Kati Patang

<p>Madhavi “Madhu” is an orphan living with her maternal uncle, who with someone she does not know. Blinded by her love for Kailash, she runs away on the day of the wedding only to discover Kailash with another woman, Shabnam. Heartbroken and dejected, she returns to her uncle, who had committed from . Realising that she has no one in life, Madhavi decides to leave town and head somewhere else. She meets her childhood friend Poonam, who tells her about her husband’s untimely demise in an accident and that she is on her way, along with her baby boy Munna, to stay with her whom she has never met before. Poonam manages to compel Madhu to accompany her as her plight is pitiful. En route, Poonam and Madhu catch up until the and end up in a . Poonam has . She knows that her end is near, so she makes Madhu promise that she will , bring Munna up and continue life in Poonam’s in-law’s house. Madhu has no choice but to give in to a dying mother’s wish. In the downpour on the way, the cabbie attempts to rob her but Kamal, a , rescues her and gives her shelter until the sky is clear the next day. She learns that Kamal is the very man with whom her marriage was arranged. Madhu leaves Kamal’s home in shame and reaches Poonam’s in-laws. Her father-in-law, Dinanath and mother-in-law accept her and let her stay there. Kamal keeps visiting the house as he was the son of Dinanath’s best friend. Soon, he realises that he is in love with “Poonam”. Madhu’s ill fate brings Kailash to Dinanath’s house. He is after their money and is very close to revealing Madhu’s identity. To be successful, he impresses all the members of the house, but Poonam takes a resentment to him. Dinanath soon realises Poonam’s true identity and asks for the truth. When he realises what the matter really is, he accepts Madhavi and makes her the guardian of the Dinanath property which will be by Munna. That night, Dinanath is poisoned by Kailash. Mrs. Dinanath accuses Poonam for what has happened and she is imprisoned. Now Shabnam enters the life of the Dinanaths claiming that she is the real Poonam. Mrs. Dinanath, in rage, sends her away and is ready for no story. Kamal takes a dislike towards Madhu, learning the truth. However, he eventually realises the truth and gets Shabnam and Kailash arrested for their evil intentions and Madhavi is freed. When Kamal searches for Madhu, he realises that she has left without any notice, but a letter for Kamal, stating that she is going out of his life and so, he should not try to find her out. Kamal starts searching for her and finds her trying to jump from a cliff and stops her by singing a song. They hug. was adapted from a novel of the same name by . The novel and the film’s story, also written by Nanda, was based on the novel , by and had been previously made into the American film (1950) starring . The novel was also later adapted in Japan as (1960) by , in Brazil as the TV miniseries (1962), in French as (I Married a Shadow; 1983) and again in the US as (1996). Shakti Samanta has stated that he offered the film to first but she was pregnant. It was then he signed , he was “confident” that he could extract a “convincing performance from her.” He had cast her in his earlier film, (1970). The music was composed by and the lyrics were penned by . The songs sung by Kishore Kumar for Rajesh Khanna were the reason for the film’s success, while got to sing a number for the latter – a rare combination. performed “Mera Naam Hai Shabnam” in the talk-sung style of in (1964) (and thus often incorrectly dubbed “the first Hindi rap number”). The film was successful at the box office, becoming the sixth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1971. According to , “On screen, Rajesh Khanna never appeared to be lip-syncing. So convincing were his expressions. His presence, backed by the music, remained the main source of strength for a movie’s success”.</p>