Nazrana (1961 film)


Nazrana is a 1961 Indian black-and-white Hindi-language melodrama film produced by S. Krishnamurthy and T. Govindarajan and directed by C. V. Sridhar in his Hindi directorial debut. The film stars Raj Kapoor and Vyjayanthimala in the lead, with Usha Kiran, Achala Sachdev and Agha as an ensemble cast, while South Star Gemini Ganesan has an extended cameo appearance. The music is by Ravi. The Mohammed Rafi song "Baji Kisi Ne Pyar Ki" was picturised on Raj Kapoor and it was one of the popular sad songs of that era.
The film was a remake of the 1959 Tamil film Kalyana Parisu, which was also directed by C. V. Sridhar. Nazrana is a triangular love story between Raj, Vasanthi and Geeta.

Plot

Raj and Vasanti are college mates who clash when she complains to the college principal about a love letter he sent her. Later on, realizing her mistake, Vasanti apologizes to him and the two fall in love. Vasanti's elder sister, Geeta, supports the family by stitching clothes. Raj rents the room upstairs in their house. He falls ill and in nursing him, Geeta falls in love with him. She confides her love to Vasanti, who decides to sacrifice her love for the sake of her sister and convinces Raj to marry Geeta. Raj initially neglects Geeta. On finding out, Vasanti writes to him that their sacrifice, made for Geeta's happiness, would mean nothing unless he is a good husband to Geeta. Raj relents and marries Geeta and they have a son. Vasanti joins them and Geeta suspects that there is something on between Raj and Vasanti and makes Vasanti leave the house. A few years later, Geeta, having found out that Raj and Vasanti loved each other, dies in guilt leaving Raj alone to bring up their child, making him promise that he will make Vasanti the child's mother. Raj learns of Vasanti's impending marriage to her former boss. By the time he reaches there, Vasanti is already married. He hands over his child to Vasanti as a wedding gift and walks away.

Cast

Initially the shooting of the film was started with actress B. Saroja Devi, who acted in the Tamil original Kalyana Parisu and its Telugu remake Pelli Kanuka. During the filming process, she fell out with the director C. V. Sridhar and was replaced by actress Usha Kiran.

Box office

At the end of its theatrical run, Nazrana grossed around 90,00,000 with net of 45,00,000 and was an average success at box office, thus becoming 12th highest-grossing film of 1961.

Soundtrack

The film soundtrack was composed by Ravi, with lyrics by Rajendra Krishan. The songs "Baazi kisi ne pyar","Bikhra Ke Zulfen Chaman Mein" and "Ek Woh Bhi Diwali" became popular.

Awards

[Filmfare Awards]

1961 – Filmfare Award for 15st Story – C. V. Sridhar

Table of Kalyana Parisu and its remakes