Jaaneman [meaning: Sweetheart] is a Hindi (Bollywod) Romance Drama film reelased on 30 July 1976. The film became one of the  Highest Grossing Hindi Movies of 1976.

Cast and Crew

Chetan Anand is the Director, and Dev Anand is the Producer of Jaaneman.

The duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal is the Music Director, Fali Mistry is the Cinematographer, Babu Sheikh is the Film Editor, and T.K. Desai is the Art director of Jaaneman.

Cast

Dev Anand, Hema Malini (in a double role), Prem Nath, and Ajit play pivotal roles in Jaaneman. The film also features Durga Khote, Iftekhar, Paintal, Jagdish Raj, Jankidas, Bharat Kapoor, Gautam Sarin, Sudhir, Sharat Saxena, Jezebel, and Hercules.

Budget and Box Office Collection

The tentative budget of Jaaneman was 0.70 Crore INR (being a home production film for the Director and the Lead Actor). The film did commercially well and earned approximately 1.80 Crore INR at the Worldwide Box Office. Jaaneman became one of the Highest Grossing Hindi Movies of 1976.

Movie Plot

Santo and Banto (both Hema Malini) are twin sisters. Santo lives in Punjab with her mother, whereas Banto works in Mumbai as a Tutor. When Santo's mother expires, she decides to go to Mumbai.

Santo (Hema Malini) comes to Mumbai from Punjab in search of Banto (Hema Malini in a double role). Santo believes that Banto works as a Tutor of the daughter of his uncle Gulbahar Singh (Ajit).

Santo meets Taxi Driver Ronnie (Dev Anand) at the railway station. She hires Ronnie and reaches the given address. However, she does not find Gulbahar Singh. In the meantime, a thief steals money from Santo.

Ronnie lives with his mother (Durga Khote), who is out of the station for a few days. Ronnie thus takes Santo to his house, taking pity on her. Santo and Ronnie soon fall in love with each other.

A twist in the story

Ronnie works for Ram Bharose (Prem Nath), who loves a courtesan Ramkali (Hema Malini in a double role). Ram Bharose sends Ronnie to Ramkali with a gift. Ramkali is also a criminal and does every possible illegal activity.

Ronnie realizes that Ramkali is Banto, the twin sister of Santo. However, he does not disclose it to Santo to keep her beliefs about Banto. However,  Ramkali falls in love and wants Ronni to fall for her. 

The biggest twist

Ramkali has to send some diamonds to another city in a timebound manner. She knows that Ronnie drives fast and can reach the destination in time. She sends one of her goons (Bharat Kapoor), posing as a doctor, with Ronnie.

In the midway, Ronnie learns about the illegal dealing in his car. He strongly objects and informs the police about the diamonds. He also confronts Ramkali and asks if she is Banto, the twin sister of Santo.

Ramkali tells her that she is not a born criminal. She visited Mumbai as Banto and started giving tuition to the daughter of Gulbahar Singh, who had an evil eye on her and molested her. Banto then becomes Ramkali and vows to avenge Gulbahar Singh.

Ronnie informs Banto that Santo is with him, and they are in love. Banto feels happy for her sister Santo and decides to save Ronnie from the wrath of Gulbahar Singh.

What happens next is the rest of the story of Jaaneman.