General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Anokha Rishta (अनोखा रिश्ता)

Anokha Rishta (अनोखा रिश्ता) is a 1986 Hindi-language drama and romance film directed by I. V. Sasi and produced by Raju Mathew, starring Rajesh Khanna, Smita Patil, and Sabeeha. It is an official remake of the 1984 Malayalam film Kanamarayathu, which Sasi also directed, and its story, written by P. Padmarajan, was adapted from the American writer Jean Webster's 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Release	29 August 1986 (India), Hindi language, U censor rating¹^•⁴
Director / producer	I. V. Sasi; Raju Mathew, under the Century Films, Bombay banner¹^•⁴
Writers	Story: P. Padmarajan; screenplay and dialogues: Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza¹
Source	Remake of Sasi's Malayalam film Kanamarayathu (1984); story adapted from Jean Webster's novel Daddy-Long-Legs (1912)²^•³
Music	R. D. Burman, with lyrics by Anand Bakshi; playback by Asha Bhosle and Amit Kumar⁵^•²
Runtime	2 hours 20 minutes (140 minutes); Cinemaazi lists 142 minutes on 14 reels of 35mm film⁶^•⁴
Audience rating	7.1/10 on IMDb from 67 votes⁷

Spoilers

Plot

Mary, an inmate of an orphanage run by nuns, is good at studies and artistically talented, and her education has been sponsored by a philanthropist she has never met, corresponding with him only through the nuns. When the sponsor, a rich old man, passes away, her dreams of a college education collapse. Mr. Robert Brown (Bob), his son, who now runs his father's business, agrees at the nuns' repeated requests to continue her sponsorship. Bob is a confirmed bachelor, and Mary is drawn to him by what the press synopsis calls a mysterious force.⁶^•⁴

The Cinemaazi summary of the official press booklet describes the ending: when Mary's sponsor at first refuses and she prepares to leave for Italy, the Mother Superior tells her on the day of departure that the sponsor has changed his mind and is coming to the orphanage. Mary runs to the visitors' room and finds Bob there, and runs into his arms in tears.⁴

Cast and crew

Rajesh Khanna plays Robert Brown (Bob) and Smita Patil plays Dr. Miss Padma Kapoor. Sabeeha, in her screen debut, plays Mary (credited in some listings as Sabia). The supporting cast includes Tanuja as the Mother Superior, Shafi Inamdar as Alex Lobo, Satish Shah as Nasir Khan, Karan Shah as Bill Lobo, Beena Banerjee as Alex's wife, Sukumari as Bob's mother, and Shaloo.⁷^•⁸

Behind the camera, Vasant Kumar was the cinematographer, K. Narayanan the editor, and Rahul Dev Burman the music director.¹^•²

Production and background

The film was produced under the Century Films banner and was a remake of Kanamarayathu (1984), Sasi's own Malayalam film starring Mammootty, with a story by the Malayalam writer P. Padmarajan adapted loosely from Jean Webster's novel Daddy-Long-Legs.³^•⁹ The Hindi adaptation was written by Rahi Masoom Reza, who handled the screenplay and dialogues.¹

Sabeeha's debut is a recurring point in accounts of the film: she is the daughter of Ameeta, a heroine of the black-and-white era, and of the actor-director Kamran, and Anokha Rishta is described as perhaps the only lead role of her short-lived career.⁸^•³ Moviebuff's trivia notes that Sabeeha accused Rajesh Khanna of sexual harassment during the making of the film.²

For Smita Patil, released in 1986, the film is counted among her last movies; she died in 1986.⁸^•¹⁰

Music

R. D. Burman composed the score and Anand Bakshi wrote the lyrics. Four songs are cataloged: "Aaj Ka Din Na Jaane Kyun Acha Lagta Hai" (Asha Bhosle), "Tune Ye Jana Ek Kanta Lagne Se Main Ghayal Ho Gayi" (Asha Bhosle), "Chal Saheli Jhoom Ke Hum Geet Koi Gaate Hai" (Asha Bhosle), and "O Marry Tu Meri Hoja" (Amit Kumar).⁵^•² A contemporary retrospective review judges that Burman's music, while containing no chart-buster, matched the mood of the movie.⁸

Reception and place in Hindi cinema

The film went largely unnoticed on release, gathering no headlines, controversies, or hailing reviews, and a retrospective review suggests that even die-hard fans of Smita Patil may not have seen it. The same review calls it an underrated film with a mature performance from Rajesh Khanna and praises Sabeeha's natural performance as the film's own.⁸ On IMDb it holds a 7.1/10 rating from 67 votes.⁷

The song-history blog Atul's Song A Day argues that Anokha Rishta may be the first Hindi film whose main theme is a one-sided love story between a teenage girl and a middle-aged man, and that Lamhe (1991) and Joggers Park (2003) later followed a similar theme; a MouthShut review likewise names it as a predecessor to Lamhe, Joggers' Park, and Nishabd.³^•⁸

Release-date discrepancy

Most sources, including BookMyShow, Bollywood Hungama, Plex, and IMDb, give the theatrical release date as 29 August 1986.¹^•⁶^•⁷ Moviebuff alone lists 29 April 1986 as the wide theatrical release date in India.²

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 1980s

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

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