Meera (Hindi: मीरा) is a 1979 Hindi language film by Gulzar. The film is based on the life of Meera, a Hindu saint-poet who renounced princely comforts in pursuit of her love for Lord Krishna. The film portrays the life and times of Meera from a historical perspective rather than a mythological one. Through Meera's life, Gulzar has shown a woman's struggle to find her independence, dignity and spiritual satisfaction in a society where women are supposed to be worthy of only taking care of the household chores.

Plot[link]

The story is set around 1580, in the time of King Akbar. Biramdev (Dr Shreeram Lagoo) is the king of Medta, a province in Rajasthan. He has two daughters, Meera (Hema Malini) and Krishna (Vidya Sinha) and a son, Jaimal (Dinesh Thakur). Meera is in deep emotional love with Lord Krishna, so much so that she considers Lord Krishna to be her husband. Akbar (Amjad Khan) is becoming stronger day by day and hence other small provinces are trying to join against him. Medta, in one such political agreement, decides to join hands with Raja Vikramajit (Shammi Kapoor). As a part of this agreement Meera is married (against her wish) to Vikramajit's son, Rana Bhojraj (Vinod Khanna). But even after getting married her love for Lord Krishna remains the same and she follows her own ideals and way of living which are not very acceptable to Bhojraj and his family. One thing leads to another and one day Meera is declared as an outcast and traitor who failed to play a wife's duties towards her husband, a bride's duties towards her family, and a woman's duties towards society. She is jailed and a public trial is ordered to decide her fate. But Meera is still unshakable and her spirituality keeps her going. She is not even afraid of death. Finally she is given a death sentence and is ordered to drink a cup of venom in front of the public.

Cast[link]

• Hema Malini as Meera Rathod
• Vinod Khanna as Rana Bhojraj Sesodia
• Dr. Shreeram Lagoo as Raja Biramdev Rathod
• Shammi Kapoor as Raja Vikramjeet Singh Sesodia
• Om Shivpuri as Kul Guru (Head Priest)
• Dina Pathak as Mrs. Biramdev Rathod a.k.a. 'Kunwarbai'
• Vidya Sinha as Krishna Rathod
• Amjad Khan as Badshah Akbar
• Bharat Bhushan as Tansen
• A.K. Hangal as Saint Raidas
• Sudha Chopra as Uda Sesodia
• Dinesh Thakur as Jaimal Rathod
• T P Jain as Poojary (priest)
• Kamal Deep as Accusations Announcer
• Ashish Chatterji
• Gauri Kamat
• Gurbachan Singh
• J. N. Manchanda
• Maqsood
• Nasir
• Shahu Modak

Crew[link]

• Direction – Gulzar
• Story – Bhushan Banmali
• Screenplay – Gulzar
• Dialogue – Gulzar
• Production – Premji, J.N. Manchanda
• Editing – Waman Bhosle, Gurudutt Shirali
• Cinematography – K. Vaikunth
• Art Direction – Desh Mukherjee, Marutirao Kale
• Costume Design – Bhanu Athaiya
• Choreography – Gopi Kishan
• Music Direction – Pandit Ravi Shankar, Vijay Raghav Rao
• Lyrics – Meerabai
• Playback – Dinkar Kaikini, Vani Jairam

Soundtrack[link]

All lyrics written by Meera, all music composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Awards and Nominations[link]

• 1980 Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Won - Vani Jairam for "Mere To Giridhar Gopal"

Box office[link]

1970's being the time of formula films in Indian Cinema and with "angry young man" Amitabh Bachchan overshadowing everything, this non-mainstream movie didn't appeal to many people and hence the film was a major box office debacle. After Meera Gulzar didn't make any film for 5 years.

References[link]

1. Chatterjee, Saibal (2007) - Echoes and Eloquences, The Life and Cinema of Gulzar, Rupa & Co. ISBN 978-81-291-1235-4.
2. Gulzar (1979) - Meera: Katha, Montage, Anusandhan aur Patkatha : Gulzar, Radhakrishan Prakashan.

External links[link]

• Meera at the Internet Movie Database

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