Boot Polish (1954)

Boot Polish is along the lines of the powerful impactful social melodrama's produced in the 50's signifying hope and courage for a newly independent India

Kamla (Chand Burke) is left with her brother in law's kids Bhola (Tattan kumar) and Belu (Kumari Naaz). In usual filmy style she starts treating them harshly and then makes them take up begging


After a long while begging the kids decide to stop begging with the intention of taking up Boot polishing in order to earn more money

they save up for this and they find support in the form of the friendly John Chacha who sees begging as unhelpful

They find it hard at first but with John Chacha's help and consoling nature they become good at polishing

However their support system is shattered when John Chahcha gets taken to jail for possession of bootleg alcohol

Kamla their wicked stepmother soon finds out about their boot polish trade and the fact they've been hiding money from her, she then kicks them out in anger

The two kids refuse to beg and an event following a riot at the train station they getseperated with Belu ending up with a childless rich family who adopts her

When she tells them of her brother they go to Kamla and shes compensated for their adoption of Belu, she tells them Bholu is dead

Bholu on the other hand is on the search for Belu

Will they ever be reunited again? Will Belu find out Bhola didn't die? Watch Boot Polish to find out

Overall a wonderful & uplifting even if a little frustrating particularly the last few minutes, which i guess is due to the rather winding and my impatience of whether Belu and Bhola would ever meet plus well placed circumstances that threatens to ensure this never happens, nevertheless this is a great film portraying the harshness of poverty and battle of our ideals over real life situations

David Abraham is fantastic as John Chacha who serves as a support system for the kids and gives them a hope for the future urging them not to be beggars and be entrepreneurs this can be seen in particular in the scene where a rich couple are handing out notes to the poor and he

instead takes them up on their good act arguing that rather than give alms, why aren't jobs created instead, which would create greater happiness and satisfaction than begging and perhaps a sign of a newly independent and hopeful India. His character as a christian drunkard also reminded me of this wonderful post by Calcutta chromosome on hindi cinema's potrayal of christians


Wonderful performances from the kids as well, i liked both Kumari Naaz and ratat Kumar's performance but it was Kumari Naaz who plays Belu that got a special mention at the cannes film festival. Her portrayal of Belu was mature and natural

Kumari Naaz (credited as Baby Naaz) as Belu

beautiful Kumari Naaz

I can only think Rattan Kumar's performance didn't get a mention perhaps because of his melodramatic acting which i enjoyed nonetheless

The charming Rattan Kumar

Fine performance from Chand Burke who played the wicked aunt Kamla, who was she, does anyone know anything about her, according to imdb she seemed to have done about 8 movies only, but from her performance here she looked like she had what it takes to be a star


Wonderful music as well from Shankar Jaikishen the awewsome 'Lapak jhapak' (does anyone know if this is can be called a qawali) with John Chahcha and his prisonmates, the fun joyful 'Hum matwale' which is a favourite of mine (however due to the low quality video of it on youtube i chose not to embed it) the traditional melodious sounds of 'Chali kaun se desh' and the fun hopeful sounds of 'Nanhe munhe bachhe'


Total score: 8/10 ( an elaborate social drama)

Baiju Bawra (1952)

As a great lover of Meena Kumari, i knew i had to check out the film that made her a Superstar. Baiju Bawra is also the first film which was awarded the Filmfare 'Best actress' and 'best music director'. I watched this movie with a non bollywood fan and i was so surprised a) that he liked it and that & b) that he sat through the whole thing. So what is it about Baiju Bawra which is said to be based on the legend of Baiju Bawra from the Mughal times that gripped a non bollywood fan

Mian Tansen a well accomplished composer in the kings palace, orders the guards to maintain silence around the kingdom as he's composing

Young Baiju (Rattan kumar) and his dad who happen to be passing by in a praying singing troop, are confronted by the guards who order them to be quiet, Baiju's father refuses to be quiet saying 'Music should never be restricted'. One of the guards flings him and Baiju's father is seriously injured, before he dies he tells Baiju to avenge his death from Mian Tansen the palace composer


Baiju is now orpahned and is bitter and eager to get his revenge from Tansen, he meets Shankar (Manmohan Krishnan) an elderly man who takes him in, he also meets Gauri a lively girl who lives in the same locale. The two fall in love and Baiju is overcome by Gauri's love and forgets about his quest for revenge


Word soon gets around that Gauri is dishonouring her father because of her relationship with Baiju (Bharat Bhushan) as she has been betrothed to another young man by the name of Narpat. Her father through Shankar eventually agrees to Baiju & Gauri's marriage when he discovers their passion for one another



When stealing Bandit Roopmaji storms the village one day, she takes a liking to Baiju's voice when he starts singing, she decides to leave the village goods if she can take Baiju with her. Baiju leaves and promises Gauri he will come back for her

While away from Gauri, Roopmaji's actions raises the vengeful spirit in Baiju and he remembers his promise to avenge his father's death from the Tansen. Baiju then travels to avenge his father, when he's about to kill the Tansen he discovers cold murder won't do it but that he would have to challenge him in a sing off, after which if he outsings the Tansen, the tansen would kill himself out of shame. Thus the battle commences (in a sing off to give American idol and other singing reality type shows a run for their money) with the first out of the two to melt a marble in a glass of water winning.



Will Baiju outsing the Tansen? Will he succeed in fully melting the marble with his voice? Will he be back in time to prevent Gauri being married off to Narpat?

This is one of the first movies that gave Meena the tragic diva tag i believe, she balances her role of being a sprightly fresh faced beauty to the distressed lover awaiting her lover's return effectively

Happy Meena

Sad Meena

Bharat Bhushan was cute and adorable in his role

Overall a wonderful film with romance, suspense, drama, great dialogues music (lots of classics here) and comedy all rolled into one, but although this movie had all these, the ending ruined it for me, however still watch it if you like classics and if you like films that have a bit of history behind them. At the heart of the film's theme is the powerful effect of music, how music can be very spiritual and passion/love's ability to tame.

The music by Naushad are classics and i was really gutted the GVI dvd of the songs came without subtitles but i really enjoyed Door koi gaye with Meena Kumari and her girl pals, Aaj gawat mann mero which Mian Tansen and Baiju sing for their sing off, and Tu Ganga ki Mauj (see below) which won Naushad his first and only filmfare best Music director award




Total Score: 7/10 (Entertaining classic musical)