to one. Amar (Dileep Raj) from the boys' team and Lata (

) from the Bulbul team are attracted to each other. Amar Kumar ( Shashi Kapoor) is a poet, and friends with Amar. People often get confused with their names as their names are the same. When Kumar finds out about his friend's love, he takes the initiative to get them married and also promises Lata's father that he would take care of her as she has no in-laws to do so. Kumar, on the way to a town on business has a car breakdown and meets Rekha (

), a village girl. She invites him to stay at their house as he has no other place to go and Kumar accepts it. Both Rekha and Kumar are attracted to each other. When he starts back, he deliberately stops at her village. Convinced about Rekha's feelings for him, he approaches her mother to ask her hand in marriage. But when Rekha's mother (

) reveals that Rekha was already married to a guy named Amar in her childhood and even Rekha was oblivious to that till now, he gets shocked. She gives him a photo of the wedding and asks him to help her to find Amar, as she couldn't find out where he lives now. Kumar quietly leaves. Rekha, being a girl who respects traditions to the core, accepts her fate and tries to forget Kumar. But When Kumar returns later with a childhood photo of himself along with his parents and his driving licence stating that his full name is Amar Kumar, she feels very happy and leaves with him as his wife. However, Kumar later reveals the truth that the original Amar is already married to Lata and she shouldn't disturb their peaceful marital life. He tells her that he loves her very much and asks her to accept the truth and marry him. But Rekha, sad and enraged leaves his house to kill herself, almost getting mowed down by the other Amar's car. Amar and Lata on being told that she has no one and nowhere to go, thinking that her husband may have thrown her out of his house, offer her shelter. When Rekha realizes that this is real Amar and that he is happily married, doesn't reveal the truth. Kumar feels sad and depressed and turns to drinking. Meanwhile, tensions start to build in Amar's house due to the over familiarity of the innocent Rekha in household matters. Later, when Lata finds out about her husband's child- marriage and is furious. Rekha leaves the house with the intention to end her life. But her mother who has come to know of her circumstances and has arrived from the village convinces Rekha that the marriage that has happened in their childhood, without their consent was not a marriage at all, and a real kanyadan (giving away bride in marriage by her parents or guardians) should happen when parents give away their adult daughter with her consent. Rekha at last accepts Kumar as a husband. All's well that ends well.

Cast

* Shashi Kapoor as Amar Kumar *

as Rekha *

as Bansi * Dilip Raj as Amar *

as Lata *

as Rekha's mother * Madhumati * Sabita Chatterjee *

Laxmi Chhaya Laxmi Chhaya (7 January 1948 – 9 May 2004) was an Indian actress, dancer and teacher, who was known for her distinctive character roles and appearances in Hindi films. Following a series of roles as a child actor, Chhaya earned recognition ...

* Padma Rani as Rekha's friend Gulabi

Tun Tun Tun Tun
Press Release, 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 ...

* Indira Bansal * Chandrashekhar

Box-office

The film was a box office success, doing a business of 3.2 crore, making it the fourth highest earner of 1968.

Music

Track list

The film's music was composed by Shankar Jaikishan, with lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri and Neeraj. The singers providing playback were

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 con ...

, Mohammed Rafi,

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in th ...

and Mahendra Kapoor. The film turned out to be a success with Shankar Jaikishan's music and songs like "Likhe Jo Khat Tujhe" and "Meri Zindagi Mein Aate".

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id =0320100 , title =Kanyadaan (1968) 1960 films 1960s Hindi-language films Films about social issues in India Films scored by Shankar–Jaikishan Child marriage in India Films about Indian weddings