Weekend

In today’s weekend blog, I am writing about a Bollywood film which in the annals of film industry is considered to be first block buster of India cinema. The film was released in 1943 and it is the first film which crossed the business of Rs 1 Cr in the first run. It ran for 187 continuous weeks in Calcutta, a record which it held for 32 years till Sholay  came in 1975.

This film was produced by Bombay Talkies and directed by Gyan Mukherjee, and was released during World War 2, and the name of film was KISMET. This film starred Ashok Kumar, Mumtaz Shanti and Shah Nawaz. It was the first film where lead actor was anti hero, and it was first time shown on the screen that unmarried girl has become pregnant. This film made Ashok Kumar as the first super star of the Bollywood.

The critics who were used till that day to see the lead actor as goody goody guy panned the film because it glorified crime and portraying a criminal in good light. This was also the first film which introduced the lost and found formula. The basic story of the film is as follows

Shekhar (Ashok Kumar) is a pickpocket and con man, who is released from jail after serving his third sentence. It is at once evident that he has no intention of mending his ways, as he relieves a pickpocket of his catch, which happens to be an old, priceless watch.

Shekhar goes to a fence the same to David, where he meets another pickpocket, Banke (V.H. Desai). Impressed by Shekhar’s prowess, Banke makes him a special offer: He is a small-time thief currently working in the house of a very rich man, who has a considerable fortune stashed away in the safe at his house. Banke, who does not have the expertise to break the lock, asks Shekhar if he would be interested in helping him out. Uninterested in the plan, Shekhar leaves.

As he steps out of the fence’s establishment, Shekhar bumps into the original owner of the watch (PF Pithawala), an old man desperate for money, who intended to sell the watch and raise the money to see a live performance by Rani (Mumtaz Shanti). Out of compassion Shekhar takes him to the theatre. There the old man points out a prosperous looking man called Indrajit (Mubarak). It turns out that Rani is the daughter of this old man, who was once a rich man and the owner of that theatre. Indrajit was once his employee.

Fortune (kismet) turned things around and today the old man is indebted to Indrajit, from whom he is on the run. The moment the show ends, he flees, but not before he’s seen in the company of Shekhar by Rani, from whom he has fled in shame and remorse. Unknown to them, the tormentor Indrajit is himself a tormented man, after his elder son Madan ran away after a fight with his authoritarian father several years ago.

Due to a combination of circumstances, Shekhar ends up staying in Rani’s house as a paying guest. There he discovers that she is struggling with a limp, that’s affecting her ability to perform on stage. The limited means is a great problem for Rani, the sole bread earner in the house, having to support her younger sister Leela (Chandraprabha). To make things worse, she is constantly troubled by the ruthless Indrajit, who threatens to turn her out of the house if she cannot repay the next instalment of the money payable by her father.

Things take a turn for the worse when Rani discovers that Leela is pregnant out of wedlock with her lover Mohan (Kanu Roy), who happens to be the son of Indrajit. Shekhar, who is falling in love with Rani, decides to help her out. Desperate to raise funds for her cure, he takes up Banke’s offer to break the vault of his employer, who is none other than Indrajit. The attempted robbery goes awry, but Shekhar escapes, dropping behind the chain he always wears. Indrajit immediately recognises that as that of his long lost son Madan.

Desperate to get back his son, Indrajit organises a live programme featuring Rani, knowing that his love for the young lady will impel Shekhar to come. Rani’ father turns up at the theatre, as does Indrajit’s entire family. As expected, Shekhar turns up at the theatre, where he is immediately recognised as Indrajit’s long lost son Madan. Delighted to find his beloved son, Indrajit immediately turns a new leaf, cancelling his former boss’ debts and asking him for the hand of both his daughters for his sons.

If you have read the narration of the film, you will find nothing new in that because in your life time you must have seen umpteen films based on the similar thing. But imaging the year 1943, that time it was totally new concept. Now you can safely say that Kismet was first formula film of Bollywood.

This film has music by Anil Biswas and songs were written by Kavi Pradeep. In the film there was one patriotic song ‘ Door Hato Ae Duniyawalon, Hindustan Hamara Hai’. In the song there one line which said ‘ Tum Na Kisike Aage Jhukana German Ho Ya Japani’. As the time was World war 2 and British troops were fighting against Germany and Japan , this was the main reason the song got through from British censorship. The Indian viewer however very well understood the hidden meaning in the song, and this song became an instant hit when freedom movement was at peak after Mahatama Gandhi’s call of ‘Quit India’ in 1942. The British authorities soon realised their mistake, and wanted to ban the film. Lyricist Kavi Pradeep had to go underground, as arrest warrant got issued in his name.

This film is considered among the biggest bollywood block busters of all times. Considering that this film grossed more than Rs 1 Cr in its first run in 1943, and if you take inflation into account the Trade Pundits says, that equivalent business of this film in 2019 would have been more than Rs 330 Cr.

Friends, please do write back and inform me how you find this information.

Waiting for your views/feed backs/comments.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

14^th Mar 2020.