Released in 1977
8/10
Genre- Rural, Family, Drama, Romance
Main Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini
Special Appearance: Jeetendra
Music- Laxmikant-Pyarelal
Screenplay: Gulzar
Direction- Meraj

Rajesh Khanna as Postman in Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (1977)

BRIEF INTRODUCTION A rural drama with a lot of thought and insights. The story revolves around Ravi (played by Rajesh Khanna), an unemployed graduate, who accidentally lands the job of a postman “डाकिया” in a village. The rest of the story is formed by his experiences with the villagers, nature of his job as a postman followed by a non-cliched romance with Mohini (played by Hema Malini).

Reasons to Watch Amidst the multi-starrer action films in the late 70s, this movie was released and it delivered. And I think the film was very relevant at the time it was released and still is, to a large extent. Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein is special for several reasons, the primary reason being, the story was written by Gulzar Saab. Secondly, the movie had an entirely different appeal, exactly opposite to the trend, thirdly and finally, the film had Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini as the lead with a wonderful supporting cast.

Rajesh Khanna in Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (1977)

The Movie The story provided a lot of insights into the profession of a postman, what it is, and what it used to be. In earlier days, with no mobile phones or emails, letters used to be a prominent way of communication and thus a lot of responsibility on the postman, delivering the letter to the right person, especially in case of a money order and not just delivering letters but also delivering happiness and hope sometimes.

Performances Worth watching performance by the lead and the supporting cast. Rajesh Khanna was very convincing as a Postman, he gave a very natural performance with dramatic expressions at points. And he was not all mannerisms in this film but instead got into the sleeves of the character quite well. Hema Malini delivered a sensitive performance as Mohini, her expressions gave a lot of depth to the character, and in some of the scenes, she stole the show.

A Mature Romance As time evolved, our stories evolved, our cinema also evolved and so did the romance in the mainstream. Having said that, the equation between Ravi and Mohini is shown to be mature in the film. When Ravi gets to know that Mohini loves someone else and not him, he chooses to react in an unusual way and instead of telling her about his feelings, he decides to leave her way forever but destiny had other plans which also concludes the story.

Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini in Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (1977)

P.S. The irresistible melody, “Daakiya Daak Laaya” by Kishoreda belongs to this film only. Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein also served as an inspiration for a recent film on the same subject, released in 2008.