Devdas (1955)

I have always contended that the key to making a palatable film from an unpalatable story is a good director, and Devdas is a good case in point. Its not my favourite story at best of times, but I decided to watch it just to see what Bimal Roy has done with it. While his version does nothing to reconcile me with my least favourite of fictional characters, it does leave me with the satisfaction of having watched a well-made film.

Railway Platform (1955)

Once upon a time, long ago, when there was only one TV channel (DoorDarshan - DD) in India, we used to get one Hindi film per week. If we were very very good (that is, if we lived in areas where Hindi was the local language), we got two films per week. As that was a major portion of our weekly entertainment ration, we’d anxiously scan DD’s programs for hints of what was in store for us at movie-time, and eagerly check the newspaper for information. Any hint that DD was about to bestow an old B/W Sunil Dutt-starrer on us, was always taken as a sign of the DD Gods’ pleasure, and awaited with eager anticipation. Its in those days that I watched this film, and I remember liking it a lot. Twenty years on, I must say that I am glad there are some movies I can watch without blushing for my kiddie-self’s taste!

Seema (1955) - Redemption should be this good…

I cant remember a time when I havent loved this film. As a child I shed buckets of tears over the heroine’s tale of woe, blissfully wallowed in her happily-ever-after, and of course, followed her lead to fall in love with Balraj Sahni’s sensitive, compassionate and oh-so-empathetic social worker. My grown up self sheds no more tears, but the rest of my reactions remain the same!

Gauri (Nutan) is an orphan brought up by her boozing-gambling Uncle Kashinath (Shivraj) and his shrewish wife (Praveen Paul). Like Cinderella, Gauri does all the housework while her Aunt verbally and physically abuses her. Gauri also earns money for the family by working in a rich household where the mistress abuses her.

Bandish (1955) - a delightful romp

The recent flood of old hindi movie DVDs in the market has made my trips to the local hindi video store more fun than usual. One finds unheard of movies on the shelves and "new" old movies (thought I had seen them all courtesy Doordarshan, in my childhood) come to light. One such find was 1955's Bandish starring Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari. Now, Ashok Kumar is always a delight to watch, especially when he is in the lead. With Meena Kumari though, one always expects a tragedy. The DVD cover wasnt any help as it showed the changing faces of Meena Kumari from a young and beautiful actress to the more familiar tragedy queen. So, which of these faces would she wear in the movie? Having earlier experienced the joys of watching the young Meena Kumari in Azad, Parineeta and Miss Mary, I decided to take a chance and hope this one would feature the younger version. After watching the movie I was glad I did!

Mahendra (Nazir Hussain) has been bringing up the orphaned Tomato (why such a wierd name for cute little Daisy Irani?) but is worried about Tomato's future as he has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He decides to find Tomato a new father and takes him to the park. Tomato is promised a meeting with his long lost father and told to stick by the father no matter what. In the park Mahendra settles on a rich wastrel Kamal Rai (Ashok Kumar) as the most likely candidate based on his generosity and kindness to a beggar. (That just shows what random acts of kindness can bring. I wouldnt be kind to a beggar now in case someone sic'ed their orphan on to me!)