character "Pushpa", "a very strong role in the iconic mould of Mother India" and instantly agreed, thus it was one of the first films she signed on after the birth of her son Saif Ali Khan. For the role Anand, actor Raaj Kumar was Samanta's first choice, as he believed Khanna who had become a super star after the hit Aradhana, wouldn't be interested in doing a film that focussed on the female lead. However, Khanna convinced Samanta that would do justice to the role. However, Khanna changed the character's name from Ananta to Anand to draw connection to his character in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's critically acclaimed Anand (1971). Filming The film was shot in Eastmancolor, entirely at Natraj Studios in Mumbai, including the famous song, Chingari koi bhadke, which was set on a boat on the Hooghly River, with Howrah Bridge of Kolkata in the background. Earlier authorities in Kolkata didn't give the film crew permission to shoot under the bridge, as it would be a crowd problem. Thus the song was shot in a water tank in the studio, with the crew filming in knee-deep water. Samanta has been using music directors like O. P. Nayyar and Shankar-Jaikishen, but chose R. D. Burman once again after Kati Patang (1971), who also laboured to produce one of his best scores; later in an interview Samanta recalled: "Pancham (R. D. Burman) would go into his room and work from 9 o'clock in the morning till 9 o'clock in the night for Amar Prem." Themes and allusions Amar Prem takes forward the popular genre of self-sacrificing mother or woman prevalent in the decade as seen in Aradhana (1969) and Kati Patang (1971), though seen as early as in 1957 in Mother India, though here it places a wronged wife Pushpa in the narrative. When her husband marries the second time, due to her apparent infertility, she is kicked out of her home, her mother and community both abandon her, subsequently she is tricked into prostitution. Thus the fallen women ends up as courtesan, with a heart of gold; though the original version Nishi Padma (1970), clearly portrays her as a common prostitute, in Samanta's version she is a tawaif who sings to her customers for a living. As Pushpa is introduced to the audience singing a genteel mystic Meera Bai-like bhajan, Raina Beeti Jai, Shyam Na Aaye (Night is passing, Shyam (Krishna)