Bahen (1941)
Sheikh Mukhtar and Nalini Jaywant in Bahen (1941)
Classic Mehboob incest film. Elder brother Amar (Sheikh Mukhtar) saves the life of his infant sister Bina and raises her, becoming very possessive about her. When Bina grows up (Nalini Jaywant), the progressive social activist Rajendra (Harish) wants to marry her. Amar then plots to get a thief, Moti (Kanhaiyalal), to marry and immediately abandon her so that she will forever remain dependent on Amar. Eventually she does get married and the brother’s grief is alleviated only when his sister delivers a child (in a remarkable sequence featuring the nurses at the hospital). The incest motif was widely used to represent the complexities of an ‘Aryan’ agrarian-feudal patriarchy (e.g. the New Theatres’ Meri Bahen, 1944, and, classically, in Ghatak’s Subarnarekha, 1962), but Mehboob was distinctive in making it a central focus.
Cast and Production Credits
Year – 1941, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – National Studios, Director – Mehboob Khan, Music Director – Anil Biswas, Cast - Sheikh Mukhtar, Nalini Jaywant, Harish, Kanhaiyalal, Husn Bano, Swaroop Rani, Shahzadi, R. Choube, Baby Meena (aka Meena Kumari), Bhudo Advani, Agashe, Iqbal Begum
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All I know is that there were some great songs which I’ve heard on TV:) Thanks for the info. Wonder if I could get all songs if I’m lucky….first film of Nalini Ji as a singer (an excellent one as she was – I criticise playback given to her – but not the playback singer).
I knew Harish Ji (also singing star) must be the hero…in Nalini Ji’s song “Piya Ghar Jaana, Sajan Ghar Jaana”, we see Sheikh Mukhtar Ji crying in the middle. Thanks for confirming.