Mera Gaon Mera Desh

Mera Gaon Mera Desh (transl. My village, my country) is a 1971 Indian action drama film, directed by Raj Khosla, written by Akhtar Romani, starring Dharmendra and Asha Parekh in lead roles with Vinod Khanna as the villain. It was a box office success.^[1] The film contains many hit songs including: "Apni Prem Kahaniyan", "Aaya Aaya Atariya Pe Koi Chor", "Sona Lai Ja Re", "Kuch Kehta Hai Yeh Saawan" and "Maar Diya Jaye Ke Chhod Diya Jaye". The film was remade in Telugu as Manchi Babayi.

Mera Gaon Mera Desh
Poster
Directed by	Raj Khosla
Written by	Akhtar Romani
Screenplay by	G. R. Kamat
Story by	Khosla Enterprises Story Department
Produced by	Lekhraj Khosla Bolu Khosla
Starring	Dharmendra Asha Parekh Vinod Khanna
Cinematography	Pratap Sinha
Edited by	Waman Bhonsle
Music by	Laxmikant–Pyarelal Anand Bakshi (lyrics)
Production company	Khosla Enterprises
Distributed by	Khosla Enterprises
Release date	13 August 1971 (1971-08-13)
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	6 crore

Plot

Havaldar Major Jaswant Singh (Jayant) makes a citizen's arrest of petty thief Ajit (Dharmendra) and hands him over to the police, and after due process of law he is sentenced to six months in jail. After completing his sentence, the jailer asks him to approach Jaswant Singh for employment, and so he does. Jaswant asks him to help him with his farming work. Ajit meets Anju (Asha Parekh - lead female) and both fall in love. Ajit hears of Jabbar Singh (Vinod Khanna) a dacoit who is terrorizing the surrounding community, and Ajit decides to take on Jabbar. In retaliation, Jabbar abducts Anju, and instructs Ajit to come unarmed. Ajit decides to follow these instructions, however, as soon as he reaches Jabbar's hideout, he too is captured, and at the mercy of Jabbar and Munni (Laxmi Chhaya), who has been scorned by Ajit, and it is now up to her to decide Ajit's fate.

Cast

Name of actor	Role portrayed
Dharmendra	Ajit
Asha Parekh	Anju
Vinod Khanna	Jabbar Singh / Thakur
Laxmi Chhaya	Munnibai
Jayant	Hawaldaar-Major Jaswant Singh
Asit Sen	Motumal (Drunk)
Sudhir	Police Inspector
Bhagwan	Chotumal (Drunk)
Uma Dutt	Judge
Mohan Choti	Uncredited
Birbal	Nai
Manmohan	Uncredited
Dulari	Mrs. Ramdin Patel (Anju's mother)

Soundtrack

#	Title	Singer(s)
1	"Aaya Aaya Atariya Pe Koi Chor"	Lata Mangeshkar
2	"Apni Prem Kahaniyaan"	Lata Mangeshkar
3	"Kuchh Kehta Hai Ye Saawan"	Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi
4	"Sona Lai Ja Re"	Lata Mangeshkar
5	"Maar Diya Jaye"	Lata Mangeshkar

Awards and nominations

Dharmendra received a Filmfare nomination for Best Actor, the only one for the film.^[2]