| Director: | Gulzar |
| Producer: | Raj N. Sippy Romu N. Sippy |
| Starring: | Vinod Khanna Lily Chakravarty Asrani |
| Music: | Vasant Desai |
| Cinematography: | K. Vaikunth |
| Editing: | Waman B. Bhosle Gurudutt Shirali |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Hindi |
Achanak is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language film, directed by Gulzar, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and starring Vinod Khanna. Gulzar received a Filmfare nomination as Best Director for this film. Even though Gulzar is an accomplished lyricist, this film did not have any songs in it.[1] K.A. Abbas earned a Filmfare nomination for best story.[2] It is inspired by the real-life sensational 1958 murder case KM Nanavati v State of Maharashtra.[3]
1963 movie Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke was also based on the same case.[4] Akshay Kumar starrer 2016 movie Rustom is based on the same case as well.[5]
The film had no songs, the background score is composed by Vasant Desai.
Major Ranjit Khanna loves his wife Pushpa, who loves him equally. His commanding officer, Lt. Col. Bakshi, is his father-in-law. Ranjit is happy in his married life, until he finds out about his wife's affair with his best friend. On realizing this, however, he kills both of them and surrenders himself to the police. Then, he escapes from the police in search of the river Ganga, as he wants to fulfill his wife's desire to leave her Mangalsutra in the river Ganga. However, in that attempt, the police shoot him and he is injured. He is then admitted to the hospital, where he becomes emotionally attached to the doctors and nurses. So, when he is finally sentenced to death, they also move to tears.
| Character | Actor | |
|---|---|---|
| EX -Major Ranjeet Khanna | Vinod Khanna | |
| Dr Chaudhary | Om Shivpuri | |
| Mrs Pushpa Khanna | Lily Chakravarty | |
| Nurse Radha | Farida Jalal | |
| Dr Kailash | Asrani | |
| Colonel Bakshi | Iftekhar | |
| Mr Gupta, Supdt of Police | Kamal Deep |
The entire film production was completed in 28 days.[6] Achanak was based on a Khwaja Ahmed Abbas story, The Thirteenth Victim, which had appeared in the magazine called Imprint.[7] In 1973 N.C Sippy's sons, Romu Sippy and Raj Sippy collaborated with partner Hrishikesh Mukherjee to produce Achanak and they approached Gulzar to direct it. Gulzar approached Vasantrao, a marathi background score composer to compose the score for this film since it would have no songs otherwise.
Background music was composed by Vasant Desai.