Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab.

Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab.

In the early 70s, some of the directors of bollywood films made films which were related to the life of the middle-class persons in India. Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab generally performed in those types of films which had realistic treatment.

Both Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab did well in the film Chitchor, directed by Basu Chatterji. The film was shot at colourful locations in forests, where Zarina Wahab, a girl from a lower middle-class family fell in love with Amol Palekar. Master Raju also did very well in the film. Besides the music composed in the film by Ravindra Jain tied the theme of the film together. Yesudas and Hemlata sang the songs in the film very well including the song like “tu jo mere sur me”, etc., became very successful.


Both Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab did extremely well in the film Gharonda. They had an affair after Amol Palekar tried to establish himself in Bombay. The acute job crisis was depicted in the film and for those persons who had come from other areas with the dream that there were lot of avenues in the western part of India realised the practical situation. Gulzar had written lyrics in the songs picturised in the film and he expressed the reality with his classic words “in umra se lambi sarkon ko, manzil pe pahucte dekha nahi”. The song was titled “ek akela is shahar me” sung by Bhupinder Singh and composed by the legendary composer Jaidev.


During the first part of the film when the reality was not known, Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab expressed their feelings with the songs “tumhe hona ho, mujhko to” sung by Runa Laila and “do diwane shahr me, raatme aur do pahar me” sung by Bhupinder Singh and Runa Laila. The excellent words were written by Gulzar. Jaidev probably gave his best in the film. Shreeram Lagoo provided very memorable performance in the film.


Very significantly these films reached out to the mass and became hits in the mid 70s. the films were cherished by the middle-class people who had identified themselves with the characters of Amol Palekar and Zarina Wahab. These films should be restored and preserved.

By: CR Chatterji.