Kati Patang

Kati Patang
Kati Patang theatrical poster
कटी पतंग
Directed by	Shakti Samanta
Produced by	Shakti Samanta
Written by	Vrajendra Gaur Gulshan Nanda
Starring	Rajesh Khanna Asha Parekh Prem Chopra Bindu Nazir Hussain
Music by	Rahul Dev Burman
Cinematography	V. Gopi Krishna
Edited by	Govind Dalwadi
Production company	Naini Lake Nainital Club Natraj Studios Ranikhet
Distributed by	Shakti Films United Producers Asian Television Network
Release date	29 January 1971
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	₹3,80,00,000

Kati Patang (Cut Kite) is a 1970 Indian film produced and directed by Shakti Samanta. It was a box office success. The film stars Asha Parekh as a woman pretending to be a widow, and her ensuing trials and tribulations opposite her charming neighbour played by Rajesh Khanna. The film was an adaption of the novel of the same name by Gulshan Nanda. The film's story, also written by Nanda, was also based on the novel I Married a Dead Man, by Cornell Woolrich and had been previously made into a picture titled No Man of Her Own (1950) starring Barbara Stanwyck. The novel was also later filmed in Japanese as Shisha to no Kekkon (1960), in Brazilian as the TV miniseries A Intrusa (1962), in French as J'ai épousé une ombre (I Married a Shadow) (1983), and by Hollywood as Mrs. Winterbourne (1996). The film is among the 17 consecutive hits of Khanna between 1969 and 1971 and is the second of four films in which he was paired with Parekh. According to newspaper The Hindu, 'on screen, Rajesh Khanna never appeared to be lip-syncing. So convincing were his expressions. His presence, backed by the music, remained the main source of strength for a movie’s success'.

The movie also stars Nasir Hussain, Bindu, Prem Chopra, Daisy Irani and Sulochana Latkar. The film was the second in a string of nine movies in which Samanta and Khanna collaborated. Music was composed by R.D. Burman and was a huge hit. "Ye shaam masthani" and "Pyar deewana hota hein", sung by Kishore Kumar were particularly famous. The performance of Asha Parekh and Rajesh Khanna were praised by the audience and critics alike.

The film was remade in Tamil as Nenjil Oru Mull (1981) and in Telugu as Punnami Chandrudu (1987) with Sobhan Babu.

Madhavi Madhu (Asha Parekh) is an orphan living with her maternal uncle, who arranges her marriage with someone she does not know. Blinded in love with Kailash (Prem Chopra), she runs away on the day of the marriage. She discovers Kailash in the arms of Shabnam (Bindu). Heartbroken and dejected, she returns to her uncle, who committed suicide from the humiliation. Madhavi realizes that she has no one in life, and decides to leave town and head somewhere. She meets her childhood friend Poonam who tells her about her husband's untimely demise in an accident and that she is on her way, along with her baby boy Munna, to stay with her in-laws whom she has never met before. Poonam manages to compel Madhu to accompany her as her plight is pitiful.