Seeta Aur Geeta

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Seeta Aur Geeta
File:Seeta Aur Geeta 1972 film poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed byRamesh Sippy
Produced byG. P. Sippy
Written bySalim–Javed
StarringHema Malini
Dharmendra
Sanjeev Kumar
Music byR. D. Burman
CinematographyK. Vaikunth
Edited byM. S. Shinde
Release date
  • 24 November 1972 (1972-11-24)
Running time
166 mins
CountryIndia
LanguageHindustani[1]
Box officeest. ₹19.53 crore ($22.82 million)

Seeta aur Geeta (transl. Seeta and Geeta) is a 1972 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film, written by Salim–Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar) 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 (played by Hema Malini) who are separated at birth and grow up with different temperaments. The twins then swap places (like The Prince and the Pauper). 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 (literally). 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 Telugu movie Ramudu Bheemudu. 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 (1973) and the Tamil film Vani Rani (1974), both starring Vanisri in the dual roles.[2]

This Tamil film was remade as Ram Aur Shyam starring Dilip Kumar in the leading dual role,[3] which inspired Salim-Javed to write Seeta Aur Geeta,[4] but they subverted the formula by having the heroine eventually become the "hero" while the male lead is in a mostly supporting role.[5] Another earlier film with a similar theme was Muqabala (1942) starring Fearless Nadia. Subsequent Hindi remakes of the story have been made, including Geeta Mera Naam starring Sadhana Shivdasani, 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.[6] It became a cult film in the Soviet Union when it was shown there.[7]

Plot[edit]

Seeta and Geeta (Hema Malini in a dual role) are twin girls who were separated at birth. The long-suffering heiress Seeta is treated worse than a servant by her abusive, money-grubbing aunt Kaushalya (Manorama) and her equally cruel brother Ranjeet (Roopesh Kumar), despite the fact that the family is living off her late parents' money. Seeta's only consolations are her meek uncle Badrinath (Satyen Kappu), old wheelchair-bound grandmother (Pratima Devi) and helpful younger brother (Alankar Joshi). Meanwhile, the feisty Geeta is raised in a poor neighbourhood and is a gutsy street performer.

One day, Seeta decides life is not worthy and runs away from home to commit suicide. She is rescued but is mistaken for her identical twin Geeta and is taken to Geeta's home. Meanwhile, Kaushalya and Badrinath are frantically searching for Seeta and find Geeta. They mistake her for her identical twin Seeta and attempt to force her to go with them, but using some of her clever tricks, Geeta escapes from them and the police who have been searching for her. She then meets Ravi (Sanjeev Kumar), the prospective groom for Seeta and goes home with him although he also mistakes her for Seeta. Ravi is surprised by this "Seeta" and the Seeta he had met previously.

After ending up at Seeta's house, Geeta realises the cruelty that she has been living under and vows to teach Kaushalya and Ranjeet a lesson for the sake of her grandmother and brother. Meanwhile, the real Seeta is living in Geeta's house where she meets Raka (Dharmendra), Geeta's friend and fellow performer. Raka is also surprised by the sudden gentle nature of "Geeta" and her desire to do the housework. Geeta's foster mother too has attributed Seeta's new docile attitude to shock. When Raka tries to coax Seeta into performing, she is unable to do so. Amidst all this, Raka falls in love with Seeta.

Elsewhere, Ravi falls in love with the real Geeta as well. At home, Geeta begins to set everything on a proper course with the help of her brother. She resumes control of the money and restores her grandmother to the head of the household, where she belongs. However, things take a drastic turn when 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[edit]

  • Hema Malini in a dual role as Seeta and Geeta
  • Dharmendra as Raka
  • Sanjeev Kumar as Ravi
  • Manorama as Kaushalya (Seeta and Geeta's paternal aunt)
  • Satyen Kappu as Badrinath (Seeta and Geeta's paternal uncle)
  • Roopesh Kumar as Ranjeet (Kaushalya's brother)
  • Master Ravi as Jhumroo (Raka's friend)
  • Alankar Joshi as Seeta and Geeta's younger brother
  • Honey Irani as Sheela (Kaushalya and Badrinath's daughter)
  • Pratima Devi as Dadi Maa (Seeta and Geeta's paternal grandmother)
  • Kamal Kapoor as Ravi's father
  • Ratnamala as Ravi's mother
  • Radhika Rani as Leela (Geeta's foster mother)
  • Karan Dewan as Property Lawyer Gupta
  • Keshav Rana as Inspector Rana
  • M.B. Shetty as Ranjeet's henchman
  • Dulari as Seeta and Geeta's late mother (Special Appearance)
  • Abhi Bhattacharya as Seeta and Geeta's late father (Special Appearance)
  • Asrani as Laughing Doctor (Special Appearance)
  • Asit Sen as Special Appearance

Production[edit]

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 (1967), but they altered the formula with twin female sisters.[4] 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.[5]

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[8][9]

Soundtrack[edit]

All the songs[10] were composed by Rahul Dev Burman and lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi.

