Raj Kapoor's famous movie. Pran in his first character appearance with Nargis. Even Mukesh sings and acts in the final song as the Cart Man.
Golden Rain! It was 60 years ago, that Raj Kapoor could establish R.K. studio on the success of this movie. Very skinny, very young - Raj Kapoor, Prem Nath & Nargis.
Madhubala & Geeta Bali with Suresh in this musical. Naushad's famous score, "Suhani sham dhal chuki".
Aar Paar................................................. Director: Guru Dutt................................... Music: O.P. Nayyar.................................. Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri........................ Film: Aar-Paar, 1954............................... Starring: Shyama, Guru Dutt, Johnny Walker, Shakila, Jagdeep
Ashok Kumar, Pradeep Kumar and Asha Parekh in this musical social drama. The futility of beauty and external appearance.
Shamsher Raj Kapoor's Debut Movie as Shammi Kapoor.
Dilip Kumar Waheeda Rehman
Bimal Roy's haunting movie with Dilip Kumar's most celebrated acting in Sharat Babu's epic story of unrequited love, class struggle and despair. Dilip Kumar, Vyyajantimala, Suchitra Sen, Motilal, Pran, Nazir Hussain. A history unto itself as it plunged Dilp Kumar into real depression and was advised to act in light comedies after this movie. Also one of those few movies that youth of those days followed and coined a new term "Devdas" for the depressed lover.
Dastaan is a masterpiece of Raj Kapoor. For me, the most interesting thing about this movie was that the lead actress, Suraiya, is also credited as a playback singer. This is the first time in my (admittedly limited) viewing of Bollywood films that I've encountered a star doing her or his own singing. However, checking her other film credits, she did so fairly often. She did hardly any dancing in this film, though, and sang a couple of numbers seated at a piano. I also seemed to detect a Latin influence in the music, particularly in the rhythms. (I'm reminded of an even more pronounced influence of Latin music, i.e. the nightclub scene in Shree 420.) All three of her suitors in this film are good guys, but I won't spoil the ending by divulging who does or doesn't get the girl. However both my viewing companion and myself were disappointed by the ending of the film -- which is not to say it was inappropriate for the time and melodramatic moral tone of the film.
Guru Dutt & Wahida Rehman. This was India's first widescreen film; it used the CinemaScope process
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