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)

Mahal (1949)

This is a very historic film in hindi cinema, as it's one of the first to deal with the story of reincarnation, Mahal (Mansion) is said to have been the inspiration for many later films based on Reincarnation usch as Madhumati, Kudrat etc. This movie is also said to have made Madhubala and Lata Mangeshkar superstars

The story begins about a haunted mansion where a tragic love story is said to have happened between the lord of the mansion and a woman. The woman is said to haunt the mansion with cries about her lover

ooohhhh haunted mansion
Hari Shankar buys the mansion and when he discovers a picture that looks strangely similar to him, he believes he is the owner of the mansion reincarnated with the purpose to find his love

he soon starts seeing a face, which he believes is that of his lover from his previous life Kamimi (Madhubala)

his friend Shivnath (Kanu Roy) thinks hes'c razy and tries to stop him from obsessing over Kamini in his bid to stop this he hires some prostitutes but this fails to work

Kamini reveals to him that they can both be together if he takes a liking to his veil wearing maid after which he can then kill, and then she would possess her body and they would be able to be reunited

Before Shankar can do this he's knocked out after a fall and his father takes him to Allahabad where he's married off to Ranjana (Vijayalaxmi)

Following his and Ranajana's marriage shekhar remembers Kamini and longs for her only. Ranjana becomes depressed over this and when she eventually catches Shankar declaring his love for Kamini, she's unable to bear it and plots her own suicide and then frames Shankar for it

Thus follows a court room drama where Shankar must try to prove his innocence

Will Shankar be able to prove his innocence? Was he really the incarnated owner of the mansion? Who is kamini? Is she real or are all these hallucinations

This is a well made film, its well thought out and it has an interesing story as well as great direction from Kamal Amrohi with a great twist which i wouldn't have guessed , many people refer to it as horror which it clearly isn't, i guess i would describe it more as supernatural suspense drama. The film has a quiet spooky feel about it and the cinematography and lighting is of a high standard. My only complain is that although the story and concept was great, it felt quite slow and it really could have been shorter.

Great performance here from Ashok Kumar as Shankar, so much poise, elegance and class, he's truly one of the great actors of Indian Cinema

And Madhubala what a great beauty she is, the camera clearly loves her gives a superbly convincing performance as Kamini, i really didn't see that end coming


The music by Khemchand Prakash is fantastic with well thought out beautiful lyrics, i really liked
'Mushkil bahut hai mushkil' the mellow 'yeh raat phir na aayegi', the subtle sounds of Dil ne phir but my favourite has to be aayega aanewal (oh my beloved will come back) which i would term as a subtle but undeniably catchy earworm, beautifully sang by Lata Mangeshkar



Total Score: 8/10 ( an entertaining suspense drama)

Ek Hi Rasta (1956)

One of my favorite directors B.R. Chopra the king of relevant social dramas in his time tackles yet another issue in Ek Hi Rasta (The Only way), this was a rather bold movie for its time i believe

Amar is a very honest employee who lives a middle class life with his wife Malti ( Meena Kuamri and son raja (Daisy Irani as a boy)

Amar works for Prakash (Ashok Kumar) a rich bachelor, he keeps pestering Prakash of when he would marry and Prakash keeps making a joke out of it

Amar catches an employee Attar Singh selling stolen goods from their factory to a customer, Amar warns him and then also reports him to Prakash

Attar Singh out of anger decides to get his own back at Amar for reporting and getting him fired from his Job, while Amar is on his way to his sons birthday on his bicycle Attar hits him with his truck


Upon her husbands death in a genius camera work, a hand wipes off Malti's bindi signifying she's now a widow

Following Amar's death Malti becomes depressed, but Prakash urges her to get back there and start making a living for herself, promising to assist her should she need any help

Biharilal (Jeevan) who was also one of the people Amar had reported to Prakash for his shady activities on the job soon starts instigating gossip that Prakash is taking advantage of Malti, soon rumours spread around the neighbourhood that both Malti & Prakash killed Amar

Prakash asks Malti to marry him to stop people from defaming them, she agrees

but life after marriage isn't so easy when Raja refuses to call Prakash father but instead calls him by name


This must have been a very bold movie for its time , as it dealt with the issue of widow remarriage, which i believe was brilliantly executed. I also liked the way complications which often arises in a new marriage was potrayed, especially on the part of the kids as in Raja's case where he finds it difficult to call Prakash 'father', i could really relate to that scene as i found myself in a similar situation with my stepfather. The only quip i have about this movie is that the killers aren't brought to justice

This film also felt a bit like a reality Tv show on a middle/upper middle class Indian family, we get to see them driving a convertible, going to the pool and they even have a dress up birthday party for their son, all of which i loved

Happy family driving a convertible

Visiting the swimming Pool

Children at the fancy dress birthday party

Happy family joined by their chef and househelp


All performances were great all round, but one performance that stood out for me was Daisy Irani who played Raja. While some kid actors usually tend to be just cute or rather annoying, Daisy was fierce, hilarious and mixed the cutesness and annoyance effectively

This kid was given some hilarious dialogues, like the scene where he makes his anger known to the maid at his mom's overfriendliness with Prakash

There was also some crazy scene where a baby was left on the tracks of an approaching train, i found the scene nailbiting



The music by Hemant Kumat is fantastic from the mellow dancy rhythms of 'Chali Gori Pi Milan se chali'

Chali Gori Pee Ke Milan Ko Chali
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and the breezy Sanwale salone where we get to see the joys of a happy family cycling down an empty road

Sanwale Salone Aaye Din Bahar Ke
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Total Score:7/10 ( An Engaging social drama)

Happy Birthday Meena Kumari

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Meena Kumari in Ek Hi Rasta (1956)

Indeed my Beloved Meena Kumari is long gone, but i'm sure she would smile down at me wishing her a happy birthday whereever she is, Meena who often played the Tragic Diva to a T is always sucha jjoy to watch, below are two of my favourite Meena Kumari songs

Inhi Logon ne from Pakeezah
I can & will never get tired of this song, from the fabulous dancing which i'll admit to my shame, i've tried recreating a couple of times in my living room (major work out stuff i tell you) Never has Meena looked so graceful, the perfect dance moves along with the haunting nature and the fierceness Meena brings to it is what i love. Check out 1:17 in the video clip below when she flicks her thumbs at the guy in the video, Absolutely Priceless


Chali Gori Pi Ke Milan ko Chali from Ek hi Rasta (1956)
I shall be reviewing this movie by tuesday, but this song really reminds me of Meena at her young spritiest best, check out her facial expressions and the way she dances in this video


Meena you may be long gone but definitely not forgotten and you're definitely one of my greatest Bollywood Divas