indian cinema heritage foundation

Aas Ka Panchhi (1961)

  • Release Date01/01/1961
  • GenreDrama
  • FormatB-W
  • LanguageHindi
  • Run Time175 mins
  • Length4887.46 meters
  • Gauge35 mm
  • Censor RatingU
  • Censor Certificate NumberU-32294-MUM
  • Certificate Date02/05/1961
  • Shooting LocationMohan Studio, Andheri Bombay-58
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Your children are not your children,
They are the sons daughters of life's longing for itself.
You may give them your love but not your thought,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may strive to be like them but seek not
To make them like you.
                –Khalil Gibran

"Give every man the choice of his work and every woman the choice of her love........."
"Aas ka Panchhi" unfolds on the screen the passion-filled tender tale of how a young man dreamt of big things in life and how the love of a beautiful and young girl inspired and held him to achieve his ambitions.

The story centres around three childhood friends Rajan, Ramesh and Mangal, in search of their professional careers and, of course, life mates.

While Ramesh, who is intelligently guided by his parents, gets everything rather easily in life (till at the time of the narrative's final denouncement he learns that happiness and love are commodities that are not very easily bought), Rajan has to overcome a great deal of family prejudices before he can don an armyman's uniform and claim the hand of the girl he loves. The girl's father is his officer; it is easy to win over the girl, but it is more difficult to persuade the father to give him his daughter's hand, especially since Rajan joins the army as a mere soldier.

Mangal, who falls in love with a rather plump daughter, of a sweet-meat seller, evolves his own formula of love and happiness, in which the convenience of today is more important than the prospects to tomorrow.

And so the three friends, with their own ideas of love and life, their problems overlapping each other's, go through their respective lives till the shattering powerful battlefield climax in which Ranjan proves the only important thing for a man is to act like a man.

And Neena, who had in her own quiet way lowed Rajan, looked after the family and prayed for his success, is happy when she sees frustrated young man change into a confident hero of the battlefield.

All the world loves a lover and when the story ends on a happy note with Rajan and Neena stepping out their cloudy past into a sun-kissed future, the two friends Ramesh and Mangal have smiles on their faces. For, so rare, indeed, and fortunate are the instances in life where a man gets the job he wants and the girl gets the man she loves!

And indeed, equally rare, is a film like "Aas ka Panchhi" in which you will see and experience all that you have ever wanted to see and experience in a good motion picture.

(From the official press booklet)

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