The Great Love Triangle Films of Bollywood

After Love Stories, the love triangle is another popular subject of Hindi film lovers. Since its early days' Hindi cinema has showcased love triangles in an ethereal spectrum. The movies with this subject are very common since the 80s onwards, every 3rd movie is a love triangle.
Not many love triangles of the 50s and 60s have a happy ending, however, in Bollywood movies the unthinkable happens, and over the years there have been love triangle movies that have left audiences rather happy than teary-eyed.
Another peculiar feature of the love triangle films was its sad songs and dialogues. The characters portrayed by actors and actresses in love triangle movies often connect with audiences that have experienced a similar phase in their past.

The first great Love Triangle film of Bollywood was Anmol Ghadi released in 1946  directed by Mehboob Khan, starring Surendra, Suraiya and Noor Jehan. 

Andaz After the success of this film, Mehboob Khan made another Love Triangle with Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, and Nargis as Andaz in 1949. At the time of its release, Andaz was the highest-grossing Indian film ever.

Aan This subject was dear to Mehboob Khan, he made another Love triangle with Dilip Kumar, Nimmi, and Premnath in 1952 film Aan which was a technicolor film and was a great hit.

Aar Paar  In 1954 Guru Dutt directed himself in Aar Paar with a love triangle with Shyama and Shakila. Guru Dutt plays Kalu in this film who is a migrant taxi-driver in Mumbai. He has two women who love him and would like to marry him. 

Devdas Another great Love triangle was the 1955 film starring Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen, and Vyjayantimala. the film was directed by Bimal Roy. Devdas and Paro were childhood friends.Devdas goes away for some years to live and study in a boarding school. After finishing school, Devdas (Dilip Kumar) returns to his village, Paro (Suchitra Sen) looks forward to their childhood love blossoming into their lifelong journey together in marriage. Devdas meekly seeks his parents' permission to marry Paro, but Devdas' family was against him.In a weak-minded state, Devdas then flees to Calcutta where he meets Chandramukhi (Vyjayanthimala).

Pyaasa 1957 was another great love triangle starring Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, and Mala Sinha. It is also surmised that the story is based on the life of the film's lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi who had a failed affair with poet and writer Amrita Pritam.
Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai was a 1960 film starring  Raaj Kumar, Meena Kumari and Nadira as leads. The film tells the story of a surgeon who is obligated to marry the daughter of a family friend, while he is in love with a colleague nurse, played by Meena Kumari. It is one of the noted acting performances of lead actress Meena Kumari's career.
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam was a 1962 love triangle film produced by Guru Dutt and directed by Abrar Alvi. This was a  friendship between a beautiful lonely wife (Bibi) of an aristocrat (Sahib) and a career-driven low-income part-time servant (Ghulam). The film stars Guru Dutt, Meena Kumari, Rehman, Waheeda Rehman 

Sangam 1964 was another love triangle starring Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, and Vyjantimala. Sundar (Raj Kapoor), Gopal (Rajendra Kumar) and Radha (Vyjayantimala) have been friends since childhood. As they grow into adults, Sundar develops an obsessive romantic attraction to Radha, but she prefers Gopal, who is also in love with her. Yet, as Sundar has confided his feelings for Radha to him, Gopal decides to sacrifice his love for his friend's sake.

Shagird 1967 was a love triangle but with comedy. Professor Brij Mohan Agnihotri (I. S. Johar) is a confirmed bachelor, and he firmly refuses to get married. He has a student named Ramesh (Joy Mukherjee), who considers him his mentor. On a visit to his friend out of town, Brij meets his friend's beautiful daughter, Poonam (Saira Banu), and falls in love with her. Throwing all caution to the winds, he changes his appearance and attempts to conquer Poonam, but he later finds that Punam is attracted to his student, Ramesh. Now the professor has to decide whether to get rid of Ramesh, or to reverse their roles and make him his mentor

Silsila was a 1981 romantic drama film directed by Yash Chopra. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha, Shekhar Malhotra (Shashi Kapoor) and Amit Malhotra (Amitabh Bachchan) lead independent lives. Shekhar is a squadron leader with the Indian Air Force, and Amit is an emerging writer. Shekhar has fallen in love with the lovely Shobha (Jaya Bachchan), while Amit seeks to woo the attractive Chandni (Rekha). Chandni's parents prepare to arrange her wedding to Amit. Both Shekhar and Amit plan to marry at the same time, but Shekhar is killed in air combat against PAF, leaving a pregnant Shobha behind. Taking pity on Shobha, Amit marries her and writes to Chandni to forget him

