By Sanjeev Kumar Patro
Bhubaneswar: The melodius marvel Mere Jeevan Saathi released on this day September 29, 1972. The film was directed by Ravikant Nagaich, who made Mithun Chakraborty take birth as the new star in B-Town with the film Suraksha –the Gunmaster in 1979.
Mere Jeevan Saathi stars Rajesh Khanna, Tanuja, Sujit Kumar, Bindu, Helen, Utpal Dutt, Nazir Hussain and Rajindranath. The movie was made at the height of Rajesh Khanna's popularity and craze. It was the second movie of Rajesh Khanna with Tanuja after the blockbuster Haathi Mere Saathi (1971).
Despite Rajesh Khanna’s unmatched glow at that time, the film was declared an average grosser upon its release. The views of cine watchers and film critics have been mixed. But the film’s soundtrack and songs were evergreen and everyone’s preferred choice.
The songs "O Mere Dil Ke Chain" and "Chala Jata Hoon" rendered by the golden voice of Kishore Kumar are hummed and loved by, even, the Gen Next. The story, however, is why this film declared average, despite Kishore’s magical voice and Rajesh Khanna’s unmatched star power?
Manoj Kumar Dus Numbri Show
The film’s producer was Harish Shah. In his book, Shah blamed Manoj Kumar for the average grosser show at Box office,
In his book , he wrote, distributor pleaded with Harish to delay his film Mere Jeevan Sathi and not release it with manoj Kumar's Shor. Rajesh Khanna was a super star in those days. The distributor agreed to give Harish the Bombay theatre Apsara to release his film provided he did not release the film on the same day with Shor, and release it the following week.
Harish writes, “I agreed.” He released Mere Jeevan Saathi on the weekend. But, as per Harish, when he went to the Apsara theatre, he was shocked to see entire tickets sold out. But the twist is the tickets were being sold at a cheaper rate of Rs 25 by the black ticket boys.
He wrote, “This made the collections of Mere Jeevan Saathi low.” As per Harish,when he asked them why they were doing this to sabotage his film. They told him we were paid to do this.
Harish then writes, upon delving deeper, “I learnt that it was Manoj Kumar who was playing this game. Manoj did not want competition from a Rajesh Khanna film. Manoj bought the tickets and sold it at a penny price. “
FILM TRIVIA
Vinod Khanna was offered the film but he declined. Sujit Kumar was later signed for the role.
