Chhote Nawab (1961)

Continuing the theme of maybe not so remarkable films but definitely a remarkable soundtrack is 1961's Chhote Nawab (Little Master) which as i understand gave Mehmood (one of my favourite comedians) his first leading role, but the great fact about Chhote Nawab is that it marked the  music directorial debut of the great Hindi film music director R.D. Burman. According to Mehmood (via wikipedia) he appointed R.D. Burman as the music director because he got tired of R.D. Burman constantly denting his car with his constant drumming.Great Choice Mehmood I say, as I'm in love with this soundtrack but first lets get into the plot

Our Story begins in Lucknow where Bade Nawab (?) is burdened by the upcoming birthday bash of his 5 going on 20 years old son (just as well, as he was born on a leap year) son Chhote Nawab (Mehmood)

He's advised by his personal Assistant Munshi-ji (S.N. Banerjee) to keep it a low key affair but Safdar (Kumar) his son in law reminds him of his reputation which results in the Nawab taking out a loan from Bhagwati Prasad (?) who's out to exploit him, Nawab places his house as a collateral (I think we know where this is going, bad mistake Nawab)

Days after Chhote Nawab's birthday celebration when he's unable to pay back his loan, Bade Nawab suffers a hear attack when Bhagwati comes to reclaim his property.It turns out the idea to get bade Nawab to place his house as a collateral was a plan between Bhagwati and Safdar to usurp Nawabs wealth. However, Bhagwati cheats Safdar out of his share and ends up usurping Bade Nawab's property leaving Safdar penniless

Angry and frustrated at being conned by Bhagwati, Safdar starts mistreating everyone around  him including his wife (Minoo Mumtaz) and her brother Chhote Nawab. Unable to take Safdar's humiliating treatments any more Chhote Nawab escapes to Mumbai.

He's found roaming the streets of Mumbai by family friend Nawab Nazir (Nasir Hussain)  who takes him home and offers his daughter Roshan (Ameeta) as his fiancee

Chhote Nawab comes across as uncouth and after a humiliating episode Chhote Nawab subjects her to, Ameeta alongside Kanchan (Johnny walker) starts educating Chhote Nawab and transforms him from a bumpkin to a city Slicker

Alas all her hard work soon starts causing jealousy when Sophie (Helen) a night club dancer starts flirting with him

Chhote Nawab starts acting erratically and turns cold towards Roshan and her family, forgetting how they  had helped him when he was down and out (see what the beauty of Helen can cause)

If all this wasn't enough he gets in with the bad crowd when he becomes friends with Bihari (Anwar Hussain) a gambler whose company causes him to start visiting Kotha's (brothels) as well as become a raging alcoholic

The lovely Sheila Vaz

Will Nawab ever come back to his senses or will it be too late to save him from his debauched lifestyle? Watch Chhote Nawab to find out

While not being up there with my favourites, I enjoyed watching Chhote Nawab, the first half moves along rather smoothly and was very enjoyable mostly due to Mehmood's child like antics plus the general drama, but then the second half which follows his journey from Lucknow to Mumbai and which sees him transformed from country bumpkin to city slicker becomes all preachy and moralistic in that cliched modern versus traditional life manner but alas Chhhote Nawab had matured and they had to pad out the story, still though this is na enjoyable film and I'd recomend it for mehmood fans and for R.D. Burmans

Performance wise Mehmood is the scene stealer in this film which I've heard he self produced, I'd describe him as delightfully loud and annoying yet oh so lovable, his childlike mannerisms and body language are simply unmatchable see the scene below for example, I love Mehmood I really do

And Ameeta is love interest was oh so beautiful though a bit too camera conscious as I noticed numerous sceens where kept glancing directly at the camera

 And Helen what a beauty, i loved her look in this film

Great Soundtrack from R.D. Burman, the songs on this blew me away and I couldn't help but appreciate R.D.'s talent ever more so, the songs on here are pretty remarkable for a debut. Favourites include the playful kiddie song 'aam chum tam chuum', the sweet and uplifting 'aaj hua dil matwala' and two super mujra's in the form of 'Ghar aaja ghir' with the lovely Sheila Vaz and 'chura ke dil' can anyone Id the lady in the clip (see her below)

can anyone id her?

two favourites I've chosen to embed are 'matwali ankhonwale' with Mehmood and Helen in full flamenco mode (I love this picturisation so much)


and the fun 'jeenewale muskura ke jee'  I love this composure so much and Mehmood's child like giggles added to the song makes it ever so delightful


Paisa Vasool Rating: 6/10

Chirag kahan Roshni kahan (1959)

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 films

Following 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)

Anand becomes increasing attached to the child now named Raju (Honey Irani) by Ratna, he goes around visiting him constantly,

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

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