Sunehri Yaadein's wonderful list on her favourite Meena Kumari songs in remembrance of the 38th anniverasy of her death made me dig up this movie for review, its one of my favourite Meena Kumari filmsFollowing the death of his wife after childbirth Dr Anand (Rajendra kumar) gives his child away to Ratna (Meena Kumari) a widow whose child died at birth, he keeps this as a secret between himself and fellow Nurse Sarla (Nilambai)
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Anand becomes increasing attached to the child now named Raju (Honey Irani) by Ratna, he goes around visiting him constantly,
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he and Ratna also seem to be falling for each other
Anand's constant visits to Ratna's house and his friendliness with her gets her sister in law Kamla suspicious about the two of them
she starts stirring stories of a possible affair between her & Anand, her mother in law (Mumtaz Begum) warns her not to drag the family honour down and advices her not to see him any more
Meanwhile Maya (Minoo Mumtaz) a nurse at the hospital where Anand works falls for in love with Anand and would like him to be hers
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with the help of S.P. Prakash (Sunder) who is fact Ratna's brother in law, traps Anand into marrying her when she sets him up in a compromising situation, as such Anand is left with no choice but to marry her
She movies in with Anand and becomes a diva of the worst kind, running huge amount of bills and throwing lavish parties for her cat (actually she threw a birthday party for her cat to be precise)
When Maya hears news of Anand's dad leaving a vast inheritance for his grandchild, she strives to adopt a child as she's unable to conceive a child, her motives however her exposed and Anand refuses to adopt
Maya later comes to know of Anand's secret love child and makes plans to become his guardian just so she can have access to the inheritance left by his grandfather. She challenges Ratna to court for Child Custody
Will the truth be revealed that Ratna is not Raju's real mother? How will Ratna take the news? Will Ratna & Anand ever reveal their feelings for one another, watch Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan to find out
Overall a fantastic and entertaining melodrama, with great songs, as well as good direction by Devendra Goel, i seem to enjoy a lot of his films. I watched it on a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon and loved each and every moment of it, 50's melodrama movies are fast becoming my favourites. Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan (Where is the lamp Where is the light) reminded me an awful lot of another Meena Kumari starrer i reviewed a while a go on here Ek hi Rasta
I had a new found respect for Meena as an actress after watching this film what a great actress she really is, i felt every bit of her emotion, she actually acted like Raju was her real child. Meena seems to be really good with children, i loved her chemistry with the wonderful Honey Irani
And what a beauty she was
Minoo Mumtaz was so hateable in this movie, she really played the part of the contemptuous greedy Maya to a T,the fact i wanted to flip my remote at her shows what a beautiful and great actress she was
Asides from the performances another reason i shall be rewatching this film are the beautiful songs by Ravi, there's the seductive 'ab to aankh lad chuki' the playful 'aaye ho to dekhlo' the sad 'bada bedard jahan hai' my favourites are 'Chal mere gode tik tik' which is one of my all time favourite Meena Kumari songs, it simply shows how playful & good Meena was with kids
and the beautiful 'Tim Tim Karte Taare' (slow version) and embedded below is the fast version
Paisa Vasool rating: 7/10
14 comments:
This is one of the movies that I had missed seeing somehow.
As you know, Meena Kumari did receive nomination for the Best Actress Award in 1960 the way she was nominated a year earlier for Sahara, as also later for more films in addition to winning four (?) Filmfare Awards. Probably, this was Rajendra Kumar's first big break with Meena Kumari and this pair was to reach its zenith in Dil Ek Mandir (1963).
From your review it appears that Minoo Mumtaz landed a chunk of a role in this movie. Otherwise, she used to be what we call today "item girl" (C.I.D. 1956). In Mughal-e-Azam we just see her glimpse in the Qawwali number.
Thanks for the review.
Oooh... this is the first film (ever) that I remember watching! Rajendra Kumar was my favorite for a loooong time after this. :-) I've never rewatched since my childhood but still remember a lot of it, though my sharpest memories are of the two kiddie songs (Tim tim karte taare and Chal mere ghode). But for some reason I always thought that the evil second wife was Nadira! Minu Mumtaz in a dramatic role - yay! And I love Devendra Goel's films, too. His Ek Saal (Ashok Kumar + Madhubala) is a very big favorite of mine.
