Charandas Chor is 1975 children's film

Children's film

A children's film is a film aimed for children as its audience. As opposed to a family film, no special effort is made to make the film attractive for other audiences. The film may or may not be about children. In Unshrinking the Kids: Children's Cinema and the Family Film which is a chapter in In...

 made by noted director Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...

, based on the famous play by Habib Tanvir

Habib Tanvir

Habib Tanvir was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He is the writer of plays such as, Agra Bazar and Charandas Chor...

, which itself was an adaptation of a classical Rajasthani folktale by Vijaydan Detha

Vijaydan Detha

Vijaydan Detha also known as Bijji is a noted writer from Rajasthan and a recipient of Padma Shri award. He is also recipient of several other awards such as Sahitya Akademi Award and Sahitya Chudamani Award....

. Lyrics of the film were also by Habib Tanvir.

The film starred, Smita Patil

Smita Patil

Smita Patil was an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Regarded among the finest stage and film actresses of her times, Patil appeared in over 75 Hindi and Marathi films in a career that spanned just over a decade. During her career, she received two National Film Awards and a...

, Lalu Ram, Madanlal and Habib Tanvir

Habib Tanvir

Habib Tanvir was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He is the writer of plays such as, Agra Bazar and Charandas Chor...

.

Synopsis

The film is derived from a classic folk tale, originally narrated by Vijaydan Detha, and interpreted as folk play by Habib Tanvir. The film charts the tumultuous life of a petty thief, Charandas (Lalu Ram). Curiously he is a man of principles – an honest thief with a strong sense of integrity and professional efficiency. He makes four vows to his Guru, that he would never eat in a gold plate, never lead a procession that is in his honour, never become a king and never marry a princess, thinking all of them are far out possibilities for him. Later, his guru adds a fifth one - never to tell a lie and sets him of on his life's journey which leads him to a kingdom, where the turn of events make him famous, and eventually he is offered the seat of political power which he has to refuse. Later, the local princess (Smita Patil) gets enchanted by him, and proposes to marry him. This is when his refusal costs him his life. As he is put to death, he illustrates the inherent paradox in human existence, where truthful existence becomes an impossibility, for the truthful and the accidentally truthfuls, alike.

Cast

• Lalu Ram
• Smita Patil
  Smita Patil
  Smita Patil was an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Regarded among the finest stage and film actresses of her times, Patil appeared in over 75 Hindi and Marathi films in a career that spanned just over a decade. During her career, she received two National Film Awards and a...
  
  
• Madanlal
• Sadhu Meher
• Habib Tanvir
  Habib Tanvir
  Habib Tanvir was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He is the writer of plays such as, Agra Bazar and Charandas Chor...
  
  
• Sunder
• Baby Dass
• Babu
• Kemal Kar
• Raj

External links

• Charandas Chor FTVdatabase