Ram Teri Ganga Maili

Raj Kapoor is supposed to be the ultimate showman of Bollywood. He does some justice to this image by choosing spectacular locales along with some great music and photography.

However, there is nothing new this movie offers. It's an unconvincing love story set right at the foot of Himalayas, between a rich guy and a poor girl. How they meet, get separated and finally get united in the end forms the core of the story.

Most of the Indians would remember this movie as the first one, at least the first blockbuster, where the heroine openly bares her breasts. (Such exposure is not very common in Indian movies.)

Apart from that dubious distinction, there is not much else.

The music is a blast and worth listening to. Give the movie itself a skip.

Naren is a simple man and son of an influential businessman in Calcutta. He goes to Himalayas on vacations and meets Ganga a local Himalayan girl. They fall in love and get married. Naren decides to go home and gain his family's confidence before he can take Ganga home. Naren comes back home and finds that his father has fixed his marriage with an ambitious politician Bhagwat Chowdhary's daughter. Naren sends Kunj, his maternal uncle and his well wisher, to fetch Ganga but Ganga, now pregnant, has already left alone from Himalayas to Calcutta. The whole journey of Ganga from Gangotri to Calcutta depicts the poor condition of women in the Indian society.

First half of the film is perfect for toilet breaks, cigarette, pop corn and probably grocery. How long can you tolerate two bad actors that too together? Movie begins when Ganga leaves Himalayas for Calcutta. Ganga, traveling from Gangotri to Calcutta, represents river Ganga which starts from Himalayas and through northern plains reaches Calcutta and merges into Bay of Bengal. River Ganga is revered by Indians as god from ancient times. River Ganga get polluted on its way and the first bank which pollutes river Ganga is Haridwar and so Ganga (Mandakini) tastes her stint with fate in Haridwar. By the time she reaches Varanasi Ganga loses its purity. River Ganga flows almost like sewer water after that and that's what happens to the protagonist. She is sold bought raped and beaten by the time she reaches Calcutta. I find this film extremely romantic and spiritual. It talks about the fate of millions of innocent girls sold in India and the medium it uses is mind blowing. This film always reminds me of Bicycle thief. Sica used a bicycle to expose post world war Italy and Raj Kapoor has used a river to expose the double standards of Indian culture. At one point in time Ganga sleeps in a funeral house and consoles herself saying that dead ones are better than those living. Characterization is brilliant for example Kunj visits brothels but he loud mouths about it. Manilal is a pimp, a gray character, becomes a blind man to trap Ganga. Raj Kapoor says a lot through Manilal's black goggles. Some of the scenes are very bold. In one of the scenes Ganga, in a train to Varanasi, is feeding her infant son while men look at each other and smile.

Acting wise Raza Murad and Saeed Jaffery are brilliant and soul of the film. Rajiv Kapoor couldn't do worse. 'Mandagini' could and she did. Music of the film is exceptional. All the songs except for 'Sun Saiba' and 'Main Hee Main Hoon' are beautiful and meaningful. I think it's the best score by 'Ravindra Jain' so far (better than even 'Nadiya Ke Paar' and 'Chitchor'). Lata Mangeshkar's voice is beginning to crack by this time and so male versions are an automatic preference. This film was released in the same year as 'Tawaif' and so best Dialog and story awards were given to 'Tawaif' ( a very well deserved ones too) else this movie would have got those too other than best film, best director, best art director and best music. I think this is Raj Kapoor's best film if not 'Prem Rog'. Prem Rog outshines this film because of the actors (of course Rishi Kapoor in 35 mm is magic) and topic but RTGM has high points and is more dramatic. I think Raj Kapoor should have stayed away from the nudity in this film as most people saw only nudity in this film (you can tell by the reviews only) but Raj Kapoor was a businessman too so he had to do his marketing bit. This film was a huge hit. Looking at the unchanged condition of India I guess Raj Kapoor was a good seller. He sold a movie against nudity with nudity. Reminds me of Goddard's 'Contempt' but that's how it is and will be. A must watch for spiritually bent Indians.

Ram Teri Ganga Maili review :

Conceived during the making of Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960), the late great showman Raj Kapoor waited for two decades to realise his dream of Ram Teri Ganga Maili - the concept of clean Ganga beautifully woven in to a sordid saga of woman called Ganga who takes the route of the holy river from Gangotri to Calcutta in order to reunite with her lover. The way people dirty and pollute Ganga the river is exactly how the human Ganga also gets treated along the way. Raj Saahab's vision as well as execution was first rate. Ram Teri Ganga Maili remained his last directorial but it is also his best.