Thanks for the review. Meena was a great actress and what a beauty she was! I need to get my hands on lots of Meena’s old movies but
I have also promised myself not to buy anymore films till I finish watching all that I own.
I have only a handful of Meena Kumari films at the moment - Dil Apna Preet Parai, Sharda, Dil Ek Mandir and Char Dil Char Raahein.
Will come up with their reviews soon.
I couldn't agree more about Meena Kumari being a great actress and a great beauty.
And I agree completely that Minoo Mumtaz was a great actress too (and sometimes quite a beauty in her own way).
I have seen that amazing cat's party song, "Aaye Ho To," before (it's on Tom's Minoo Mumtaz compilation DVD, which I talked about here: http://roughinhere.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/a-whole-beautiful-crisp-clear-dvd-of-minoo-mumtaz/).
But I haven't gotten this film yet, and I will have to pick it up sometime.
By the way, as I mentioned in the comments at your YouTube posting, "Chal Mere Ghode" reminds me a bit at the beginning of "Tak Tak Dhum Dhum" from Do Ankhen Bara Haath (except that Sandhya isn't quite as gentle as Meena):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhhd0n1q0mU
I used to listen to these kiddie songs a lot as a kid. Tim Tim Karte taare was a favorite.
Meena loved children, I remember hearing this on a radio show, she was dismayed that she couldnt have any of her own.
Oh, this sounds right up my street, even though I'm not a Rajendra Kumar fan. But I like Meena Kumari a lot, and the music is great! Incidentally, another Meena Kumari film in which she's fabulous with a kid is Bandish, with Daisy Irani. A fabulous film, and very entertaining in a light-hearted fluffy sort of way.
@ Nasir You're welcome yes she did have a meatier role in this, and she got to do some dancing as well, i like Meena & Rajendra as a Jodi and would definitely look out for more films with both of them in
@ Bollyviewer Really your first film, what a great memory that must be, i'bve read your review of Ek Saal and seems like soemthing up my street i'll let you now what i think ink when i watch it. A Devendra Goel film you might wanna be careful about is Ek Phool Do Mali that film pales so much in comparison to all his other stuff
@ Sunehriyaadein You're welcome,I look forward to your reviews
@ Richard S. I love 'Tak tak Dum Dum' a lot too, i see what you mean regarding their similarities they both have a lively fun & happy feel to them
@ Avdi I've heard all sorts about her not being able to have children and in some article i was reading in a film mag, she's said to have had an abortion at some point, i don't know how true that is though. I shall post the article up sometime as its an interesting read
@ Dustedoff I think you'd enjoy this, its entertaining in that light sort of way like you've described Bandish, i remember r
reading the review on your blog a while ago but no dvd with English Subs seems to be available, i hope someone eventually puts it out on dvd with subs
Oh yes.. do post it.
@ Avdi i've just posted it, hope you enjoy reading it
Its a good movie.
Rajendra kumar my fav. actor of 60s.
acted reaaly well in it.Meena kumar the queen of tagedy also did fantastci job.
on the whole itws good drama.ejoyable movie.
good movie of old days.
Watched this movie after reading your review here. Its one of Meena ji's best roles. And after watching this, I can clearly say that no other actress had such affinity with kids as Meena Kumari had. Her onscreen chemistry with children in a list of films make her one of the best onscreen mother ever in hindi cinema!!
I loved her in every second of the movie. The way mother n son bond is soooo heart warming. Meena Kumari and Honey Irani made a nice pair! :)
I couldn't control my tears during the sad version of "Tim tim karte taare..." and "Bada bedard jahan hai..."
I can go on and on about this diva... so great is my love for her. :)
@ punya Glad you agree with me on her chemistry with Kids, I've just seen her in Ardhangini which i hope to write up later today and she was fantastic with Kids in that as well. This is definitely one of Meena's best roles as you've said, she was nominated for the filmfare best actress award but she lost out to Nutan for Sujata which I'm yet to see
Oh.. Sujata is a good movie too. And Nutan's role is far different from that of Meena ji in this one. I don't know what to do?? Feel good for Nutan's win or sad for Meena Kumari's loss.. I love both the ladies very much! :)
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