Apnapan (1977)

Anil marries Kamini and the two become parents. An ambitious and liberal Kamini wants to be free and does not want to live in subservience to her husband. When Anil demands that she stay at home and look after the kid she files for divorce. A few years later Anil remarries, this time with a young and principled Radhika who is all willing to be a mother to his six-year-old son. That's when Kamini appears in their life. Her approach has changed and she understands her mistake upon meeting her little son.

This is the basic story of J. Om Prakash's Apnapan, a colourful melodrama involving relationships and social norms of those times. The film is not completely convincing and the script has its share of overdone emotions, but it does manage to move you on several occasions. Apnapan is shot quite beautifully, some of the locations are eye-pleasing, and the music is very melodious. Lovers of Hindi cinema and its unrestrained nature would certainly enjoy watching this movie, but otherwise the movie is a tad too melodramatic at points. That said, some scenes are well handled and the dialogues are generally well written.

The movie stars Jeetendra as Anil. He is quite okay but is not particularly impressive. Sulakshana Pandit is beautiful and lovely as Radhika. Reena Roy is a bit too aggressive in the first portions of the film while playing the noisy wife, but she gets far better in the film's second half, although the transformation itself is not very well done. As a woman who realises her mistake and turns into a tormented mother longing for her son, Roy is credible and exudes warmth. Apnapan could have been better, but as a Hindi movie of its sort, it is quite enjoyable and at times moving.