Probashi- Cover Story
Probashi- Cover Story
Picture Abi Baaki Hai Mere Dost
Najmul ` Hassan eloped with Devika Rani, Himanshu Rai husband of Devika Rani and owner of Hindustan films convinced the reluctant Ashok Kumar to play the part of the hero in what was to be Ashok Kumar’ s debut film Jeevan Naiya in 1936. Ashok Kumar’ s next film Achyut Kanya that very same year was a hit and rest is history. Music for Achyut Kanya was given by Indian cinema’ s first women music director Saraswati Devi( alias of Khorshed‐ Minocher‐Homji). Incidentally Devika Rani belongs to the famous Tagore family. Both Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani are winners of the Dadasaheb Phalke award.
Sant Tukaram( 1936) This Marathi film was the first Indian film to win an international film award when it was adjudged the best film at the Venice Film Festival in 1937. It took Indian Cinema to wait for another 20 years before another Indian film Aparajito directed by Satyajit Ray would win the Best Film award at Venice in 1957. Sant Tukaram broke box office records by being the first Indian film to run in a single theatre for more than a year.
Kismet( 1943): Post Achyut Kanya the phenomenon of Ashok Kumar was on the ascent, and he ruled the forties as the superstar of Indian cinema. In Kismet for the first time on Indian screen was seen the antihero, something which we will see repeatedly in Hindi cinema notably Dev Anand in Guide, Amitabh in Deewar, Shahrukh Khan in Baazigar. Kismet went on to create a record for the highest grossing film in India with total collection of more than a crore and can be termed as the first Indian Blockbuster. It ran in a cinema hall in Kolkata for over three years. The British government almost banned the movie for the song“ Hindustan hamara hai” which was considered
The scene( left) featuring Nargis and Raj Kapoor from film Barsaat inspired the logo of RK Films( right)
as a challenge to the British rule in India. Lyrics were by Kavi Pradeep and music by Anil Biswas.
Neecha Nagar( 1946): Chetan Anand’ s Neecha Nagar became the first Hindi film which got an international award; it got recognition at the Cannes Film Festival. This film is considered to be the starting of the Indian parallel cinema movement, which was taken admirably forward by Satyajit Ray, Rhitwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, and Shyam Benegal etc. Based on the novel Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky, Neecha Nagar depicts the struggle of slum dwellers to live with dignity. Rated amongst the ten best Indian films both in technical and thematic criteria Neecha Nagar remains one of India’ s most under rated film. The film was a failure at the box office. Neecha Nagar marked the debut of Ravi Shankar as music director.
Barsaat( 1949): The magic of Raj Kapoor started with the film Barsaat, his first major hit as Director. The film revolves around two love stories‐ Pran( Raj Kapoor) with Reshma( Nargis) and Gopal( Prem Nath) with Neela( Nimmi). Two heroes with opposite personalities, while Pran stands for principles, Gopal is philandering. The film tracks the relationship of both the couples, while Raj Kapoor and Nargis have a happy ending, Premnath and Nimmi relationship is marred with unreciprocated love and faith. Barsaat established the hit pair of Raj Kapoor and Nargis and they went on to act in sixteen films together. The stupendous financial success of Barsaat funded the RK Studios from where in coming years would come many a blockbusters. The duo of music directors Shankar‐ Jaikishan were introduced in this film and would remain the constant feature of RK films till Jaikishan died. Also was introduced the actress Nimmi in this film. The soundtrack of Barsaat was a tremendous hit and songs like Jiya Beqarar Hai and Hawa Mein Udta Jaye continues to warm many a hearts even today.
Awaara( 1951): Awaara the most successful film of RK studios is the story of street rogue and social riffraff Raju estranged from his rich father. Raju’ s life intermingles with that of Nargis who comes from a privileged background. Raju’ s mannerisms are modelled on Charlie Chaplin which was further developed in RK film Shree 420. The song Awaara Hun ya gardish mein hun asmaan ka taara hun caught