| Roti | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Manmohan Desai |
| Written by | Kader Khan(dialogues) Anand Bakshi(lyrics) |
| Screenplay by | Prayag Raj |
| Story by | Smt. Jeevan Prabha M. Desai |
| Produced by | Rajni Desai Rajesh Khanna |
| Starring | Rajesh Khanna Mumtaz |
| Cinematography | K Vaikunth |
| Edited by | Kamlakar Karkhanis |
| Music by | Laxmikant Pyarelal |
Production company | Aashirwad Pictures Pvt.Ltd |
Release date |
|
Running time | 148 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Roti (transl. Flatbread) is a 1974 IndianHindi-languageaction film directed byManmohan Desai and produced by Rajni Desai andRajesh Khanna under the banner Aashirwad Pictures Pvt. Ltd. It stars Khanna andMumtaz, with music composed byLaxmikant Pyarelal. This film was released on 11 October 1974, along withBenaam andRoti Kapda Aur Makaan.[1]Kader Khan was reportedly paid₹1.21lakhs for writing dialogues for the film.[2] The film was remade inTelugu asNeram Nadi Kadu Akalidi, starringN.T. Rama Rao andManjula.
Mangal Singh has been a career criminal and he is finally sentenced to be hanged due to the murder of a man for the sake ofroti. Underworld don, Suraj who raises him as a criminal, plans his escape from jail and is followed by apolice inspector. He escapes on a train when he throws a fellow passenger Shravan Kumar off the train. Mangal Singh lands up in a small village inNorthern India and becomes a school teacher with the help of a local restaurateur, Bijli. He takes on the identity of Ramu, a friend of Shravan, and goes to live with Shravan's parents, Lalaji and Malti who are blind, little knowing that they are the parents of a man he killed while escaping from the police.
Bijli falls in love with the reluctant Mangal, but she discovers the truth when inspector Jagdish Raj comes to search Mangal in the same village and informs the blind couple about Shravan's death due to Mangal. Finally, Mangal also learns the truth about Shravan's parents. Mangal reunites Lalaji's long-lost daughter with him, who thereby releases Shravan's house. Mangal takes Shravan's parents for a holy pilgrimage along with Bijli where he meets the alive Shravan again. He pardons him and allows him to escape from the police, but Bijli follows him. While in pursuit of Mangal, Suraj shoots Bijli, but he dies in thesnow avalanche. Bijli dies and Mangal is shot by inspector Sujit. The inspector finds Mangal dying with a gun without cartridges asking none to deprive anyone of roti.
The songs were composed byLaxmikant Pyarelal. The lyrics were written byAnand Bakshi.
| # | Title | Singer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Yaar Hamari Baat Suno" | Kishore Kumar |
| 2 | "Yeh Public Hai" | Kishore Kumar |
| 3 | "Naach Meri Bulbul" | Kishore Kumar |
| 4 | "Gore Rang Pe Na Itna" | Kishore Kumar,Lata Mangeshkar |
| 5 | "Phoolon Ke Saath" | Lata Mangeshkar |
The film was a major box-office success of the year and considered to be a milestone in the formula-films made byManmohan Desai. The film grossed₹2crore in India and₹4 crore worldwide, which works out to₹160 crore and₹320 crore resp. in 2018.
The film is loosely inspired by the 1959 AmericanWestern filmFace of a Fugitive (an adaptation of the short story "Long Gone" by Peter Dawson), vast changes were made in the script ofRoti. Later,Roti itself was remade inTelugu asNeram Nadi Kadu Akalidi, in 1976 starringN.T. Rama Rao.[3] It was also remade inBangladesh asEk Mutho Bhat (lit. 'One Fist Rice') starringZafar Iqbal,Babita in 1976.