Dastaan.1950.avi

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.