indian cinema heritage foundation

Sailaab (1956)

  • Release Date13/04/1956
  • GenreSocial
  • FormatB-W
  • LanguageHindi
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The story revolves around Gautam who belongs to a wealthy family and a village girl named Kanchan. Kanchan is part of a religious community of Assam in which its members are not allowed to marry. Gautam wants to meet his father and travels to Assam. But in an unfortunate emergency plane landing he hurts himself and loses his memory. While visiting his father’s tea plantation, Gautam meets Kanchan for the first time. He falls in love with Kanchan. Her affection for Gautam transcends her religious beliefs. But Gautam’s father takes him back to Calcutta, where his mother’s death brings back his memory. Unfortunately, in his newly regained memory, there is no trace of the time he spent with Kanchan. Meanwhile, Kanchan comes to Calcutta in search of Gautam and discovers that he can’t recognize her. She returns to her village heartbroken, where she decides to detach herself from the world and join her community for good. Eventually, Gautam recollects all the memories and promises he made to Kanchan. He returns to the Assamese village and they are finally re-united. 


From the catastrophic episode of failed production to its complete disappearance, Sailaab has become a rare missing piece of Hindi cinema. Ravindra Dave was chosen to direct the film. But due to some differences with the producer, half-way through the production, he decided to abandon the project. Guru Dutt took over the production but not with his regular team except Abrar Alvi, who co-wrote the dialogues of the film with Sarshar Sailani.