Seeta aur Geeta is a 1972 Indian Bollywoodcomedy-drama film, written by Salim-Javed and directed by Ramesh Sippy. It stars Hema Malini, Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar in leading roles, and features music composed by R.D. Burman. The story is about identical twins who are separated at birth and grow up with different temperaments. The twins then swap places. The two sisters' partners in the movie are played by Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar. Manorama plays the evil aunt who changes her tune after her arm is twisted. Furthermore, Hema Malini was noted for the novelty of her role as Geeta where she is rambunctious and sometimes violent. The main theme of this movie was copied from the superhit Tamil movieEnga Veettu Pillai starring Superstar M. G. Ramachandran. As hinted in the Wikipedia page, it is said that the producer of this movie B. Nagi Reddy was furious with Salim-Javed for copying his story and hence he went on to quickly move on to making remakes in other languages include the Telugu film Ganga Manga and the Tamil filmVani Rani, both starring Vanisri in the dual roles. This Tamil film was remade as Ram Aur Shyam starring Dilip Kumar in the leading dual role, which inspired Salim-Javed to write Seeta Aur Geeta, but they subverted the formula by having the heroine eventually become the "hero" while the male lead is in a mostly supporting role. Another earlier film with a similar theme was Muqabala starring Fearless Nadia. Subsequent Hindi remakes of the story have been made, including Jaise Ko Taisa starring Jeetendra, ChaalBaaz starring Sridevi, Kishen Kanhaiya starring Anil Kapoor, Judwaa starring Salman Khan Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi starring Kajol, in the dual roles. Hema Malini won her only competitive Filmfare Best Actress Award of her career. P. Vaikunth won the Filmfare Best Cinematographer Award. In 1976, the film was shown in the Soviet Union where it was a success.
Plot
Seeta and Geeta are twin girls who were separated at birth. Geeta, a feisty girl is raised in a poor neighborhood and is a street performer, while Seeta is raised by her cruel aunt Chachi and meek uncle. Chachi treats Seeta like a servant, despite the fact that the family is living off her late parents' money. Seeta's only consolation is her old wheelchair bound grandmother. One day, Seeta decides life is not worth living and runs away to commit suicide. She is saved but is mistaken for her identical twin Geeta and is taken to Geeta's home. Meanwhile, Seeta's aunt and uncle are frantically searching for her and find Geeta. They attempt to force Geeta to go with them but, using some of her clever tricks, she escapes them and the police who have been searching for her. She then meets Ravi and, though he also mistakes her for Seeta, she goes home with him. Ravi is surprised by this "Seeta" and the Seeta he had met previously. Geeta realizes the cruelty that Seeta has been living under and vows to teach her aunt a lesson. Meanwhile, the real Seeta is living in Geeta's house. Her surrogate mother has attributed her new docile attitude to shock. Here, Seeta meets Raka, Geeta's friend and fellow performer. Raka is also surprised by "Geeta's" sudden gentle nature and desire to do housework. When he tried to coax her into performing, she is unable to do so. Ravi meanwhile falls in love with Geeta. At home, Geeta begins to set everything on a proper course. She resumes control of the money and restores her grandmother to the head of the household, where she belongs. Raka begins to fall in love with Seeta. Trouble begins brewing when Chachi's brother Ranjeet comes to visit and sees the real Seeta in a marketplace. He follows her and discovers the truth, which leads to a showdown in the villains' den and then marriage.
Cast
Production
According to Salim Khan, one half of screenwriting duo Salim-Javed, the concept of Seeta Aur Geeta was inspired by the Dilip Kumar starrer Ram Aur Shyam, but they altered the formula with twin female sisters. Seeta Aur Geeta subverted the formula by having the heroine Hema Malini eventually become the "hero" while male lead Dharmendra is in a mostly supporting role. Ramesh Sippy initially wanted Nutan as Seeta and Geeta because he "saw the heroine as a mature woman with a child" but he was advised against casting a heroine who was "at a mature phase of her career when the hero, too, was getting along in age." The film was also offered to popular actress Mumtaz, who ironically starred in Ram Aur Shyam, but she refused the offer as she wasn't paid enough. According to Sippy, the film's budget costed 40 lakhs
Domestically in India, the film grossed . Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to US$million in 2016. Overseas in the Soviet Union, the film grossed 13.8million SUR. in 1976 Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to US$million in 2016. Worldwide, the film grossed crore. Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to crore in 2016. In terms of footfalls, the film sold an estimated million tickets in India, and 55.2million tickets in the Soviet Union, for an estimated total of million tickets sold worldwide.
Bohra Bros had made a television series based on this film which was aired on NDTV Imagine in 2009. Co-incidentally Hema Malini did a similar series on same plot called Kamini Damini which was aired on Sahara One on 2004.