Saagar is a 1985 film directed by Ramesh Sippy. The film stars Rishi Kapoor, Kamal Haasan, and Dimple Kapadia. Mona (Dimple Kapadia) runs a small restaurant in Goa. Raja (Kamal Haasan), who lives close by, is a good friend. He is in love with her but is unable to profess his feelings. Ravi (Rishi Kapoor) is from a rich industrialist family who moves to Goa from the US. Mona and Ravi fall in love with which Raja knows nothing.

Saajan is a 1991 romantic drama film directed by Lawrence D'Souza and produced by Sudhakar Bokade. It stars Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan, 

Darr: A Violent Love Story is a 1993 psychological romantic thriller film directed and produced by Yash Chopra The film stars Sunny Deol, Juhi Chawla, and Shah Rukh Khan. Kiran (Juhi Chawla), a beautiful college student, Kiran's boyfriend Sunil (Sunny Deol) is a Navy-Marine Commando. Rahul (Shahrukh Khan), her classmate who has a crush on her. Rahul tries to be friendly with Sunil in order to be closer to Kiran. When Rahul receives the news of Kiran and Sunil's engagement, he tries to shoot and kill Sunil 
Kiran and Sunil get married but Rahul still refuses to give up on Kiran.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is a 1999 romantic drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.The film stars Aishwarya Rai in the lead role playing the role of a young girl Nandini. The film also stars Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn. The film has been described as a loose adaptation of Maitreyi Devi's Bengali novel Na Hanyate and is based on a love triangle.

Bimal Roy was a complete school of film making unto himself

Bimal Roy who gave Bollywood some of the iconic films like Do Bigha Zameen, Devdas, Madhumati, Bandini Sujata and more.He also gave Indian Cinema many great filmmakers and writers such as Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar, Nabendu Ghosh, Salil Chowdhury and Basu Bhattacharya 
He  was born on 12 July 1909, to a Bengali Baidya zamindar family in Suapur, Dhaka, which was then part of the Eastern Bengal and Assam province of British India and is now part of Bangladesh.He moved to Calcutta and entered the field of cinema as a camera assistant with New Theatres Pvt. Ltd.. During this time, he assisted director P.C. Barua as Publicity Photographer, on the hit 1935 film Devdas, starring K.L. Saigal. 
 Bimal Roy’s debut feature film Udayer Pathe was made in Bengali in 1944.which was made in hindi as Hamrahi in 1945 by New Theatres Calcutta.Our National Anthem Jana Gana Mann before it was made the National Anthem was introduced in this film.  Maa in 1952 was his first Bollywood film for Bombay Talkies. A year later, his own production company came into being with ``Do Bigha Zamin'' about a farmer struggling to survive the industrial revolution. His another film Parineeta was also released in the same year.
The immortal ``Devdas'' in 1955 based on Sarat Chandra's classic, has been fodder for several films over the years.Unlike film-makers of today, directors of that era made sure to not get stuck in a groove. So after the heartbreaking ``Devdas,'' Bimal Roy made a frothy musical, ``Madhumati'', probably the first film on re-incarnation.
He believed that there was no medium like cinema to promote the idea of human struggle. Noted for his realistic and socialistic films - Do Bigha Zamin, Parineeta and Biraj Bahu - legendary filmmaker Bimal Roy is a celebrated institution in Hindi Cinema and has inspired many a movie maverick from Shyam Benegal to Hansal Mehta.
He was a very silent person,he spoke through his films.His works stand out for their photography. He took great care to reveal the light source and introduced a sense of time. More importantly, it connected one to reality. You could tell what time of the day a situation was taking place.
He is the only director who got Filmfare Best Director Award continuously for 3 years twice.

• 1953: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Do Bigha Zamin
• 1954: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Parineeta
• 1955: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Biraj Bahu

• 1958: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Madhumati
• 1959: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Sujata
• 1960: Filmfare Award for Best Director – Parakh

He died of cancer on 8 January 1966 at the age of 56. He was survived by four children,Just before his death Roy was working on one of his most ambitious project, a bi-lingual film titled Amrit Kumbh Ki Khoj Mein based on Samaresh Basu’s novel. He had shot one schedule with his unit during an actual kumbh mela in Allahabad in the early 60s.

