Yaadein (1964 film)

Yaadein (English: Memories) is a 1964 black and white Hindi film directed and produced by Sunil Dutt who also stars in the film as the only actor to appear onscreen in the entire film. The only other actor in the film is Dutt’s wife Nargis Dutt who only appears as a silhouette in the final scene.

Dutt conceptualized this black and white film art experiment with the use of imaginary expressions. He also introduced another form of visual expression in this film, the silhouette, in which a black shadow is used to depict a distinct personality. The film is considered a unique film that was ahead of its time.

This film is the world's first as well as first Indian film in cinema to feature only a single actor and has earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records in the category Fewest actors in a narrative film. The French film 'La Dernière Lettre' (2002) is the second and the Kannada film 'Shanti' (2005) is the third in cinema history to feature only a single actor throughout the entire movie. Dutt won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi for his performance and direction.

Film narrative progresses through dialogues and background music composed by Vasant Desai, who also gave two songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar.