Julie is a 1975 Indian romantic drama film directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan and written by Chakrapani. The film stars Lakshmi in the title role. It also stars Vikram, Nadira, Rita Bhaduri, Om Prakash, Utpal Dutt and Sridevi. The film was a critical and commercial success. Julie was also a musical blockbuster, with award-winning music by Rajesh Roshan which won him the Filmfare Award for the year. It had one of the first English language songs in an Indian film - "My Heart is Beating", sung by Preeti Sagar. It is a rare Hindi film in that it features an Anglo-Indian family in the lead. It is a remake of a Malayalam hit film Chattakari, which also starred Laxmi. She would star in yet another remake, the Telugu filmMiss JuliePrema Katha. She didn't act in the Kannada remake, Julie, released in 2006, which had Ramya in the title role as Julie and Dino Morea as the leading man. She also declined the role of Julie's mother in the Malayalam remake titled Chattakari, stating that she wanted the audiences to remember her as the young and beautiful Julie; the title role went to Shamna Kasim. In 1984 actress Urvashi portrayed the role of Julie in its Tamil remake Oh Maane Maane.
Plot
This film depicts the restrictive social conventions regarding inter-religion marriage and unwed motherhood in India. Julie is a Christian Anglo-Indian girl with a loving, but alcoholic, father, a dominating mother, a younger brother and sister. She falls in love with her best friend, Usha Bhattacharya's brother Shashi Bhattacharya, a Hindu boy. The lovers consummate their relationship, which leaves her pregnant. Shashi goes away to college, not knowing about her pregnancy. 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. After the baby's birth, Julie's mother arranges for the child to be left in an orphanage, and demands that Julie return home and forget about the baby. When Julie returns home, her father has died. She is now the primary earner in the family. Later, she runs into Shashi and tells him everything. He then asks to marry her, but his mother objects to the marriage as Julie is of a different faith. She blames Julie for seducing her son and having the baby. Julie's mother doesn't want the union either, as it will be an inter-faith marriage, and she wants to return to England. However, the wisdom of Shashi's father prevails as he confronts the mothers' prejudices regarding caste and religion, and urges them both to accept their grandchild. The film ends with the mothers offering their full blessings to the young couple, and Julie's mother promising her grandson she will "never leave him."
Cast
Lakshmi as Julie
Vikram Makandar as Shashi Bhattacharya
Nadira as Margaret "Maggie", Julie's mother
Om Prakash as Morris, Julie's father
Rita Bhaduri as Usha Bhattacharya
Utpal Dutt as Mr. Bhattacharya, Usha and Shashi's father
The film's soundtrack won Rajesh Roshan his first Filmfare Award, for Best Music Director. Julie was one of the top three best-selling soundtrack albums of 1975, along with Sholay and Sanyasi. A remixed cover version of "Dil Kya Kare" sung by Shaan appeared in the 1996 album Dance Masti.
