Chhalia

Chhalia
Chhalia movie poster
Directed by	Manmohan Desai
Produced by	Subhash Desai
Written by	Inder Raj Anand
Starring	Raj Kapoor Nutan Pran
Music by	Kalyanji Anandji
Cinematography	N. Satyen
Release date	1960
Running time	135 Minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Chhalia is a 1960 Indian Bollywood drama film directed by Manmohan Desai. It stars Raj Kapoor, Nutan, Pran,Rehman and Shobhna Samarth. Raj Kapoor plays his stereotyped "simple guy with a heart of gold" role yet again. The story is loosely based on the "White Nights" written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky but is focused on the issue of estranged wives and children in the aftermath of Partition. Chhalia was shot in black-and-white. Music by Kalyanji-Anandji, played a part in the film's box office success.

Shanti (Nutan) is married off to Kewal (Rehman) on the eve of Partition. But while the two families move away to Delhi from Lahore, she inadvertently is left behind, and is forced to share roof with Abdul Rehman (Pran) who has a sister of Shanti’s age in India. When she returns to India five years later with her son, she is first welcomed by the husband with open arms but disowned when the child identifies himself as Anwar, and his father as Abdul Rehman. Even her own father refuses to give her shelter, though in the years she had lived with Abdul Rehman she hadn’t even seen his face.

Physically and emotionally shattered, Shanti tries to commit suicide after leaving Anwar in a remand home, but is rescued by an outlaw, Chhalia (Raj Kapoor) who as time and events progress, flips for the lady. Rehman lands in Delhi to settle old scores with Chhalia, and threatens to kidnap Shanti. The bloody fight that ensues between the two adversaries eventually ends in a truce. The hurried climax, set amidst Dussera festivities, has Chhalia bringing about a rapprochement between the estranged couple, and himself walking into the infinity, while Rehman is reunited with his sister on the return train.