Song from Maa (1952)

Song from Parineeta (1953)

Song from Do Bigha Zamin (1953)

Song from Devdas (1955)

Song from Madhumati (1958)

Song from Sujata (1959)

Song from Parakh (1960)

Song from Bandini (1963)

DEVDAS-The Great Love Triangle of Bollywood

The 1935 classic DEVDAS by actor / director P.C.Barua , made in Bengali  later in 1936 Hindi  version played by K L Sehgal , gave Indian cinema its most recurrent theme : the love triangle.The story of Devdas touched millions of Indians in the 1930s who felt that his anguish would become their own if they dared marry against parental authority. This theme returns regularly every decade with the same name or different name.
When Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Devdas in 1917, he made an impression not only on Bengalis, but on the entire nation. Since then, the novel has lent itself to 12 official screen adaptations (10 completed and two abandoned), from the 1928 Naresh Mitra silent version produced by Eastern Film Syndicate to  Sanjay Leela Bhansali. and modern day Devdas by Anurag kashyap's Dev D in 2009.
K L Sehgal played the first Devdas in 1936  in Hindi version and P C Barua in Bengali version.Both the films were hit.Since then  Devdas became the most sought-after role for the idols of the Indian screen. Dilip Kumar, who had specialised in tragic roles earlier (Mela, 1948; Andaz, 1949; Deedar, 1951; Daag, 1952 and Amar, 1954) was considered the ideal choice when Bimal Roy planned a remake in the mid-1950s.

Devdas 1936

In 1936 the Tamil version directed by P V Rao,in 1953 a Telegu version was made later in 1974 another Devdas was released.Another remake in Bengali was made in 1979. In 1937 an Asamese version by P C Barua was made.

Devdas 1979 bengali

The year 1953 witnessed the filming of the novel in Tamil and Telugu by the Kuchipudi dancer-choreographer-turned-filmmaker, Vedantham Raghavaiah (1919-1971) with the superstar, Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Devadas (Devadasu in Telugu) in both versions. That brilliant actress and multi-lingual star, K. Savithri was Paro while the dancer-actress, Lalitha played Chandramukhi. Both versions were major hits thanks to three factors. The excellent portrayal of Nageswara Rao who reached the heights of histrionics, the empathy-rich acting of Savithri and the memorably melodious music.Devadasu was released on 26 June 1953, and the Tamil version was released three months later, on 11 September 1953. Both versions were critically and commercially successful. 

Devdasu 1953

 The multi-lingual star and filmmaker, Vijayanirmala made a Telugu version in 1974 with her star husband Krishna as Devadas. She was Paro and the buxom multi-lingual star, Jayanthi played Chandramukhi. The film had excellent music (Ramesh Naidu) but it did not do as well as expected. Interestingly when this film was released, the 1953 version (``Devadasu") was also released in competition and it attracted large crowds! The prominent filmmaker, Dasari Narayana Rao made ``Devadasu Malli Puttadu!" (Telugu, 1978) in which Devadas is born again while Paro is old and alive!

In Tamil came another re-hash of the tale, ``Vaazhvey Maayam" (1982) with Kamal Hassan as the hero.The film was a blockbuster and completed 200-day run at the box office. This film was dubbed into Malayalam in the same title as that of its original.

In 2002 Sanjay Leela Bhansali made Devdas ,Shahrukh Khan played the role.Bhansali has taken further liberties. Perhaps, in keeping with his hero Shah Rukh's overseas appeal, he sends Devdas to Oxford, instead of Calcutta, for his education. And for his Oxford-returned look he has made him wear vintage suits from London. 

Dev D released on 6 February 2009. Written and directed by Anurag Kashyap, it was a modern-day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas,The film is set in contemporary Punjab and Delhi, where familial ties are negotiated by the traditions of patriarchy and marriages are reduced to a game of power and "honour".
Now a 3D version of Devdas is in making.It will be an added perk to watch Devdas-Paro-Chandramukhi saga again, but only this time we will literally be in the world of Devdas with its 3D release.
Songs From All the Hindi Devdas

Song from Devdas 1936

Song from Devdas 1955

Song from Devdas 2002

Song from Dev D 2009