Julie (1975 film)

Julie is a 1975 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan and written by Chakrapani. The film stars Lakshmi in the title role (in her Hindi film debut). It also stars Vikram Makandar, Nadira, Rita Bhaduri, Om Prakash, Utpal Dutt and  Sridevi, in her first significant Hindi role. The film was a critical and commercial success. Despite the film's success, Lakshmi felt comfortable in choosing to do mostly South Indian movies. Julie was also a musical blockbuster with critics alike and with award-winning music by Rajesh Roshan, which won him the Filmfare Award for the year. According to film and music expert Rajesh Subramanian Dil kya kare was penned by lyricist Anand Bakshi in less than ten minutes when the tune was played to him by composer Rajesh Roshan and his assistants. had one of the first English songs in an Indian film, "My Heart is Beating", sung by Preeti Sagar. It is a remake of a Malayalam blockbuster film Chattakari (1974), which also starred Lakshmi as the female lead making her Malayalam and Hindi film debuts in both versions respectively. She would star in yet another remake, the Telugu film Miss Julie Prema Katha (1975). She did not act in the Kannada remake, Julie, released in 2006, which had Ramya in the title role as Julie and Dino Morea as the leading man. She also declined the role of Julie's mother in the Malayalam remake titled Chattakari (2012), stating that she wanted the audiences to remember her as the young and beautiful Julie; the title role went to Shamna Kasim. Actress Urvashi portrayed the role of Julie in its Tamil remake Oh Maane Maane (1984). The remake and adaptation rights of this film are now owned by Glamour Eyes Films.

Plot
This film depicts the restrictive social conventions regarding inter-religion marriage and unwed motherhood in India. Julie (Lakshmi) is a Christian Anglo-Indian girl with a loving, but alcoholic father (Om Prakash), a dominating mother (Nadira), a younger brother and sister (Sridevi). She falls in love with her best friend, Usha Bhattacharya's (Rita Bhaduri) brother Shashi Bhattacharya (Vikram Makandar), a Hindu Brahmin boy. The lovers consummate their relationship, which leaves her pregnant. Shashi goes away to the city for corporate job, not knowing about her pregnancy. Her mother is distraught when Julie tells her about the pregnancy. They do not tell the rest of the family. Her mother thinks about getting Julie an abortion, but Ruby Aunty (Sulochana), a devout Christian, talks her out of it. Julie is sent away to have her baby in secret. The rest of the family is told that Julie got a job. After the baby's birth, Julie's mother arranges for the child to be left in an orphanage, and demands that Julie return home and forget about the baby.

When Julie returns home, her father has died. She is now the primary earner in the family. Later, she runs into Shashi and tells him everything. He then asks to marry her, but his mother, Devki (Achala Sachdev), objects to the marriage as Julie is of a different faith. She blames Julie for seducing her son and having the baby. Julie's mother does not want the union either, as it will be an inter-faith marriage, and she wants to return to England. However, the wisdom of Shashi's father (Utpal Dutt) prevails as he confronts the mothers' prejudices regarding caste and religion, and urges them both to accept their grandchild. The film ends with the mothers offering their full blessings to the young couple, and Julie's mother promising her grandson she will "never leave him."

Cast

 * Lakshmi as Julie
 * Vikram Makandar as Shashi Bhattacharya
 * Nadira as Margaret "Maggie", Julie's mother
 * Om Prakash as Morris, Julie's father
 * Rita Bhaduri as Usha Bhattacharya, Shashi's sister
 * Achala Sachdev as Devki Bhattacharya, Shashi's mother
 * Utpal Dutt as Mr. Bhattacharya, Usha and Shashi's father
 * Sridevi as Irene, Julie's younger sister
 * Sulochana as Ruby Aunty
 * Jalal Agha as Richard "Richie"
 * Rajendra Nath as Rahim, store owner

Music
The film's soundtrack won Rajesh Roshan his first Filmfare Award, for Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Julie was one of the top three best-selling soundtrack albums of 1975, along with Sholay and Sanyasi. A remixed cover version of "Dil Kya Kare" sung by Shaan appeared in the 1996 album Dance Masti. All Hindi lyrics were by Anand Bakshi, while the lyrics of “My Heart Is Beating” were written by Harindranath Chattopadhyay.