Sangam

<p>Sundar, Radha and Gopal have been friends since childhood. As they grow into adults, Sundar develops an obsessive romantic attraction to Radha; for him, she is the only woman in the world. However, Radha prefers Gopal, who is also in love with her, and systematically resists Sundar’s advances. Matching Sundar’s great love for Radha is his unswerving devotion to his friendship with Gopal. Sundar confides his feelings for Radha to Gopal, who decides to sacrifice his love for his friend’s sake. Eventually, Sundar enlists in the and is assigned a dangerous mission in , delivering items to soldiers fighting there. Before leaving, he extracts a promise from Gopal, whom he trusts implicitly, never to let any man come between Radha and himself while he is away. Sundar subsequently completes his mission, but his aircraft is shot down and he is listed as and presumed dead. For his bravery, he is awarded the . The news saddens Radha and Gopal, but they are nonetheless now free to profess their love for one another. Among other expressions of love, Gopal writes her an unsigned love letter that touches her and which she hides away. Just when they begin taking steps to be married, Sundar returns, safe and sound. The self-effacing Gopal sacrifices his love once more, stepping back into the shadows and watching as the reborn Sundar resumes his wooing of Radha. Before Sundar enlisted, Radha’s parents did not like him, but after he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, they happily marry their daughter to him. After the couple returns from an extended European honeymoon, Sundar is deliriously happy, as his life’s dream has been realised. Radha is resolved to be faithful to her husband and to put Gopal out of her mind, privately asking him to stay away from her and Sundar because of the torture his presence causes her. Sundar’s devotion to Gopal, however, is such that he constantly tries to draw him into their lives, much to Radha’s chagrin. The perfection of their marital bliss is, however, shattered when Sundar accidentally discovers the unsigned love letter Gopal had written to Radha. An enraged Sundar pulls a pistol on his wife and demands she divulge the name of her supposed lover, threatening to kill the man, but she refuses. In the days that follow, Sundar becomes consumed with discovering the identity of the letter’s author. Radha’s life becomes miserable, lived out against the incessant drama of Sundar’s jealousy, threats, anger, and fixation with the letter. Eventually unable to bear the wretchedness of her existence with Sundar any further, she flees to Gopal for help. Sundar takes the same route, unaware that Radha has gone to Gopal’s house. There, matters come to a head. The overwrought Gopal admits his authorship of the infamous letter to Radha, an admission that almost destroys his friend. Sundar asks Gopal why he sacrificed his love for his sake, admitting that he would have happily done the same for him. Radha, meanwhile, chastises the two men for not ever taking her feelings into consideration through the whole situation, and only focussing on their friendship. Gopal, perceiving no exit from the impasse at which the three have arrived, kills himself with Sundar’s pistol. Radha and Sundar are finally reunited but in mourning. In the late 1940s, Raj Kapoor planned to launch a film under the title of with , and himself in the lead playing the central characters. The story was penned by during the making of Kapoor’s first directorial film, (1948). However, the film was postponed for several reasons and was in until 1962, when it was titled as , with new cast and crew. Initially, Kapoor approached to play the role of Gopal Verma. Kumar agreed to play either one of the two male roles, on the condition that he be given the right to edit the final copy of the film. Since Kapoor could not accept Kumar’s condition, he then approached and offered him the choice of either one of the male leads. Anand also declined the film, citing problems as the reason. Raj Kapoor then offered the role to , but he too declined the offer. The role was finally given to . During filming, Raj Kapoor took the help of the in the shooting of the Air Force scenes. This was also Raj Kapoor’s first complete film in colour. The film’s soundtrack was composed by , with lyrics penned by and . It was the best-selling of the 1960s. Widely anticipated before release owing to its scale, cast and music, emerged an at the box office as well the second biggest-earner ever, behind . It ran for almost one year in Kolkata’s famous Orient cinema and completed 175 days in other notable cinemas of the city, and Darpan. It further solidified Rajendra Kumar’s status and was also one of the last major hits of Raj Kapoor’s career as a lead. Today, is considered a cult classic and one of the best films ever made in .</p>