''Insaaniyat'' (English: Humanity) is a 1974

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Prayag Raj. The film stars Shashi Kapoor, Madhu and

Sujit Kumar Sujit Kumar (7 February 1934 – 5 February 2010) was an Indian actor and producer. He appeared in over 150 Hindi films in the 1960s through the 1990s, and in at least 20 Bhojpuri films. Sujit played the major lead actor in many films in ...

in pivotal roles with

Jayant Jayanta ( sa, जयन्त, "victory"), is a character who appears in Hindu literature. He is the son of Indra, the king of the devas (gods), and his wife, Shachi (Indrani). He has a sister called Jayanti. He appears in various Hindu scri ...

Jagdeep Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jaffrey (29 March 1939 – 8 July 2020), better known by his stage name Jagdeep, was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in more than 400 films. He played Soorma Bhopali in ''Sholay'' (1975), Machchar in '' Purana Mandi ...

Durga Khote Durga Khote (14 January 1905 − 22 September 1991) was an Indian actress, beginning as one of the foremost leading ladies of her times, she remained active in Hindi and Marathi cinema, as well as theatre, for over 50 years, starring in around ...

, Krishan Dhawan,

Roopesh Kumar Roopesh Kumar (16 January 1946 – 29 January 1995) was a character actor in Bollywood films, especially known for his role as a villain in over 100 Hindi films from 1965 to 1995. He is widely remembered for his comic negative roles in the film ...

and Kamal Kapoor in supporting roles. ''Insaaniyat'' was the first film produced and distributed by J.V. Films; Madhu, the leading actress in the film, made her debut in the film. ''Insaaniyat'' was also one of the few Indian movies to prominently feature the Great Bombay Circus, India's oldest circus company.

Plot

Dilip ( Shashi Kapoor) and Ram (

) have been close friends for much of their lives. Whereas Ram is now married to Asha (Aarti), Dilip lives a care-free life with his wealthy father Karamchand (Mubarak) who is trying to get Dilip married to his friend Poonamchand's ( Hari Shivdasani) daughter. Dilip, in the meantime spends much of his time wooing Leena (Madhu) who rebuffs him initially but eventually falls in love with him. All seems to going well until one day Karamchand falls seriously ill and on his deathbed tells Dilip that he is not his father. After prodding their loyal servant Ramu ( Krishan Dhawan), Dilip learns that he was the son of a judge ( Kamal Kapoor) who had sentenced Raghuveer (

), a criminal, to a long prison term. Twenty years ago Raghuveer had escaped from prison and brutally murdered Dilip's father, mother and siblings. Not surprisingly, Dilip is determined to find Raghuveer and places an ad in the newspapers offering a handsome reward to anybody who can help him locate Raghuveer. Michael (Surinder Makkar), who works for a circus, responds to this ad, but is murdered by Raghuveer's henchman, Girdharilal, (

) before he can inform Dilip that Raghveer has changed his name to Diwan and is now the owner of the circus. When Dilip learns about this from Michael's girlfriend, he together with Ram and Leena proceed with a plan on going after Raghuveer. What is not known to Dilip is that Raguveer is Ram's father who had left Ram and his mother (

) twenty years ago. The rest of the film unfolds with the complications that arise when Ram learns that Raghuveer is his father, and how Dilips's plan for taking his revenge on Raghuveer will affect the friendship between Ram and Dilip.

Cast

* Shashi Kapoor as Dilip * Madhu as Leena *

as Ram *

as Raghuveer / Diwan *

as Abdullah *

as Ram's mother *Aarti as Ram's wife * Krishan Dhawan as Ramu *

as Girdharilal, a Circus Employee * Kamal Kapoor as Judge (Dilip's father) *

Pinchoo Kapoor Pinchoo Kapoor (1927 – April 28, 1989) was an Indian actor born in Rawalpindi, Punjab, British India in 1927. He acted in many Hindi films during the 1970s and 1980s. His film career lasted from 1969 to 1989. He is best remembered for his rol ...

as John *

Viju Khote Viju Khote (17 December 1941 – 30 September 2019) was an Indian actor who was known for his work in more than 440 films in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He was famous as the dacoit ''Kaalia'' in the film ''Sholay'' and the dialogue, "Sardar ...

as a Circus Employee *Surinder Makkar as Michael, a circus trapeze artist *

Jagdish Raj Jagdish Raj Khurana (1928 – 28 July 2013) was a Bollywood actor who holds a Guinness World Record for being the most type-cast actor. He played the role of a police inspector in 144 films. Early life and career He was born in 1928 in the tow ...

as Inspector Ramesh * Hari Shivdasani as Poonamchand

Soundtrack

Music of the film was composed by the duo of

Shankar–Jaikishan Shankar–Jaikishan (also known as S-J), were an Indian composer duo of the Hindi film industry, working together from 1949 to 1971. They are widely considered to be one of the greatest ever music composers of the Hindi film industry. After Jaiki ...

and the songs were penned by lyricists Hasrat Jaipuri and

Indeevar Shyamalal Babu Rai, known professionally as Indeevar, (also credited as Indiwar and Indeewar) (1 January 1924 – 27 February 1997) was one of the leading Hindi film lyricists in the 1960s. Early life He was born in Barua Sagar of Jhansi di ...

Production

The children of three brothers, Bhagwan Das Varma, Munshiram Varma and Santram Varma (founders of Varma Films that had made box-office hits like Suhaag Raat, Patanga and

Badal ''Badal'' () is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language action drama film directed by Raj Kanwar. The film stars Bobby Deol and Rani Mukerji in lead roles with Amrish Puri. The movie is inspired by ''The Devil's Own'' (1997), starring Harrison Ford ...

), pooled their resources in producing ''Insaaniyat''. Jagdish Varma and Satpal Varma, sons of Bhagwan Das Varma, were producers of the film. Sunil Varma, son of Munshiram Varma, was the film's executive producer. Madhu Makkar (a.k.a. Madhu), née Madhu Varma, daughter of Munshiram Varma, was cast as Leena in one of the three pivotal roles on ''Insaaniyat'' opposite veteran actor Shashi Kapoor, who was cast in another pivotal role. The third pivotal role in ''Insaaniyat '' was played by

, who had recently married Kiran Singh, née Kiran Varma, daughter of Santram Varma. Also, Surinder Makkar, spouse of Madhu Makkar, was cast in an important character role in ''Insaaniyat ''. The producers had originally signed up

Manmohan Desai Manmohan Desai (26 February 1937 – 1 March 1994) was an Indian film producer and director. He was one of the most successful filmmaker of the 70s and 80s. Desai is now considered one of most influential film director of Bollywood and a pionee ...

, leading director of the 1970s, to direct ''Insaaniyat ''. When conflicts arose between the producers and Manmohan midway through the making of the film, he was replaced by Prayag Raj.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0395602, title=Insaaniyat 1974 films 1970s Hindi-language films 1974 drama films