Filmindia (1941)

t^ILMINDlA December, 1941 indulgent in allowing his daughter to enjoy soul-corroding physical comforts and even permitting her the luxury of giving tougue to her own father. Rather incongruous — the whole affair. In the house of Seth Moolchand a new child is born thereby giving birth to a plot in the story. With the birth of this child, Binod, the ideal hero, is given to understand by the mother of the child that his presence is superficial in the house. Binod takes himself away to earn his own livelihood and arrives at his wife's home to take stock of things. There he is soon disillusioned by the utterly rich and spoilt notions of his wife and he repairs to a village to earn a livelihood as a man of all jobs under a local wealthy man. RATHER A FANCY PLAN Indira, Sir Shanti Sagar's daughter, soon realizes her mistake in sending away her husband and under the urgings of her teacher and her father, decides on a fancy plan to woo him back. So she becomes a fashionable beggar to sing in the streets and beg. She arrives with her servant, both in the guise of beggars, at Binod's place and with the help of a charitable instinct both are installed in Binod's household. Questions which I would like Kar dar to answer are: (1) Why Indira who is shown as a fashion plate of society, probably known to every one in the city, was not recognised by her own husband? Was she never photographed? (2) Why an educated collegian like Binod made no attempt to see what his wife looked like even once in so many years of married life? He should have at least had a photograph of her. (3) How two leading families joined by wedlock could have kept their only children away and out of sight of each other for years? And in modern times? However, we are asked to stretch our imagination here and trust Kardar blindly whether b« doea a thing intelligently or stupidly. With Kardar, it is art that counts and not reality. HOME AGAIN Trusting Kardar, we proceed further to find Indira, now known as Shanta, winning Binod's love day by day, till both fall in love with each other desperately. In Seth Moolchand's house, the new born child is soon dead having served his purpose of creating a plot for the story. Once again Seth Moolchand and his wife are anxious to find Binod, their once adopted son. With the help of the vagabond Shamlal, Binod is found and taken back home. A little before this Indira also returns home with her father with the alms of Binod's love in her beggar's bowl. Now all meet in the bed chamber of Binod. In a cleverly directed scene, Binod and Indira are reconciled. And the story ends. GOOD PERFORMANCES For the first time, I have liked Jairaj. His performance is dignified and correct and he looks smart and polished. As Binod, he makes an ideal college boy and delivers the goods with sincerity and understanding. Sitara, as Indira plus Shanti, is all that is desired. However, the most popular performance is given by Yakub, as the wayward Shamlal, who constantly sponges on his shrewd old father. Yakub takes the applause constantly and delights every one in an otherwise routine story. CLEVER DIRECnON OTHERWISE! The dialogues of the picture are purposeful and pointed and the writer has done a good job of them. The songs are suitable though one looked forward to a couple of snappy tunes. Forgetting the logical shortcomings in the treatment of the story, the material in hand is cleverly used by the director, giving the picture a superb polish and a smooth flow of motion. Kardar's technical direction is an art in itself. Well, "Swami" is certainly a very good entertainer and the huge crowds at the Majestic give evidence of the fact. One would, however, expect Kardar to show a little more reverence for a film story in future. Prithviraj and Naseem make an ideal lovers' team in "Ujala" a social picture 0/ Taj Mahal Pictures. 68