Chhoti Bahen

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Chhoti Bahen (transl. Younger sister) is a 1959 Indian Hindi-language film that stars Nanda in the title role, Balraj Sahni and Rehman. It is a remake of the 1952 Tamil film En Thangai.^[1]

Plot

Rajendra lives a poor lifestyle along with his younger collegian brother Shekhar, as well a younger sister Meena. He is in love with a school-teacher, and both hope to get married after Meena and Shekhar's marriages. Luck shines upon them and Meena's marriage is arranged with Dr. Ramesh, while Shekhar decides to wed Shobha, the only daughter of a wealthy man obsessed with horse-racing. Rajendra mortgages his house with his paternal uncle. Then things turn sour after Meena loses her vision; the wedding gets canceled, and Rajendra is humiliated by Ramesh's dad. Rajendra decides to remain single to look after Meena, and permits Shekhar and Shobha to get married. The marriage takes place, and Shobha moves in. Shortly thereafter misunderstandings crop up, and lead to arguments, with Shekhar and Shobha moving out to live with Shobha's dad. Then Rajendra is fired from his job, his paternal uncle takes over the house, and asks him to leave. Homeless, they turn to Shekhar for help, but he refuses to assist them in any way. Then Rajendra falls ill and gets separated from his sister, while Shekhar takes to horse-racing and alcohol, and a path that will only lead to self-destruction.

Cast

• Balraj Sahni as Rajendra
• Nanda as Meena
• Dhumal as Sukhiya
• Mehmood
  as Mahesh
• Shubha Khote as Sheela
• Shyama as Shobha
• Rehman as Shekhar
• Kanchanamala as Chanchal
• Hari Shivdasani as Ramesh's father
• Badri Prasad as Shobha's father
• Kunwar Keshav as Doctor
• Radhakrishan as Mahesh's father
• Sudesh Kumar as Dr. Ramesh
• Veena (actress) as Yashoda

Soundtrack

Music composed by Shankar-Jaikishan and lyrics by Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri.

Awards and nominations

• Nomination Filmfare Award for Best Film
• Nomination Filmfare Award for Best Director – Prasad
• Nomination
  Mehmood
  as Mahesh
• Nomination
  Shankar-Jaikishan
• Nomination Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer – Lata Mangeshkar for the song "Bhaiya Mere Rakhi Ke Bandhan Ko"

References