Artwork drawn from the title — how & why

The Extended Canon

Mere Apne

मेरे अपने · 1971

An old widow taken in by a slum neighbourhood becomes the conscience of two youth gangs fighting for nothing.

Director
Gulzar
Year
1971
Genre
Drama
Cast
Meena Kumari, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha

Why it's in the canon

Gulzar's directorial debut, and the first serious film about India's unemployed young men.

An old widow taken in by a slum neighbourhood becomes the conscience of two youth gangs fighting for nothing.

Mere Apne sits in the 1970s alongside Sholay and Deewaar — a decade this canon treats as foundational.

The Bollywood 100

The essentials

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