Souten

Souten
Souten
	Poster
Directed by	Saawan Kumar Tak
Produced by	Saawan Kumar Tak
Starring	Rajesh Khanna; Tina Munim; Padmini Kolhapure
Edited by	David Dhawan
Music by	Usha Khanna
Release date	3 June 1983;
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Souten (transl. Co-Wife [or] Husband's other wife) is a 1983 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Saawan Kumar Tak, starring Rajesh Khanna, Tina Munim, Padmini Kolhapure, Prem Chopra and Pran. It was written by Kamleshwar, with music by Usha Khanna. The song "Shayad Meri Shaadi" sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar became especially memorable. Khanna's chemistry with Munim also proved popular. The film was remade in Kannada as Krishna Nee Begane Baro and in Telugu as Tene Manasulu.^[1]

Plot

Movie starts with Shyam (Rajesh Khanna) standing in a court and reciting his story. Shyam is an ambitious man who meets Rukmini (Tina Munim), the daughter of a millionaire, and falls in love with her, they get married with support of Ruku's father (Pran) but her step-mother Renu and uncle, Sampatlal (step-mother's brother) try to instigate her to not marry Shyam by telling her that he doesn't loves Ruku, rather he loves Pran's money. Despite this, they get married. After marriage, Shyam's passion towards work lets Renu and Sampatlal insert themselves in their relationship. Renu instigates her to do an operation to prevent pregnancy for 5 years by telling her that pregnancy can ruin her figure, Shyam unknowingly doesn't take any precautions which results in Ruku not being able to conceive forever. Consequently, their relationship sours. Radha (Padmini Kolhapure), the daughter of Shyam's employee, Gopal, brings hope into Shyam's life. Sampatlal convinces Ruku that Shyam is having secret affair with Radha. Ruku invites Radha and Mr. Gopal and insults her of having an affair with her husband. Mr. Pran dies giving all his property to Rukmini and Shyam and leaves nothing for Renu and Sampatlal. Shyam and Ruku get separated without divorce. Sampatlal ask Radha to marry someone else to unite Ruku and Shyam to which Radha answers positively. Soon she bears child of her husband but her husband suspects her of bearing Shyam's child. Soon it is revealed that Radha's husband has another wife and three children. After knowing this Gopal kills Radha's husband and commits suicide leaving a letter for Radha informing her that she is a widow. Shyam takes care of her and her daughter. Here the story, Shyam was reciting, ends. Sampatlal threatens to prison Shyam by next hearing. Ruku gives Shyam a photo (edited by Sampatlal) in which Shyam and Radha are shown married. Shyam finds an evidence against Renu and Sampatlal's conspiracy. Radha goes to convince Rukmini that she is not married to Shyam' She tells that she worships Shyam and that he is like a God to her. She then consumes poison. Shyam tries to save but she tells him that that she is lucky to die at his feet. And in cremation ceremony, Rukmini is shown taking care of her child while Shyam performs her last rites.

Cast

Rajesh Khanna as Shyam Mohit
Tina Munim as Rukmini Mohit (Ruku)
Padmini Kolhapure as Radha
Pran as Raisaheb Prannath Pasha
Prem Chopra as Sampatlal
Shreeram Lagoo as Gopal
Shashikala as Renu Prannath Pasha
Paresh Rawal as Mr. Jain
Vijay Arora as Vijay
Satyendra Kapoor
Roopesh Kumar as Bingo (Photographer)
Yunus Parvez as public prosecutor, lawyer
Sudhir Dalvi as public prosecutor, lawyer
T.P.Jain as Gunwant Lal

Production

According to the director, Souten was the first Hindi film ever to be shot in Mauritius. Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi were offered the role of Rukmini. While Zeenat did not have available dates Parveen left the film industry and Tina Munim was signed.^[2]

Awards

31st Filmfare Awards:

Nominated

Best Supporting Actress – Padmini Kolhapure
Best Music Director – Usha Khanna
Best Lyricist – Saawan Kumar for "Shayad Meri Shaadi Ka Khayal"
Best Lyricist – Saawan Kumar for "Zindagi Pyaar Ka Geet"
Best Male Playback Singer – Kishore Kumar for "Shayad Meri Shaadi Ka Khayal"

Soundtrack

The music of this movie was composed by Usha Khanna (one of the two female music composer to have ever worked in Bollywood). Saawan Kumar Tak himself penned the lyrics to the famous songs.The song 'Zindagi Pyar Ka Geet Hai' of this movie is a popular one.

The song, 'Main Teri Chhoti Behna Hoon' is sampled on the Four Tet track 'Morning' on the album Morning/Evening.

The song, 'Meri Pehle Hi Tang Thi Choli' was supposed to be a duet between Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar. However, Mangeshkar refused to sing this song due to the explicit lyrics. This led to Anuradha Paudwal singing it with Kumar.

#	Title	Singer(s)
1	"Shayad Meri Shaadi"	Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
2	"Jab Apne Ho Jayen"	Asha Bhosle
3	"Main Teri Chhoti Behna Hoon"	Lata Mangeshkar
4	"Meri Pehle Hi Tang Thi Choli"	Kishore Kumar, Anuradha Paudwal
5	"Sasu Tirath Sasura Tirath"	Kishore Kumar
6	"Zindagi Pyar Ka Geet Hai" (I)	Lata Mangeshkar
7	"Zindagi Pyar Ka Geet Hai" (II)	Kishore Kumar

This film was a huge success of the year 1983. It was one of Rajesh Khanna's favourites.^[3]

References

^ Dundoo, Sangeetha Devi (16 February 2022). "Bappi Lahiri composed for Telugu hits starring Krishna, Chiranjeevi, Mohanbabu, Balakrishna and Venkatesh". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
^ Usman 2014, pp. 193–194.
^ BoxOffice India.com Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

Usman, Yasser (2014). Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of India's First Superstar. India: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143423614.

External links

Souten at IMDb

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[1] Dundoo, Sangeetha Devi (16 February 2022). "Bappi Lahiri composed for Telugu hits starring Krishna, Chiranjeevi, Mohanbabu, Balakrishna and Venkatesh". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 15 March 2022.

[FOOTNOTEUsman2014193–194-2] Usman 2014, pp. 193–194.

[3] BoxOffice India.com Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine

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