FilmIndia (1948)

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VR REVIEW hahnaz Is Wanton Waste Of Celluloid! khoolboy Story And Amateurish Direction Turn Out A Loathsome Flop ! j Had it not been for the Indian ! m industry, the world would never | lve known that India can boast of ll brilliant story w riter of the name Begum Shaikh and a great film II rector of the name of Shaikh. It U lucky, however, that the literary ■ptivities of Begum Shaikh have ■ben confined to film-story writHg only so that the torture has to be Birne by the infinitesimal number of India's vast population who pay for li or are invited to witness the film Hid we hope Shaikhs directorial tivities mav also be confined to the I irecting of "Shahnaz" alone. ' Begum Shaikh appears to be a Ireat student of Shelley. In the H/nopsis of the booklet of "Shahnaz" lie declares having "sometime ago bne through the works of that great ||nglish poet," from whom she quotes I verse, confessing, in doing so, that Hie could not remember the exact Ijording of the verse, and so is conftnt with giving the gist of it in her ■kvn words. Any edition of Shelley could be got at any time in Bombay had the great authoress cared to be precise in her quotation. The verse quoted in the booklet is one that anyone with a fair knowledge of English could easily compose. It all looks like a literary stunt to say that the authoress drew her inspiration from Shelley for her wonderful story, for if "Shahnaz"' is the result of such inspiration, the less Shelley is read by people the better. The story of Shahnaz is as idiotic as an Indian film story could be. Hamran and Kamran are two chiefs of two different caravans. Hamran has a son called Murad (Altaf) and a foster son called Xasir (Nihal) while Kamran has a daughter called Shahnaz (Begum Para) and a foster daughter called Gulnar (Shanta Patel). Hamran w ith his two daughters and his retinue becomes the guest of Kamran and the two young men. Murad and Xasir and the two young girls, Shahnaz and Gulnar meet one another without knowing SHAHNAZ Producers: Wahab Productions Language: Hindustani Story: Begum Shaikh Dialogue: Dukhi Premnagri Music: Amir Bai Karnataki Photography : K. U. Chowdhry Art Direction: Anwar Cast: Begum Para, Altaf, Nihal, Shanta Patel, Shama Gulnar etc. Released At: Capitol Cinema, Bombay. Date of Release: 2nd July 1948. Directed By SHAIKH who is who — although the girls are the guests of the boys" father— and, of course, they fall in love — Murad with Shahnaz and Xasir w ith Gulnar. Had Murad been married to Shahnaz and Xasir to Gulnar, the picture would not have been made. But in order that Begum Shaikh could prove to the world the great glory and divinity of love as taught her by her great master Shelley. Murad. though deep down to his very neck in his love for Shahnaz, begins to pretend that he loved Gulnar in fact, and Shahnaz in her turn begins to show indications of being in love with Xasir. Obviouslv the caravan chief Hamran was in search of suitable bridegrooms for his daughters, and seeing things developing as they appeared he declared his wish to give Shahnaz to Nasir and Gulnar to Murad. At the time when the announcement is made in the presence of all the members of the two caravans, only Shahnaz and Murad are absent and no one cares to call them to the assembly. In due time as they come to know of the announcement the hearts of both Shahnaz and Murad break as they must. Murad deserts his father's caravan and wanders aimlessly, accompanied by Gulnar who follows him through his ramblings. Xasir, who goes in search of his brother, dies being thrown away by 41