Roti Kapda Aur Makaan


Roti Kapada Aur Makaan is a 1974 Indian action-drama film, which was written, directed, and produced by Manoj Kumar. The title of the movie is based on the Hindi phrase, which refers to the bare necessities of life, popularized in the late 1960s by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, ahead of the 1967 general elections.
The film is about a family for which Bharat attempts to provide for after falling into a financial struggle. The film also stars Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay, the brother of Bharat, and stars Zeenat Aman as Sheetal, Bharat's love interest, Moushumi Chatterjee as Tulsi, a friend of Bharat in poverty, and Shashi Kapoor as Mohan Babu, a wealthy businessman. It has been remade into the Telugu film Jeevana Poratam, which stars Sobhan Babu, Rajinikanth, Kaikala Satyanarayana, Naresh, Vijayashanti, and today is still considered to be highly influential, and one of the best Bollywood films of its era.

Plot

After the retirement of his dad, the responsibility is on Bharat to look after his Delhi-based family. He has two younger college-going brothers, Vijay and Deepak and a sister of marriagable age, Champa. Although Bharat is a college graduate, the only work he can find is as a low-paid singer, much to the frustration of his girlfriend, Sheetal. Meanwhile, Vijay has turned to crime as a last resort to provide for the family, but after an argument with Bharat, he leaves home to join the army.
Sheetal starts working as a secretary for rich businessman Mohan Babu and Mohan becomes attracted to her. She becomes attracted to Mohan but is more interested in his wealth and luxury. She loves Bharat but cannot contemplate a life in poverty. Bharat finally finds a job as a builder but starts to realise that Sheetal is slowly drifting away from him. Soon he loses his job after the government takes over the building site and his financial problems increase further. When Mohan proposes marriage to Sheetal, she accepts, leaving Bharat heartbroken. After losing his love, Bharat also loses his father, which devastates him. Frustrated, he burns his diploma on his father's funeral pyre.
Meanwhile, Champa has found a suitor, but Bharat has no money to pay for the wedding and it cannot go ahead. Depressed at the state of his life, Bharat soon finds salvation by helping a poor girl, Tulsi, who lives in poverty but gets by. He also makes friends with Sardar Harnam Singh who comes to his rescue when he attempts to save Tulsi from a gang of hoodlums. He then receives an offer from a corrupt businessman named Nekiram who persuades Bharat to do his illegal activities so he and his family will come out of poverty and be wealthy, for which he accepts.

Cast

The music was composed by the duo Laxmikant–Pyarelal an Lyrics by Santosh Anand

Reception

The film was a major commercial success, emerging as the highest grossing Indian film of its year, and was declared a blockbuster. The film received three Filmfare awards, as well as being nominated for six others.

Awards and nominations