''Sharmeelee'' is a

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

Indian Hindi-language

romantic film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

produced by Subodh Mukherjee and directed by Samir Ganguly. The film stars Shashi Kapoor,

Raakhee Raakhee Gulzar (born Rakhee Majumdar on 15 August 1947 and known as Raakhee) is an Indian actress who has appeared in many Hindi films and Bengali films as well. In four decades of acting, she has won three Filmfare Awards and one National Fil ...

, Narendra Nath,

Nazir Hussain Nazir Hussain (15 May 1922 – 16 October 1987) was an Indian actor, director and screenwriter. He was famous as a character actor in Hindi cinema and acted in almost 500 films. Dev Anand starred in a large proportion of the films he acted i ...

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 ...

, S N Banerjee,

Anita Guha Anita Guha (17 January 1932 – 20 June 2007) was an Indian actress who usually played mythological characters in films. She became known for playing the title role in ''Jai Santoshi Maa'' (1975). Previously, she had played Sita in other mytholo ...

, Asit Sen. Raakhee played a double role in this film, and its success helped make her one of the decade's top leading ladies in Hindi films. The film also marked the debut of

Ranjeet Ranjeet Bedi (born 13 September 1942 as Gopal Bedi) popularly known as Ranjeet, is an Indian actor and film director born in Jandiala Guru near Amritsar (Punjab), best known for his work in Bollywood.Singh, Nonika (1999)Ranjeet's triple love" ...

. The film starts on a romantic track, but after halfway takes a brilliant turn towards mystery and thriller genre.

Plot

While returning from the Army Base, Captain Ajit Kapoor stops over at a rest-house, where there is a party on, and he meets a charming, vivacious young lady. When he reaches home, his guardian, Father Joseph, wants him to get married. When Joseph (

) accompanies Ajit to see the girl, whose name is Kanchan, Ajit is thrilled to find out that it is the very same girl he met at the rest-house. Ajit indicates his approval, and the stage is set for them to get married. It is then that Ajit finds out that Kanchan is not the girl he had met, but her twin-sister. Kanchan is heart-broken at this, but wants her sister to be happy. Ajit is even more happy when he finally meets Kamini, who also recognizes him. She tries to put a spanner in the works by emotionally attacking Ajit. Then Ajit's Army Colonel summons him for assistance in locating a female spy, who closely resembles Kanchan.

Cast

* Shashi Kapoor as Captain Ajit *

as Kamini/Kanchan (double role) *

Narendra Nath Narendra Nath (1935–1998) was an Indian actor. Early life and background His full name is Narendra Nath Malhotra. He was first cousin of actor Prithviraj Kapoor. Prithviraj's mother was the elder sister of Narendra's father. Two of his ...

Jayshree T. Jayshree Talpade (born c. 1953) is an Indian actress and dancer who mostly plays in Bollywood films. Career Talpade began her career at age 5 in 1958 with ''Goonj Uthi Shehnai''. She gained popularity when she started performing item dances i ...

, in song "Reshmi Ujala Hai"

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Sharmeelee was an instant hit with the Indian audience, with songs composed 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

Neeraj Neeraj or Niraj (Devanagari: नीरज ) is a Hindu masculine given name. The Sanskrit word ' is a compound of ' 'water' and ' 'born' and has the primary meaning of 'lotus'. The same Sanskrit word can also be a compound of ' 'without' (which ...

and sung by

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 ...

and

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 the ...

. The songs had featured on the

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 Servic ...

top 10 songs of 1971.

Box office

Sharmeelee was declared a "Semi-hit" by Box Office India. Sharmeelee had powerful and promising performances by the lead actors, Shashi Kapoor and

, and had received both critical as well as commercial success. It had netted approximately 2,60,00,000.

References

External links

* Films scored by S. D. Burman 1971 films 1970s Hindi-language films Twins in Indian films Films directed by Samir Ganguly {{1970s-Hindi-film-stub