Julie
Synopsis
Julie is an anglo-Indian girl with a loving, but alcoholic father and a domineering mother, a younger brother and sister. She falls in love with her best friend's brother Shashi Bhattacharya, a Hindu boy, and she has a passionate encounter with him, which leaves her pregnant. He goes away to college, not knowing about her condition. Her mother is distraught when Julie tells her about the pregnancy. They don't tell the rest of the family. Her mother thinks about getting Julie an abortion, but a devout Christian talks her out of it. Julie is sent away to have her baby in secret. The rest of the family is told that Julie got a job. When she comes back home, she runs into her Hindu boyfriend and tells him everything. He agrees to marry her, but his mother objects to the mixed marriage, not knowing about the baby born in secret. Julie's mother doesn't want the marriage either, as she and the rest of the family want to go to England
Genre: Romance, Family, Music
Status: Released
Director: K. S. Sethumadhavan
Main Cast
Lakshmi
Julie
Vikram Makandar
Shashi Bhattacharya
Nadira
Margaret 'Maggie' (Julie's mother)
Utpal Dutt
Mr. Bhattacharya (Usha's father)
Achala Sachdev
Mrs. Devki Bhattacharya (Usha's mother)
Rita Bhaduri
Usha Bhattacharya
Jalal Agha
Richard 'Richie'
Rajendranath Malhotra
Rahim (Store Owner)
Om Prakash
Morris (Julie's father)
Ruby Myers
Ruby Aunty
User Reviews
THE-LENS
# *Julie* (1975 film) **Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan and written by Chakrapani. The film stars Lakshmi in the title role (in her Hindi film debut). It also stars Vikram Makandar, Nadira, Rita Bhaduri, Om Prakash, Utpal Dutt, and Sridevi, in her first significant Hindi role.** ## Review by Dr Usman Latif Khawaja **Rating: ⭐☆☆☆☆ 1 out of 5 stars** ### A Predictable, Immoral Caricature of Hypocritical, Racist Stereotypes ### The Total Structural Deficit of Pre-Marital Hysteria, Flawed Logic, and the Illusion of the Roshan Score **The Cast Ensemble:** Lakshmi (Julie), Vikram Makandar (Shashi), Nadira (Margaret, Julie's Mother), Utpal Dutt (Mr. Bhattacharya), Sridevi (Irene, Julie's Younger Sister), Om Prakash (Julie's Father) **Director:** K. S. Sethumadhavan **Producer:** B. Nagi Reddy (Chakrapani / Vijaya Vauhini Studios) **Music Composer:** Rajesh Roshan (Filmfare Award Winner for Best Music Director) **Lyrics:** Anand Bakshi **Playback Singers:** Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Iyer (Usha Uthup) **Commercially Released:** April 1975 (Super Hit / Silver Jubilee Trash) **Language:** Hindi / Urdu (with Anglophone caricatured accents) *Julie* is an absolutely drastic, predictable drama centered entirely on lazy sexual stereotypes, representing the absolute worst of commercial studio manipulation. The plot follows a classic, formulaic trope: an Anglo-Indian girl falls for a handsome Hindu boy. They sing "Dil Kya Kare," a genuinely great track by Kishore Kumar, before Julie decides to engage in pre-marital sex without any precaution or condoms. Because she belongs to the Anglo-Indian community, the film forces the absurdly repetitive track "Julie, I Love You," a nonsensical piece of writing that lacks all logical cohesion. While the waltz number "Yeh Raatein Nayi Purani" offers a quite lilting aesthetic appeal, it cannot save a script built on sheer narrative bankruptcy. Once Lakshmi's character gets pregnant, Vikram wants to marry her, but his orthodox Hindu family develops massive structural issues regarding a pregnant Christian girl. From this point, the film descends into a frenzy of screaming and frantic hysteria that the mainstream media lazily labels as "good acting." While Nadira delivers a performance of true, level-headed restraint as the mother, anchoring the frame amidst the chaos, Lakshmi spends the remaining runtime screeching, sobbing, and vomiting as all hell breaks loose. The entire narrative architecture is painfully predictable, marching inevitably toward a forced happy ending, but the viewer is forced to sit for ages through painful, miserable melodrama just to reach that obvious conclusion. Rajesh Roshan and his melodic music single-handedly rescue this painful movie about pre-marital sex and an inter-faith sexual affair. In a classic display of industry irony, both lead actors were completely rejected by audiences and exhibitors immediately after this musical hit, fading into commercial non-entities. Yet, the corrupt Filmfare cartel typically awarded Lakshmi a Best Actress trophy for what amounts to a performance about not using precaution while having sex. The way Bollywood handles sex, pregnancy, and Anglo-Indians as wicked, easy sex targets is simply immoral, hypocritically xenophobic, and criminally racist—and the establishment stands completely condemned for awarding and celebrating its own systemic prejudices.
