Unlike other directors, Chopra’s adaptation was a roaring success, with the script full of twists and turns coupled with high-pitched dialogue by Akthar-ul-Imaan and a superb performance by Rajesh Khanna the original superstar. The story of Chopra’s film is credited to Gulshan Nanda, a popular writer of pulp romances in Hindi during the 1960s and mid-’70s whose works had been adapted for the screen by many big directors of the period.
Incidentally, the silent film of 1921 directed by Sidney Morgan, co-starring Fred Groves, Paulin Peters, Warwick Ward, was the first adaptation of the classic in collaboration with the author. Yash Chopra’s first independent film as a producer, that subsequently earned him the title of ‘King of Romance’, “Daag” ostensibly drew inspiration from the British television movie “The Mayor of Casterbridge” based on Thomas Hardy’s classic novel by the same name. Not only plots and situations were freely borrowed from Western films even frame-by-frame copying was proudly executed. But Sharmila makes this decision seem like she is actually making a favour to Rakhee,who by the way is in love with Rajesh and thus making the whole thing even more questionable (urgh… how exactly did they arrange the house and bedrooms? And how the heck they explained it all to the kids?)īefore the advent of video and the internet in the 1970s, Bollywood thrived on plagiarism. BTW Rakhee was the one with millions and bungalow while Rajesh and Sharmila had, as we say in our country, naked butts.
The ending however was the most bizarre thing of all, with Rajesh and Sharmila being reunited (thus making Rakhee´s undesirable situation known to the world – which previously was that very thing they tried to stop the whole time) and choosing to live with Rakhee and her father in one household, because “their relationship is unbreakable now”.
I for sure wouldn´t bring a random person from a train station to my home in the middle of the night, spilling to him what the rest of the world must not know and accept his immediate proposal for „marriage“ within an hour. As to why in the world did he never ever even tried to find her up (with millions at his dispose that wouldn´t have been so difficult anyway) is never explained.īut even his „marrying“ Rakhee is as bizzare as hell. And then Rajesh spent 5 years with her under one roof, with her million rupee daddy sponsoring them, growing a moustache, but he never even touched her, because you see, he loved Sharmila. He only told so everybody so to save Rakhee from gossip, because her lover had ditched her once she told him she was pregnant. But I was disappointed when it became clear that Rajesh is in fact not married to Rakhee and he is not a father to her child. Oh the drama! I was really curious at this point at how is Yash Chopra going to solve this one in order to please general public. However as destiny would have it they meet again several years later, with Sharmila having a son and Rajesh having a huge moustache, bungalow, daughter and Rakhee Gulzar for his wife. After accidentally killing a man trying to rape his wife Rajesh Khanna escapes from the police, leaving bechari Sharmila Tagore pregnant and thinking he died.