Charas is a 1976 Hindi movie produced and directed by Ramanand Sagar

Ramanand Sagar

Ramanand Sagar was an Indian film director. He is most famous for making the extremely popular Ramayan television series, a television adaptation of the ancient Indian epic of the same name, starring Arun Govil as Lord Ram and Deepika Chikhalia as Sita.Sagar was born at Asal Guru-Ke near Lahore...

. The film stars Dharmendra

Dharmendra

Dharmendra Singh Deol |Punjab]]), better known as Dharmendra, is an award-winning Hindi film actor who has appeared in more than 247 Hindi-language films as of 2011. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Hindi cinema and also another Lifetime...

, Hema Malini

Hema Malini

Hema Malini is an Indian actress, director and producer, as well as a Bharatanatyam dancer-choreographer. Making her acting debut in Sapno Ka Saudagar , she went on to appear in numerous Bollywood films, most notably those with actor and future-husband Dharmendra. She was initially promoted as...

, Ajit, Aruna Irani

Aruna Irani

Aruna Irani is an Indian actress. An accomplished actress and dancer of her time, Aruna Irani has acted in about 300 movies, with many memorable acting performances to her credit...

, Amjad Khan

Amjad Khan

Amjad Khan was an acclaimed Indian actor and director. He worked in over 130 films in his film career spanning nearly twenty years. He enjoyed popularity for his villainous roles in Hindi films the most famous being the unforgettable Gabbar Singh in 1975 classic Sholay...

, Asrani

Asrani

Govardhan Asrani , popularly known simply as Asrani, is an actor in Indian films whose Bollywood career has spanned over 35 years. His wife Manju Bansal is an actress.-Early life:...

, Sujit Kumar, Keshto Mukherjee

Keshto Mukherjee

Keshto Mukherjee was an Indian actor. He specialised in comic drunkard roles in the Hindi films. Though he was famous for his drunkard typecast role in Hindi films, he used to share a very good relation with the iconic Ritwik Ghatak and had very tiny but important roles in the maestro's films...

 and Tom Alter

Tom Alter

Tom Alter is an Indian actor of American origin. As a thespian and television actor, he is best known for his work in Bollywood, but has also worked in the theatre...

. The film's music is by Laxmikant Pyarelal

Laxmikant Pyarelal

Laxmikant-Pyarelal were a popular Indian composer duo, consisting of Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma . They composed music for about 635 Hindi movies from 1963 to 1998, working for almost all notable filmmakers including Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Feroze Khan, B.R...

. Parts of the film such as the drug angle and most notably the climax scene are plagiarized from Alistair MacLean

Alistair MacLean

Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers or adventure stories, the best known of which are perhaps The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare, all three having been made into successful films...

's 1969 novel Puppet on a Chain

Puppet on a Chain

Puppet on a Chain is a novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. Originally published in 1969, it is set in the late 1960's narcotics underworld of Amsterdam and other locations in the Netherlands.-Plot introduction:...

, and a 1970 film of the same name.

Plot

Vijay (Dharmendra) is a NRI living in Uganda with his father and sister Radha (Aruna Irani). They are planning to move back to India because of a civil war in the country. The night they were about to move, their home is attacked by rebels and set on fire. Vijay jumps in the fire to save his sister. He carries a woman out, but she turns out to be the housemaid in his sister's clothes (Radha asked the maid to choose the clothes she liked before she left and the maid asked her for the clothes she was wearing). Vijay's father dies from the trauma of losing his daughter. Vijay too believes that Radha burned with the house, but when no body is found he feels that there is something fishy.

Upon reaching India he realises that the caretaker (Ajeeth) of his property has sold most of it and is not willing to return it while using it for illegal purposes. Ajit tries to kill Vijay who, while escaping from his enemies, hides in the car of Ramaa (Hema Malini). After a gruesome car chase, the goons of Ajeet are chased off by an unknown man. The person claims to be a rival mafia don to Ajit and invites Vijay to join his gang in order to regain his ancestral property and find his sister Radha. Vijay declines, saying he would rather suffer all his life than to become a criminal.
Ramaa takes him to his home and he contacts the police. They ask Vijay to join them in combating Ajeet's international drug racket.

Ramaa, a renowned dancer and stage performer, has a shady past. She is blackmailed by a mafia don (an ally of Ajeet) who frames her as a murder suspect. He uses her to smuggle drugs.

Vijay's mission takes him to Raipur and then Ajami where he again bumps into Ramaa.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film is composed by the duo of Laxmikant-Pyarelal and the lyrics were written by the veteran lyricist Anand Bakshi

Anand Bakshi

Anand Bakshi was a popular Indian poet and lyricist.-Early days:Anand Bakshi was born in Rawalpindi, now in Pakistan, on 21 July 1930. His ancestors were from Kurree, near Rawalpindi, and had origins in Kashmir. His mother, Sumitra, died 1940, when he was 10...

.

Tracklisting

Song	Singer(s)
Kal Ki Haseen Mulaqat Ke Liye	Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar , born Abhas Kumar Ganguly, was an Indian film playback singer and an actor who also worked as lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter.Kishore Kumar was one of India's greatest performers of the late 20th century...  & Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...
Aaja Teri Yaad Ayi	Mohammad Rafi, Anand Bakshi Anand Bakshi Anand Bakshi was a popular Indian poet and lyricist.-Early days:Anand Bakshi was born in Rawalpindi, now in Pakistan, on 21 July 1930. His ancestors were from Kurree, near Rawalpindi, and had origins in Kashmir. His mother, Sumitra, died 1940, when he was 10...  & Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...
Raja Na Ja Dil Todke	Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...
Mera Nam Ballerina	Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle is an Indian singer. She is one of the best-known and most highly-regarded Hindi playback singers in India, although she has a wider repertoire. Bhosle's career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies...
Main Ek Shareef Ladki Hon	Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...
Charas Charas	Mahendra Kapoor Mahendra Kapoor Mahendra Kapoor was an Indian playback singer.In a career spanning five decades, his repertoire extended to 25,000 songs in various regional languages, including memorable hits like ‘Chalo ek baar phir se Ajnabi ban jayen hum dono’ Gumrah, ‘Neele gagan ke taale’ Hamraaz, and in various...  & Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...