Shot In 40 Days, This Yesteryear Bollywood Superhit Made Two Antagonists Superstars

It is the directorial debut of Gulzar.

Veteran actors Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha are regarded as Bollywood royalties. The two got the opportunity to work together in the film Mere Apne, where the two shared the screen space with Meena Kumari. The film went on to become a box-office superhit. However, did you know the film was made under a small budget and completed shoot in a month?

1971 release Mere Apne was the directorial debut of lyricist Gulzar while Vinod Khanna debuted as an actor. As per the reports, the release proved to be a breakthrough project for Shatrughan Sinha’s and Vinod Khanna’s careers. Made on a low budget, the shooting of the film reportedly wrapped up in 40 days. It became Meena Kumari’s last release before her untimely death. She appeared in the role of an elderly woman and worked on the film while dealing with her ailment.

For Shatrughan Sinha, Mere Apne worked as an image breaker. In his earlier films, he mostly portrayed the role of the antagonist. This project allowed him to broaden his portfolio and prove his versatility as an actor.

Directed by Gulzar, Mere Apne starred Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha and Meena Kumari as the leads. They were supported by names like Deven Verma, Paintal, Asit Sen, Asrani, Danny Denzongpa, also in his debut and Keshto Mukherjee. It is produced by N C Sippy, Raj N Sippy and Romu N Sippy. The music in the film is composed by Salil Choudhury on the lyrics of Gulzar, while the cinematographer is K Vaikunth and the editing is done by Waman Bhosle and Gurudutt Shirali. Upon its release, the film became a commercial success in theatres, collecting more than Rs 1.7 crore at the box office. Mere Apne is the Hindi remake of the Bengali film Apanjan, a National Award-winning release.

Talking about the film in an old interview, Gulzar stated, “I intended to make it closer to life, deal with the restless youth versus politics and not retread it as a musical.”