Waheeda Rehman in Khamoshi (1969)

Camera cuts from the girl on the balcony to the ambu­lance below. It drives off and the nurse is alone staring into space. She has been in love with the patient: never mind all that corn about love therapy, it seems an interesting enough affair.

A while later they clear the ward for the next patient — the only normal looking case in a hospital overloaded with clowns. The first love takes a back seat — it just about disappears —and the new one is neither in­teresting nor convincing.

The few glimpses of Waheeda and her first patient leave little doubt that the man had return­ed her love. He leaves the hos­pital to get married and sends a polite wedding invitation to the nurse as if he had known, all along it was all an act.

“Khamoshi” gets bogged down in its own psychology when it drags in the second patient. The doctor rattles off a few lines on narcissism, the you-dee-pus (that’s the way he pronounces it) complex etcetera, then orders the nurse to fall in love with the patient for the rest of the film.

Rajesh returns to normal soon enough when the new nurse takes over and “rescues” him from shock therapy and hugs him every now and then and finally says he’s being per­mitted an airing for the outdoor song — scene ends like every other love scene with Waheeda clinging to Rajesh and dream­ing of Dharmendra.

The love therapy isn’t any more convincing when they ex­plain that it was betrayed love that drove the hero mad in the first place. They show the girl behaving like an outright bitch to explain why the hero still loves her before bringing her over to the hospital to assure you he doesn’t love her any more.

Far better if they had cut off that clinical stuff and turned it into a story of conflicting love, if they hadn’t dropped Dhar­mendra after the marriage and had instead shown Waheeda torn between love for both men. There are moments of conviction when she dreams of the first man, the eagerness with which she expects him to re­turn. There’s the time Rajesh slaps her by accident and she merely looks at him … moments that come sporadically amid the generally poor performanc­es, Waheeda’s own overacting in places and that furred, feathed and bejewelled air that keeps reminding you, you never really got a glimpse of the woman’s private life. (Filmfare Review – 1970)

Usha Kiron as the pretty fisher-girl (Mohnia) in Baadbaan (1954)

An excellent picture, and obviously the result of the united effort of a group of stars and technicians all of whom have given of their best, “Baadbaan”, produced by the Bombay Talkies Workers’ Industrial Cooperative Society Limited, was premiered on Friday, June 18, 1954, to packed houses at the Roxy and various other theatres in Bombay.

The all-star cast of eleven top-rate players comprises Dev Anand, Meena Kumari, Usha Kiron, Ashok Kumar, Bipin Gupta, Gope, Krishnakant, Jairaj, Leela Chitnis, Sheikh Mukhtar and Shivraj.

The credit for handling this brilliant array or talent goes to Director Phani Mazumdar who also wrote the story and to Nabendu Ghosh whose compact screenplay and terse, but tell­ing, dialogue exploit both the stars and their well-written parts as well as the richly-interest­ing story.

A beautiful, very melodious music score composed by Timir Baran and S.K. Pal, lovely lyrics written by Indivar and Udhav Kumar and superbly choreographed dances designed by the brilliant exponent Shanti Bhardan and Parvati Kumar provide sparkling highlights in this engrossing film.

The picture depicts a story rich in incident and emotional conflict and centers on an orphaned child whose parents, fisher folk, are killed in a storm and who is adopted by a rich, kind and broad-minded philanthropist. The real drama sets in when the boy returns from Eng­land and falls in love with a lovely young so­cialite who reciprocates his love. On hearing of his true parentage, however, her father forbids the marriage but relents at seeing his daugh­ter’s unhappiness.

The hero’s overwhelming passion for a beautiful fisher girl from the village of his birth to which he returns, bent on improving his peo­ple’s lot, and his love for his charming wife make for strong emotional power climaxed tragically by the latter’s death and given subtle meaning by his return to his own people and a girl of his own kind.

By far the best performance comes from Usha Kiron who dominates the picture with her gloriously rich portrayal as the fisher girl Mo­hnia. She literally lights up the screen with her brilliant, sympathetic acting and is the embodiment of allure in the dances she puts over with inimitable sensuous grace and the joyous aban­don of a gifted danseuse.

Dev Anand, as the hero, puts over a good role despite the fact that he tends to fall short in some of his scenes and is a trifle gauche throughout the film. Meena Kumari, as his ill- starred wife, turns in a quiet, polished role in a quite difficult part. Another subtle but telling performance comes from Ashok Kumar who plays her silent lover and the hero’s friend with the consummate ease of a veteran artist.

Bipin Gupta and Krishnakant, as the hero’s foster-father and the heroine’s father, act im­peccably as usual. Jairaj, as Dev Anand’s fa­ther, does well in a small part and Leela Chitnis as his mother acts well and looks love­ly. The comedy is provided mainly by Gope who handles his comic and dramatic scenes very well.

