Dharmputra   Producer: B. R. Chopra Director: Yash Chopra Starring: Mala Sinha, Shashi Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Rehman, Nirupa Roy and Rajendra Kumar Music: N. Chandra Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi, Shakeel Badayuni Genre: Drama Recommended Audience: General Reviewed by: Pranay Bhagat  - Rating: 8.0 / 10 More Reviews and Analysis by PB Critics:     • Feature Review by Shahid Khan - Rating: 6.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review

Nawab Badruddin (Ashok Kumar) and Gulshan Rai are not only neighbors and chess playing partners but also die-hard friends and Rai dreams to make his son Amrit (Manmohan Krishna) a doctor. Amrit passes with distinction but after that Rai passes away and Badruddin takes upon himself to make sure that Amrit becomes a doctor. Nawab’s daughter Husn Bano (Mala Sinha) considers Amrit as her brother. Amrit gets married to Savitri (Nirupa Roy) and Bano falls in love with Javed (Rehman) her tuition teacher. Nawab disapproves of their romance as Javed does not belong to a reputed family and insults Javed who leaves the city. Bano becomes pregnant and then Nawab realizes his mistake.

He tries to find Javed but cannot. He asks Amrit for his help, and they all travel to Shimla where Bano gives birth to a son who is adopted by Amrit and Savitri. The Nawab bequeaths half his property to Dilip during his naming ceremony. Young Dilip is a cute young child, the apple of the Badruddin and the Rai households. Nobody in the two households gives a thought to the fact that Dilip is a Hindu boy of Muslim parentage, till the country is torn apart by the communal hatred of the partition. Savitri gives birth to twin boys but at the same time Bano suffers a miscarriage due to a freak accident which renders her inconceivable in future. Nawab dies in a freedom rally protest against the Britishers and Bano and Javed leave Delhi for some time.

When they return, Dilip has grown up and influenced by the communal hatred, takes his religion to be his national identity. He is introduced and attracted towards Meena (Indrani Mukherjee) with his younger sister Rekha (Tabassum) playing cupid, but vows not to get engaged till India attains freedom. He hates all Muslims and after one such fiery rally after the partition, he goes to Husn Bano and Javed’s house to kill them. Will Dilip learn of his true parentage? Will his hatred for Muslims allow him to reconcile the religion of his birth and his upbringing?

Talking of performances, Shashi Kapoor though appearing in the second half appears over board at times but considering it was his debut movie as an adult actor, he performed ok. Ashok Kumar, who is there in the first half looks pretty old from the first scene in terms of his make-up. It may appear strange but Ashok Kumar plays Mala Sinha’s husband in Dhool Ka Phool made in 1959 and Gumrah in 1963 and plays her father in this movie made between the two and all three were produced by B R Chopra. Mala Sinha is good in emotional scenes and Rehman and Nirupa Roy also fit their roles well. The stand out performance in my opinion is given by Manmohan Krishna and watch out for his confrontation scene with his son Shashi Kapoor in the climax of the movie. Tabassum is also very good in her small role, whereas Indrani Mukerjee just has to look good and smile. It was also the debut movie for Deven Verma.