General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Mili (मिली) (1975 film)

Mili (मिली) is a 1975 Hindi-language drama directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, starring the real-life married couple Jaya Bhaduri and Amitabh Bachchan as a cheerful young woman and the reclusive neighbor who falls in love with her, only to learn that she has a terminal illness.¹^•² It was released in India on June 20, 1975, produced by N.C. Sippy for Sippy Films, with music by Sachin Dev Burman in what became his final film.¹

Key fact	Detail
Director / writers	Hrishikesh Mukherjee; story and screenplay by Bimal Dutta, with Rahi Masoom Reza (dialogue) and Mohini N. Sippy¹
Release	June 20, 1975 (India); Hindi language; produced by Sippy Films¹
Lead cast	Jaya Bhaduri as Mili Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan as Shekhar Dayal, Ashok Kumar as Mr. Khanna, Usha Kiran as Sharda Khanna¹
Music	Sachin Dev Burman's last film; his final composed song was "Badi sooni sooni hai," sung by Kishore Kumar¹
Runtime	Listed at 2h 30m (150 min) on IMDb; other databases give about 115–116 minutes¹^•²
Reception	IMDb rating 7.4/10 from about 1,600 votes; one award win and one nomination recorded¹^•³
Afterlife	Loosely remade as Love; a remake of the original was announced in 2023⁴^•⁵

Spoilers

Plot

Shekhar Dayal (Amitabh Bachchan) moves into a new Bombay neighborhood and resents the noise of the children playing on what was formerly the communal terrace, craving quiet and solitude.⁶ He is the son of Seth Shankar Dayal, a man notorious for having killed his wife over suspected adultery and been hanged for it, and Shekhar carries the scandal with him, drinking heavily and keeping people at a distance.⁴

Mili Khanna (Jaya Bhaduri) lives in the same apartment building with her father (Ashok Kumar), her army-officer brother Ranjeet (Suresh Chatwal), and a widowed aunt (Usha Kiran); the whole building functions as her extended family.²^•¹ A college student who leads the colony's children in games and theatrical rehearsals, she gradually breaks through Shekhar's hostility, and the two bond over stargazing and palm-reading.⁴ Just as he opens himself to love, he learns that Mili has a rare blood disorder and does not have long to live.⁶^•⁷ The film ends on a deliberately open note, with Mili flying to Switzerland for experimental treatment while her father bids her a tearful goodbye from the terrace.⁷^•⁴

Production and music

Mukherjee developed the film from a short story he had heard about a girl suffering from a form of anemia who falls in love and wants to live.⁴ Bimal Dutta wrote the story and screenplay, and Rahi Masoom Reza, who alternated with Gulzar as dialogue writer on Mukherjee's films, wrote the lines.¹^•⁴ Mukherjee also served as producer and editor, with Jaywant Pathare as cinematographer.⁸

S.D. Burman's last score. The music was composed by Sachin Dev Burman, and Mili became his final film. According to a Rediff retrospective, he suffered a stroke while recording "Badi sooni sooni" with Kishore Kumar and fell into a coma; he died in October 1975, and his wife Meera, son Rahul (R.D. Burman), and assistant completed the soundtrack.¹^•⁴ The songs include "Badi sooni sooni hai" and "Aaye tum yaad mujhe," with lyrics by Yogesh; "Main Ne Kaha Pholoon Se" is sung by Lata Mangeshkar.¹

Cast and performances

Jaya Bhaduri, still credited under her maiden name, plays the title role at a time when she was already married to Amitabh Bachchan; the Rediff review notes that the 27-year-old actress is believable as the college-going prankster bantering with her doting father.⁴ She received a Filmfare nomination for the performance but lost to Lakshmi for Julie (1975).⁴ Bachchan's Shekhar, a brooding, mostly inebriated figure who gradually softens, is described by one retrospective as one of his better-acted films and an early attempt at playing a doomed man.⁹ The supporting cast includes Aruna Irani as Runa Singh, the building's society secretary, a role noted as a departure from her usual vamp parts, and Asrani in a guest appearance as a drunk party-crasher.¹^•⁹

Place in 1975 Hindi cinema and relation to Anand

Mili was released in a year remembered as a peak of Hindi cinema, alongside Sholay, Deewar, Aandhi, Chupke Chupke, and Julie; film historian S M M Ausaja cited it among the thriving middle-of-the-road films of that year.¹⁰ Against the year's blockbusters it was an average grosser, but it has been reappraised over time.⁹

The film is often compared with Mukherjee's Anand (1971), which also centers on a terminally ill, life-affirming protagonist. The Indian Express argues the plots are very similar, but that Mili differs from Anand in being talkative rather than philosophical, simply living her outlook rather than announcing it, and that the film ends on a hopeful note suggesting she may have survived.⁷ Rediff's retrospective calls the dismissal of Mili as Anand's "recycled sibling" unfair, noting its own tone and attributes.⁴

Legacy

The film was loosely remade as Love, starring Salman Khan and Revathy.⁴ In July 2023, producers Anushree Mehta and Abir Sengupta of Jaadugar Films and Sameer Raj Sippy of SRS Productions, grandson of producer N.C. Sippy, announced remakes of Mili, Gulzar's Koshish (1972), and Mukherjee's Bawarchi (1972) with a modern outlook.⁵ Mili is also referenced in the 1981 film Ek Duuje Ke Liye.¹

References

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