General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Amanush (अमानुष)

Amanush (अमानुष) is a 1974/1975 Indian action drama film directed and produced by Shakti Samanta, shot simultaneously in Bengali and Hindi with an all-Bengali star cast led by Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore. The Bengali version was released on 18 October 1974, timed for Durga Puja, and the Hindi version followed on 21 March 1975.¹^•² It became the biggest hit of Uttam Kumar's career in either language and remains his only box-office success in Hindi cinema.²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Director / producer	Shakti Samanta, for his banner Shakti Films; distributor Daga Pictures¹
Languages	Shot simultaneously in Bengali and Hindi; Bengali 165 minutes, Hindi 153 minutes⁴
Releases	Bengali: 18 October 1974 (Durga Puja); Hindi: 21 March 1975¹^•⁵
Source	Shaktipada Rajguru's novel Naya Basat; scenario by Samanta and Rajguru⁶
Music	Shyamal Mitra; lyrics Gouriprasanna Majumdar (Bengali) and Indeevar (Hindi); playback by Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle, and Shyamal Mitra¹^•⁵
Awards	1976 Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist and Best Playback Singer, Male, for "Dil aisa kisine mera toda"; 1975 BFJA Award for Best Actor (Uttam Kumar)⁷^•⁸
Box office	Made for about Rs 3 million (Rs 30 lakhs) and collected Rs 12 million (Rs 1.20 crore) in Bengal alone, according to Ashim Samanta⁹

Spoilers

Story and cast

The film is set in the village of Dhaniakhali, where the new police chief Bhuvan Sen finds corruption and decay personified by the dissolute Madhusudhan Roy Choudhury (Uttam Kumar), the zamindar's son. The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema's synopsis identifies the mild-mannered Mahim Babu as the villain who turns the head of Madhusudhan's girlfriend Lekha (Sharmila Tagore), and describes the policeman's eventual restoration of the old feudal order as a "reactionary parable" celebrated for Uttam Kumar's performance.¹⁴ Streaming synopses give a fuller chain of events: Madhusudan, trusted by his wealthy uncle, is discredited when a woman named Champa tells his beloved that he made her pregnant; he is then framed for stealing from his uncle, convicted, and imprisoned. On release he finds his uncle dead, the employee Maheem Ghosal in possession of the estate, Champa missing, and his beloved estranged, and he takes to alcohol, living as a figure feared and hated by the village.⁸

The heroine's name is given as Lekha in some sources and Rekha in others; cast listings otherwise agree.¹⁴^•¹⁵ The principal cast:

Uttam Kumar as Madhusudan Roy Chaudhary "Madhu"¹⁵
Sharmila Tagore as Lekha (also listed as Rekha)¹⁴^•¹⁵
Utpal Dutt as Maheem Ghosal¹⁵
Anil Chatterjee as Police Inspector Bhuvan Roy¹⁵
Prema Narayan as Dhanno¹⁵
Abhi Bhattacharya as Dr. Anand, and Asit Sen as Pujari¹⁵

The crew included cinematographer Aloke Dasgupta, editor Bijoy Chowdhury, and art director Shanti Das; dialogue was by Prabhat Roy for the Bengali version and Kamleshwar for the Hindi.¹^•⁴

Production and the bilingual experiment

Shakti Samanta (1925–2009), a Hindi director and producer born in Burdwan District, had made his name with crime thrillers such as Howrah Bridge and with Rajesh Khanna hits including Aradhana and Amar Prem.⁴ Amanush began a period, roughly 1975 to 1985, in which he made Hindi-Bengali bilinguals starring Uttam Kumar.⁴ Samanta is credited with starting the trend of double-version films in Hindi and Bengali with this picture.¹⁰ His son Ashim Samanta has described Amanush as the first bilingual film shot simultaneously in Hindi and Bengali.¹¹

Origin of the project. In 1971, police warned Samanta, Uttam Kumar, and Hemant Kumar that Naxalites intended to kill the three artists for publicity, and Uttam Kumar was moved to Mumbai under 24-hour police protection. During weekly dinners in that period, Uttam Kumar lamented that he had had only one chance to work in a Hindi film, Chhoti Si Mulaqat (1967), and the two men resolved to work together.¹¹ Samanta bought the rights to Shaktipada Rajguru's novel Naya Basat, in which Uttam Kumar held a share, and the two agreed on the project.⁶^•¹² Uttam Kumar initially declined the Hindi version's lead but yielded to the director-producer's demand.¹³

The Sunderbans shoot. The unit built a small township in the Sunderbans for the shoot, equipped with three generators, deep freezers, and, as Ashim Samanta put it, "American-style commodes".¹¹ Samanta chose Shyamal Mitra rather than a regular Bombay music director for the Hindi version as well, calling it an image shift to bring Bengal's superstar to Bombay.¹²

Reception and music

The Bengali version ran for more than 96 weeks and was repeatedly re-released, making it Uttam Kumar's most commercially successful film; he is remembered in it as much for his screen chemistry with Kishore Kumar's playback voice as for the story.² Ashim Samanta has said the film was made for about Rs 3 million (Rs 30 lakhs) and collected Rs 12 million (Rs 1.20 crore) in Bengal alone, which he estimates at about Rs 700 million (Rs 70 crore) in today's terms.⁹ The Hindi version carried the hit song "Dil aisa kisine mera toda", sung by Kishore Kumar.¹⁴ At the 1976 Filmfare Awards the song won Best Lyricist (Shyamalal Babu Rai) and Best Playback Singer, Male (Kishore Kumar), while Uttam Kumar, Prema Narayan, and Utpal Dutt were nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor respectively.⁷ Uttam Kumar also won a 1975 BFJA Award for Best Actor, and although he was nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Actor for this film, he did not win.²^•⁸^•¹⁹

Critics have generally praised the performances and music while faulting the script. A Times of India review gave 3.5/5, crediting the camerawork and musical numbers but calling the narrative a familiar, predictable plot.¹⁶ On IMDb the film holds a 7.1/10 rating from about 318 votes.¹⁷

Significance

The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema reads the film as a reconnection with the Bengali-Hindi bilingual tradition that also signified, to some extent, the Bombay production sector's cultural takeover of Bengali cinema.¹⁴ Its success led to a series of Bengali hits in the Hindi melodrama mode, including Kanak Mukherjee's Lal Kothi (1977).⁴ The film spawned remakes in three southern languages: Edureeta (Telugu, 1977, starring N.T. Rama Rao), Ithaa Oru Manushyan (Malayalam, 1978), and Thyagam (Tamil, 1978, starring Sivaji Ganesan).¹³^•¹⁸ Half a century after release, it is still described as the only Hindi film success of Bengal's greatest star.³

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 1970s › Released 1970 to 1975

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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