Review
This is a film that wears its social conscience on its sleeve, and while the intent is admirable, the execution is clumsy and heavy-handed. S.K. Prem delivers a genuinely moving performance as Mangal, a man ground down by poverty and the weight of too many mouths to feed—his desperation feels authentic, not manufactured. Dev Anand as Prakash brings idealism and fire to the reformist angle, and there's real tension in the ideological clash between traditional fatalism and modern social thinking. The story tackles poverty, family planning, and social responsibility with earnestness that deserves respect. But here's where it falls apart: director Vijay Bhatt treats every scene like a sermon, bludgeoning the audience with message rather than letting the drama breathe. Tarla's Laxmi is underwritten to the point of tragedy—her death feels obligatory rather than earned, a plot device to prove a point about overpopulation rather than a human loss we genuinely mourn.
The film's biggest problem is that it mistakes melodrama for depth. Yes, we get it—poverty is cruel, education matters, family planning is progressive. But watching children beg and a mother die in childbirth because the film needs to make an argument about overpopulation feels exploitative, not enlightening. The romance between Prakash and Sandhya should be the emotional anchor instead, it's rushed and underdeveloped. Sharada does what she can with a thankless role, and Radhakrishan's Gangu Teli is a one-note antagonist
Storyline
Mangal (S. K. Prem) lives with his wife Laxmi (Tarla), their six children and his younger brother Prakash (Dev Anand). Mangal has taken a loan from a local moneylender for Prakash's college education. Mangal's poverty is so bad that he sells his sixth child's bed to buy a blanket. Soon, Laxmi dies during delivery of the seventh child due to weakness of bearing so many children.. Meanwhile, Prakash becomes well-educated with a modern outlook and a reformist attitude, he confronts his brother every now and then with hard truths of life. Mangal calls Prakash an iconoclast and asks him to leave the house. This affects the lives of Prakash and his girlfriend Sandhya (Sharada). Her father Gangu Teli (Radhakrishan), a small time businessman, does not approve of their marriage. Prakash loses his cool when he finds his nephews and nieces begging for a living. He then immediately takes up a job in a printing press owned by Lalaji (Prabhu Dayal) who promotes family planning and other social issues. After obtaining the advance, Prakash arranges food and clothes for his kin, using Sandhya as the go-between. After Mangal loses his job he requests Gangu Teli to take him to the temple priest, Sanatan (Hiralal) with a request for advance, who while saying he is helpless appeals to the assembly to help him with whatever they can spare. Accepting the money was like begging, This invokes Mangal's conscience and he rushes back home. Sanatan and Gangu teli incites everyone that children are the gift of God and asks Prakash to leave the area propagating family planning but the people start thrashing him. Mangal cannot face his brother commits suicide by consuming poison. He convinces, Sanatan, Gangu teli and all the people that he is not against bearing children but limiting to two children to take care of them financially too. Finally Prakash and Sandhya get married and take responsibility of Mangal's children and not having their own.