''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 produced by

Subodh Mukherjee Subodh Mukherjee (14 April 1921 – 21 May 2005) was an Indian filmmaker (producer and director) of Hindi-language films. He was the brother of the leading producer-director Sashadhar Mukherjee Sashadhar Mukherjee (29 September 1909 – 3 N ...

and directed by Samir Ganguly. The film stars

Shashi Kapoor Shashi Kapoor (pronounced �əʃi kəpuːɾ (born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his work in Hindi films. A recipient of several accolades, including four Nation ...

, Raakhee, Narendra Nath, Nazir Hussain, Iftekhar, 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. 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 ( Nazir Hussain) 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

as Captain Ajit * Raakhee as Kamini/Kanchan (double role) * Iftekhar * Narendra Nath * Nazir Hussain * Ranjeet *

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 and Asha Bhosle. The songs had featured on the Binaca Geetmala 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,

and Raakhee, 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