The film became controversial on its release for the semi nude scenes filmed on lead Mandakini - one had her bathing under a waterfall in a transparent white saree with breasts clearly visible, the other two had her breastfeeding her baby. The audience was taken aback at these unexpected bold scenes as the film had a U certificate and in no time, news spread about it. Some critics slammed the movie as exploitative while certain theatre owners refused to let kids enter their cinemas though it was meant for universal viewing. Raj Kapoor defended himself stating the film was aimed at highlighting the purity and sanctity of the girl who doesn't lose her innocence and goodness even after the 'paapi' world tries to exploit her.

Of the main cast, Rajiv Kapoor teamed up with Divya Rana again after their lukewarm Ek Jaan Hain Hum (1983). Mandakini, ofcourse was Ganga and she bagged the highly coveted role after things didn't materialize with Dimple Kapadia and Padmini Kolhapure. Ram Teri Ganga Maili was the career best of Manda who has never looked more pristine...she looks alluringly pure in most scenes.

Ravindra Jain's soundtrack suited the mood of the movie and the title track as well as 'Sun Sahiba Sun' became instant chartbusters.

Ram Teri Ganga Maili defied the action trend of the '80s and emerged the biggest blockbuster of that time. It ran for more than a year at Minerva as well as Plaza Cinema in Mumbai. The film was not accessible to me for obvious reasons and I caught it much later on VHS. The voyeuristic angle apart, I found it effectively conveying the still pertinent message of "Clean Ganga, Clean minds" in a highly entertaining manner. That was the greatness of Raj Kapoor Saahab!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

this movie could be called a typical Indian love story...rich boy poor girl, cannot marry! but at the time of the release created a lot of controversy simply because of the sexual content in the movie.

simple acts such as a mother breast feeding her baby were frowned upon which showed that the Indian public was not ready for such boldness just yet. in another scene the lead actress was shown bathing under a waterfall...in a flimsy white sari and nothing underneath. this was typical of the director Raj Kapoor who wanted his actresses to look glamorous i.e. sex symbols.

I will not take anything away from the movie in terms of acting as every one did a superb job.

What's new, I don't think anyone doubts Raj Kapoor's phenomenal talent in terms of filmmaking. Ram Teri Ganga Maili is overwhelming in its beauty, in how well it captures the extraordinary picturesque views of the Himalayas, the stormy rivers of the waterfalls, and what not. The cinematography is perfect, and the setting is very impressive, creating a rather extravagant film. Raj Kapoor keeps his obsession with the female body and with showing nudity to a most conservative censor board, and does it as aesthetically as he always did, with some highly suggestive transparent clothing, shots of full breastfeeding.

In terms of writing the film has a stronger first half - great romantic portions and all you'd expect, but the execution, the dialogue and the acting by the smaller actors is very bad. It is further ruined by embarrassingly absurd action scenes, which make one lament that someone of the stature of Raj Kapoor succumbed to the cheap dishum dishum of the times. Then also the caricature villains take the credibility of the story down. It is exactly the same kind of problems that Kapoor's previous venture, Prem Rog, faced. A very pretty film to look at but very melodramatic and stereotypical in its portrayal of the suffering heroine.

And coming to the heroine and the film's main protagonist - Mandakini is exactly a reflection of the film itself - she is stunning, and her beauty is captured with great mastery, but performance-wise she falters and wavers between refreshing and charming and then very weak and struggling with too much drama. But who cares, when you have such an unusual beauty, much can be forgiven. The casting of Kapoor's youngest son Rajiv as the male lead is exactly like the casting of Rishi Kapoor in Bobby a decade before, and although he is okay and does okay within the context of the film, it's nothing special.

The film's other highlights include some nice supporting turns, especially by the great Saeed Jaffrey who gets great lines and a nice role. Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Sushma Seth are also very good. But the winner of the film after all is another person, a woman whose name is Lata Mangeshkar. This legendary singer's phenomenal voice does wonders to the film and gives it much of the charm that the script doesn't. My favourite number is "Sun Sahiba Sun" which is a pleasure to listen to. I wish the film matched the beauty of the music and the photography. Ram Teri Ganga Maili is Raj Kaoor's final but far from his finest.