The music is beautiful and the songs are excellently sung by Geeta Roy, Hemant Kumar Asha Bhonsle and Manna De.

The dances are superb, rich, colourful folk numbers brilliantly choreographed and executed by Usha Kiron and a troupe of excellently trained chorines.

The production values, sets, photography and costumes are impeccable.

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1954, Genre – Drama/Social, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Bombay Talkies Workers’ Industrial Co-operative Society, Director – Phani Mazumdar. , Music Director – Timir Baran, S. K. Pal, Cast– Ashok Kumar, Dev Anand, Meena Kumari, Usha Kiron, Krishnakant, Jairaj, Sheikh Mukhtar, Bipin Gupta, Leela Chitnis, Gope, and Shivraj

Meena Kumari as Zarina, the Nawab's daughter in "Chandni Chowk"

Hira Films’ “Chandni Chowk”, justifies its title by pro­viding a superbly-mounted musical romane of a time when Chandni Chowk, the glittering an­cient locality of Old Delhi, was the centre of attraction for people from all parts of India.

Deftly designed in a suspense-packed screenplay by I.S. Johar, and cleverly and imaginatively directed by B. R. Chopra, the film presents with telling realism the atmosphere of Delhi after the first world war, and those aspects of society which thrived on good manners and which no longer exist in the materialistic world of today. Faithfully recorded in the film are charming vignettes of
the Muslim Zenana—its graceful women, gorgeous costumes and its culture, all of which create an impression of quiet magnificence and enhance the gripping human appeal of the drama.

The story is set in the house of a Nawab of Moghul lineage, for whom life has no mean­ing without the preservation of the good name and honour of his ancient aristocratic family. Though reduced to financial straits, he sticks to the glory of the past. Opposite him is pitted Yusuf Mian, a vegetable vendor turned millionaire overnight as a result of the war. Yusuf is infatuated with Zarina, the Nawab’s only child and also his heir. But Yusuf is spurned by the Nawab who has no love for upstarts. A villainous parasite, Banke, fans Yusuf’s desire and exploits him for his own mercenary gains.

Together they hatch a plot to make the Nawab marry his daughter to his own gard­ener’s son. The latter poses as a Nawab from Lucknow. The villainous intrigue could have resulted in tragedy, but Zarina’s love for the gardener’s son, who was her childhood com­panion, and her brave stand in his defense save the situation. But the debacle drives the bridegroom to flight leaving his devoted bride in the care of his mother. He goes to Cairo where against the romantic backdrop of Egypt the film provides exciting sequences of encounters between him and his enemies; villainous intrigues of a dancer who is in love with him; breathtaking dances and a feast of alluring songs. It all comes right in the end, with the plotters discomfited and the lovers reunited. The good old Nawab is taught through grief and suffering that it is the in­dividual who matters and not his antecedents.

Delightfully presented, this beautifully embroidered story is cleverly interwoven with situations which call for tears, laughter, fear and excitement from the audience.

Meena Kumari, in the difficult role of Za­rina turns in a superb portrayal which is alive with feeling and emotion and is an outstand­ing example of her histrionic talent–talent which has already won her two Clares. Her classic beauty is brilliantly exploited by the camera and the photo­grapher of “Chandni Chowk” can rightly claim the honor of presenting this versa­tile actress of the In­dian screen at her love­liest.

Sharing honors with Meena Kumari in the film is Kumar, the veteran Thespian, who in the pivotal role of the Nawab convincing­ly presents a cameo of the Moghul aristocrat. Smriti Biswas, as the seductive Egyptian dan­cer looking ravishingly beautiful, provides some of the most al­luring dance numbers in the film. As the lover and husband, Shekhar manages to give a realistic portrayal in a role which is un­fortunately badly written and poorly directed.

Completing the masterly illusion on the screen are Jeewan as the intriguing parasite, Agha as the newly rich vegetable vendor, Achla Sachdev as the Nawab’s wife, Yashodhara Katju as the impish maid servant, Rama Shar­ma as the lovely companion of Zarina, Krishna Kumari as the nautch girl and Sunder as the idiotic servant of the household.

A fine embellishment to the film is provid­ed by the delightful music score composed by Roshan. The songs are all pleasingly melodi­ous, well-placed, delightfully sung and intelli­gently recorded, especially that which Meena Kumari sings while writing a letter to her husband. The dances are beautiful, well-executed and presented with appropriate decor.

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1954, Genre – Romance/Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Hira Films Company, Director – B. R. Chopra, Music Director – Roshan, Cast – Sunder, Shekhar, Meena Kumari, Kumar, Jeevan, Achla Sachdev, Yashodhara Katju, Smriti Biswas, Agha