est. ₹19 crores (equivalent to ₹326 crore (US$46 million) in 2016)
Ram Teri Ganga Maili (transl. Ram, your Ganga is tainted) is a 1985 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film co-written and directed by Raj Kapoor. The film stars Rajiv Kapoor and Mandakini. The music was composed by Ravindra Jain. It was the last film directed by Kapoor.
Narendra Sahay a.k.a. "Naren" is the son of Jeeva Sahay. He is a rich politician in Calcutta. Naren visits Gangotri to study the source of the holy riverGanga, and to get some holy water for his wheelchair-using paternal grandmother. There he meets a very pretty girl a named Ganga Singh. Ganga lives near Gangotri with her brother, Karam. Naren sees Ganga Taking Bath in a white saree under the waterfall and she also helped him to collect the holy water . Soon, they fall in love and decide to marry and sleep together. They are happily married but suddenly Naren has to return to Calcutta as he wanted to convince his parents about Ganga. While leaving for Calcutta, he promised that he will soon return to her. But he is prevented from doing so.
Ganga became pregnant with Naren's Child at the time of his leaving and soon, she becomes mother of a son. She faces many problems at her place because of her child and her beauty. Karam is killed by enemies and Ganga is alone and no one is there to look after her; finally she decides to go to her husband, Naren. Ganga travels from her place, Gangotri to Calcutta to find her husband. At Rishikesh, she was exploited by two women and a man. Then at Benaras, she was molested by a Pandit, rescued by the police and given a ticket to Calcutta. She fell into the clutches of Manilal who lured her to a brothel near Benaras.
Bhagwat Choudhary, a rich politician, buys Ganga and brings her to his "bagan bari" (house near a garden) as a personal concubine. Bhagwat has fixed his daughter, Radha's marriage with Naren. Naren was being informed that Ganga is dead. So, he decided to marry Radha, Bhagwat's daughter, according to his father's wish. Naren's maternal uncle, Kunj Bihari, finds Ganga in Bhagwat's bagan bari and invites to dance on her husband's marriage (to test if her husband can recognize her or not). But lastly, love wins and Naren recognizes his wife, Ganga. Jeeva refuses to accept Ganga as his daughter-in-law and Naren soon finds out about his son. They try to go away from there with their son but Bhagwat Choudhary shoots Ganga in a fit of rage. Ganga gets shot by him in her hand and Naren starts beating Bhagwat Choudhary, believing that he killed Ganga. But then Radha informs him that Ganga isn't dead yet. Naren stops beating Bhagwat and leaves with Ganga and their son to place travelling in river ganga.
Cast
Rajiv Kapoor as Narendra "Naren" Sahay :Ganga's Husband, Radha's Love Interest
According to Padmini Kolhapure, she was the initial choice for the female lead role but declined because the script had a kissing scene.[2] Mandakini, who ultimately played the role, disputed Kolhapure's claims. She said Raj Kapoor wanted only a new face, rather than an established actress, as he believed he could not "make someone pure Ganga if they have an established image". Mandakini also stated that she did not breastfeed despite popular belief, but the scene was shot in a way to suggest that.[3]
Cultural allusions
According to Philip Lutgendorf, the movie is an allegory that "synthesizes classical and mythic narrative, soft-core political and social commentary (here condemning the corruption of politicians and capitalists and championing the nascent environmental initiatives of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi). The narrative recapitulates the Abhijñānaśākuntalam story that first appeared in the epic Mahabharata and then was reworked, some six hundred years later, by the poet Kalidasa."[4]
The final song sequence "Ek Radha ek Meera" brings Raj Kapoor's personal experiences with filmdom and reality. This song sequence is the climax of the plot where the bride-to-be is face-to-face with the other "saut", the culturally "polluted" dancer who has made that journey from the pure source of the Himalayas to the ever-flowing and ever-absorbing Ganges with all of the human impurities. It also differentiates between the love of Radha and Meera and reconnects the movie back to the Krishna Leelas.[citation needed]
The film also caused a stir because of two scenes: one in which Mandakini bathes under a waterfall wearing only a flimsy white saree through which her breasts are partially visible and another in which she is shown breast-feeding a child. Some critics claimed that the scenes were vulgar and exploitative, and were used to get around the Censor Board's stringent rules against nudity. Kapoor defended the inclusion of the scenes stating that they were tasteful.[citation needed]
^Philip Lutgendorf. "Ram teri Ganga Maili". University of Iowa, South Asian Studies Program. Archived from the original on 28 December 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
^"Filmfare Awards"(PDF). p. 71. Archived(PDF) from the original on 12 June 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2008.