Achanak (1973 film)

Achanak
Achanak
	Achanak film poster
Directed by	Gulzar
Written by	Khwaja Ahmad Abbas; Gulzar
Produced by	Raj N. Sippy; Romu N. Sippy
Starring	Vinod Khanna; Lily Chakravarty; Asrani
Cinematography	K. Vaikunth
Edited by	Waman B. Bhosle; Gurudutt Shirali
Music by	Vasant Desai
Release date	1973;
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Achanak (transl. Suddenly) is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language film, directed by Gulzar, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and starring Vinod Khanna. Gulzar received a Filmfare nomination as Best Director for this film. Even though Gulzar is an accomplished lyricist, this film did not have any songs in it.^[1] K.A. Abbas earned a Filmfare nomination for best story.^[2] It is inspired by the real-life sensational 1958 murder case KM Nanavati v State of Maharashtra.^[3]

1963 movie Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke was also based on the same case.^[4] Akshay Kumar starrer 2016 movie Rustom is based on the same case as well.^[5]

The film had no songs, the background score is composed by Vasant Desai.

Plot

Major Ranjeet Khanna is in love with his wife Pushpa, who seems to love him as well. His commanding officer, also his father-in-law Lt Col Bakshi. Ranjeet is happy with his marriage, until he finds out about his wife's affair with his best friend. He kills them both and turns himself in to the police. Then, he escapes from the police to find the Ganges River, because he wanted to fulfill his wife's wish of dropping her wedding necklace (mangalsutra) into the river. However, the police shoot him first and he is hospitalized, where he becomes emotionally attached to the doctors and the nurse, who are also devastated when he is sentenced to hang to death.

Cast

Character	Actor
Major Ranjeet Khanna	Vinod Khanna
Dr Chaudhary	Om Shivpuri
Mrs Pushpa Khanna	Lily Chakravarty
Nurse Radha	Farida Jalal
Dr Kailash	Asrani
Colonel Bakshi	Iftekhar
Mr Gupta, Supdt of Police	Kamal Deep

Production

The entire film production was completed in 28 days.^[6] Achanak was based on a Khwaja Ahmed Abbas story, The Thirteenth Victim, which had appeared in the magazine called Imprint.^[7] In 1973 N.C Sippy's sons, Romu Sippy and Raj Sippy collaborated with partner Hrishikesh Mukherjee to produce Achanak and they approached Gulzar to direct it. Gulzar approached Vasantrao, a marathi background score composer to compose the score for this film since it would have no songs otherwise.^[1]

Soundtrack

Background music was composed by Vasant Desai.

#	Song Title	Singer
1	"Sun Mere Bandhu Re"	S D Burman

References

^ ^a ^b Gavankar, Nilu N. (2011). The Desai trio and the movie industry of India. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. p. 236. ISBN 978-1-4634-1941-7.
^ "1st Filmfare Awards 1953" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
^ "Inspired by Nanavati". Hindustan Times. 19 December 2002. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
^ Parsai, Gargi (12 August 2010). "Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke (1963)" – via www.thehindu.com.
^ "Gulzar's Achanak is what Akshay Kumar's Rustom would have been if it didn't take the easy way out". 21 January 2023.
^ Chatterjee, Saibal: "Echoes & Eloquences: The Life and Cinema of Gulzar", page 95. Rupa & Co, 2007. ISBN 978-81-291-1235-4
^ Chatterjee, Saibal: "Echoes & Eloquences: The Life and Cinema of Gulzar", page 93. Rupa & Co, 2007. ISBN 978-81-291-1235-4