# Song Singer(s) Duration Notes
1 "Arey Zindagi Hai Khel" Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle 04:43 Picturised on Hema Malini as Geeta and Dharmendra
2 "O Saathi Chal" Asha Bhosle, Kishore Kumar 04:29 Picturised on Hema Malini and Sanjeev Kumar
3 "Koi Ladki Mujhe Kal Raat" Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar 04:20 Picturised on Hema Malini as Geeta and Sanjeev Kumar
4 "Haan Ji Haan Maine Sharaab" Lata Mangeshkar 05:26 Picturised on Hema Malini as Geeta
5 "Abhi to Haath Mein Jaam" Manna Dey 05:31 Picturised on Dharmendra

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

Domestically in India, the film grossed ₹3.5 crore[11] (US$4.61 million).[lower-alpha 1] Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to US$Error when using {{Inflation}}: NaN/calculation error please notify Template talk:Inflation. million (₹175 crore)[13] in 2016.

Overseas in the Soviet Union, the film grossed 13.8 million SUR[lower-alpha 2] (US$18.21 million,[lower-alpha 3] ₹16.03 crore).[lower-alpha 4] in 1976[18] Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to US$Error when using {{Inflation}}: NaN/calculation error please notify Template talk:Inflation. million (₹517 crore)[13] in 2016.

Worldwide, the film grossed ₹19.53 crore (US$22.82 million). Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to ₹1,155 crore (US$172 million) in 2016.

In terms of footfalls, the film sold an estimated 18 million tickets in India,[11][19] and 55.2 million tickets in the Soviet Union,[14] for an estimated total of 73 million tickets sold worldwide.

Awards[edit]

20th Filmfare Awards
Category Nominee Result
Best Actress Hema Malini Won
Best Cinematographer P. Vaikunth Won

Series[edit]

Main article: Seeta Aur Geeta (TV series)

Bohra Bros had made a television series based on this film which was aired on NDTV Imagine in 2009.[20] Coincidentally Hema Malini did a similar series on same plot called Kamini Damini which was aired on Sahara One on 2004.[21]

Notelist[edit]

  1. ↑ 7.5945 Indian rupees per US dollar in 1972[12]
  2. ↑ 55.2 million tickets sold,[14] average ticket price of 25 kopecks[15]
  3. ↑ 0.758 Soviet rubles per US dollar in 1976[16]
  4. ↑ 8.804 Indian rupees per US dollar in 1976[17]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Aḵẖtar, Jāvīd; Kabir, Nasreen Munni (2002). Talking Films: Conversations on Hindi Cinema with Javed Akhtar. Oxford University Press. p. 49. ISBN 9780195664621. JA: I write dialogue in Urdu, but the action and descriptions are in English. Then an assistant transcribes the Urdu dialogue into Devnagari because most people read Hindi. But I write in Urdu.
  2. ↑ http://www.ghantasala.info/tfs/cdata0872.html
  3. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/enspRam-aur-Shyam-1967/article15934737.ece
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Seeta Aur Geeta was inspired: Salim Khan". Mid-Day. 28 March 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chintamani, Gautam (25 October 2015). "The brilliance of Salim-Javed lies not just in what they said, but how they said it". Scroll.
  6. ↑ http://deep750.googlepages.com/FilmfareAwards.pdf
  7. ↑ Singh, Prabhat (18 October 2016). "Hardly a stranger in Moscow". The Hindu. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  8. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/the-man-behind-gabbar/article5204322.ece
  9. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/the-making-of-a-dream/article2242301.ece
  10. ↑ "Seeta Aur Geeta : Lyrics and video of Songs from the Movie Seeta Aur Geeta (1972)". HindiGeetMala.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Box Office 1972". Box Office India. 20 October 2013. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013.
  12. ↑ "Pacific Exchange Rate Service" (PDF). UBC Sauder School of Business. University of British Columbia. p. 3. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Yearly Average Rates (67.175856 INR per USD in 2016)". OFX.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Indian Films in Soviet Cinemas: The Culture of Movie-going After Stalin, page 211, Indiana University Press, 2005
  15. ↑ Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War, page 48, Cornell University Press, 2011
  16. ↑ "Archive". Central Bank of Russia. 1992.
  17. ↑ http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=15268
  18. ↑ Sergey Kudryavtsev (3 August 2008). "Зарубежные популярные фильмы в советском кинопрокате (Индия)".
  19. ↑ Mittal, Ashok (1995). Cinema Industry in India: Pricing and Taxation. Indus Publishing. pp. 71 & 77. ISBN 9788173870231.
  20. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/Seeta-Aur-Geeta-hit-home/article15938416.ece
  21. ↑ [1][dead link]

External links[edit]

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