Anpadh (

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 ...

: अनपढ़,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

: ''illiterate'') is a 1962 Hindi film. It stars Balraj Sahni,

Dharmendra Dharam Singh Deol (born 8 December 1935), also known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi films. Known as the first " He-Man" of Bollywood, Dharmendra has worked in over 301 ...

, Mala Sinha,

Shashikala Shashikala Saigal (née Jawalkar; 4 August 1932 – 4 April 2021), better known by her first name, was an Indian film and television actress, who played supporting roles in hundreds of Bollywood films beginning in the 1940s. Early years Shash ...

. Actress Bindu made her first prominent appearance in this film with the song Jiya Le Gayo Ji Mora Sanwariya. The music is by

Madan Mohan Madan Mohan is a form of the Hindu god, Krishna. Krishna is celebrated as ''Madan Mohan'', who mesmerizes everyone. His consort, Radha is glorified as Madan Mohan's ''Mohini'', who can even mesmerise Madan Mohan (her Kahn). Radha is known as th ...

and the lyrics by

Raja Mehdi Ali Khan Raja Mehdi Ali Khan (23 September 1915 – 29 July 1966) was an Indian poet, writer and a lyricist. Early life and career Raja Mehdi Ali Khan was born on 23 September 1915 at Karamabad village, near Wazirabad, Gujranwala District of Punjab, Br ...

. The film focuses on the importance of education for girls. This movie has the evergreen song "Aapki Nazron Ne Samjha", sung by

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 ...

Plot

Shambunath "Shambu" is a rich man who lives with his younger sister Lajwanti "Lajjo". Shambu feels that accumulation of wealth is much more important than education because of which Lajjo becomes illiterate. Lajjo is a naive young girl, who doesn't know to do household chores. Many days later, Shambu gets Lajjo married to Deepak, another young man who comes from a rich family. Lajjo is devastated to know that Deepak is a

bibliophile Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books. Profile The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often ama ...

and is highly educated. She confesses to the family about her illiteracy much to the disappointment of Deepak. As a result, her marital life is destroyed and she is mistreated by her own husband, in-laws and her school going brother-in-law Kishore. One day, Deepak catches Lajjo, when she was asking the servant to write a letter to Shambu. When Deepak reads the letter, he finds that Lajjo lied to Shambu that her in-laws are taking good care of her and she is leading a happy life. Deepak, is deeply moved by her innocence and apologizes for what happened and promises to teach her to read and write. The couples are much more delighted after they know that Lajjo is pregnant. However, fate plays another game when Shambu has an argument with Deepak's father, Thakur Mahendranath where Lajjo intervenes and condemns Shambu. A disappointed Shambu angrily storms away. Deepak who got to know of this, decides to bring back Shambu. Unfortunately, as he is going, his car bumps onto a tree. Deepak is hospitalized but dies very soon. Lajjo is left all alone and at the same time, Mahendranath and his wife blames Lajjo for Deepak's death and expels her from their house, leaving her destitute. She goes back to her house but finds it locked. Later, she gets to know that Shambu fled from the area after he murdered a

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

. She wanders around for a job but is unable to get a job because of her

naivety Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may b ...

. She comes across her friend Basanti who takes Lajjo to her home, where she gives birth to a girl. After, hearing her story, Basanti pities her and many days later, Lajjo learns sewing, cooking and a lot other chores, gets a job and earns enough money. She is able to provide education to her daughter, Kiran. Meanwhile, Lajjo makes herself at Basanti's home. Years pass by, Lajjo becomes aged and Kiran grows up. She is studious and intelligent. During her graduation, Mahendranath is the guest. Mahendranath is impressed by Kiran and gives her a job, unaware that she is his granddaughter. Kiran is in love with a young lawyer. Kishore too has grown up, he is irresponsible. One day Kishore kidnaps Kiran. Lajjo runs behind the car in which she was abducted. This is when, an aged and poor Shambu finds her and recognizes her. With the help of Shambu, Lajjo rescues Kiran and shoots Kishore with his

pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...

. Shambu takes the blame for the murder. In the court, Lajjo recognizes Shambu. Overcome with guilt, she confesses the crime. However, the court sentences Shambu to 5 years of prison. The siblings have an emotional goodbye. Mahendranath apologizes to Lajjo for mistreating her. Shambu confesses his mistake for not educating Lajjo and promises that he will return. Shambu advises Lajjo to sell their old

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

and start a new school for girls. The film ends with Lajjo fulfilling her brother's advise by starting a school with the help of Kiran who is now happily married to her lover.

Cast

* Balraj Sahni as Chaudhary Shambhunath *

as Deepak * Mala Sinha as Lajwanti "Lajjo" *

as Basanti * Bindu as Kiran *

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 ...

as Thakur Mahendranath * Mumtaz Begum as Mrs. Mahendranath * Dhumal as Kalu *

Mohan Choti Mohan Choti (1935 – 1 February 1992) was an Indian actor who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. The name Mohan Choti came from a fictional character of the same name from the 1957 film '' Musafir'', in which he plays a tea shop delivery boy ...

as Young Kalu *

Aruna Irani Aruna Irani (born 3 May 1946) is an Indian actress, who has acted in over 500 films throughout Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and Gujarati cinema, playing mostly supporting and character roles. She has won two Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Act ...

as Young Lajwanti * Kharaiti as Munshi * Baby Shashi as Young Basanti * Brahm Bhardwaj as Public Prosecutor * Ram Mohan as Jeevan Chaudhary

Music

All songs were written by lyricist

and music composed by

. "Aap Ki Nazron Ne Samjha" is an evergreen song from this movie.

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0206554 1962 films 1960s Hindi-language films Indian drama films 1962 drama films Films scored by Madan Mohan Hindi-language drama films Films directed by Mohan Kumar