FilmIndia (1946)

OUR REVIEW "Ulamiq Rzra", R Comedy With Six Deaths! A Stupid And Boring Yarn Encouraged by the wholly unexpected success of "Leila Majnu" and imagining himself and Suvarnalata as the ideal lovers of the screen. Nazir has once again brought together his own scowling looks and the sour face of his sweetheart to perpetrate on us an inartistic outrage which we are asked to accept as a spectacular motion picture romance of all times. "Wamiq Azra" is nothing of the sort. At best it is a ridiculous affair which, though it has at least six important deaths occurring in it and though it was intended to be a sfark tragedy, proves a remarkable comedy which excites laughter at many places due to sheer idiocy of certain sequences and the infernally stupid interpretations of certain roles. e . LAUGH-GAGS The first laughter is provoked when Wamiq and Azra meet for the first time crossing swords and Azra is struck dumb. The dialogue here is too poor and unimaginative and the situation which starts to be dynamic actually peters out. The second laughter sequence comes when Wamiq (Nazir) and Azra (Suvarnalata) sit in the garden for their very first love tryst, Here Xazir begins his usual love-sighing with intense labour and the well-aping Suvarnalata apes back with her own sighs. They suddenly become sad and intense, without any obvious reason, and part from each other so warmly that one feels that they have been friends for years and years. The third laughing sequence is provided by the wounded King of Muqiba. the old father of Azra. This blighter had a sword inside him but he refuses to die when he should have and lingers to deliver some rotten dialogue and after a lot of incoherent talk, he at last WAMIQ AZRA Producers: Hind Pictures Language: Urdu Story & Dialogue: Munshi DO Lyrics: Tanvir Music: A. R. Qureshi Cinematography: L. N. Verma Audicgraphy: Jilani Cast: Suvarnalata, Nazir, M. Ismail, W. M. Khan, Kusum Deshpande etc Released At: Super, Bombay Date Of Release: 29th August 1946 Directed By: NAZIR kicks the bucket placing the crown on his daughter's head. The laughter provoking moments are when Suvarnalata makes the usual Nazirian faces and weeps before her angry father with sighs and scowls. The old beggar, getting probably fed up of the Nazirian faces, manages to pop off quickly. Another reason for laughter is when Tughral (W. M. Khan) confesses to the court jester his love for Azra. The way Khan does this one gets an impression of love being a cold shower with Khan standing below. Still another occasion for laughter is when the hero misunderstands the heroine and accuses her of disloyalty as a sequel to a forged royal command. The queen who was supposed to have issued the original order could have torn the document and revoked her supposed orders. But queen though she is, she doesn't do so for fear of robbing the drama of a pretiy transparent misunderstanding and depriving herself of an opportunity of giving an exhibition of the typical Xazirian weeping. So when the hero goes away in anger as expected, Suvarnalata stands firmly in the midst of the screen and delivers her weepy, coughy oration in the grand Xazirian style till it excites maximum laughter from the audience. Even after the interval no relief is got because Suvarnalata continues the same performance with a little more crazy frenzy, thus exciting more laughter than before. Still another opportunity for hilarious laughter is the appearance of King Baheman (M. Ismail). This man, with his idiotic looks, is presented to us in an inebriate state lying on the ground, attended by a few girls. This is the only occasion when he is shown as a drunkard. Later Zulfi, Najma and Razia keep the fires burning in Upright Pictures. Chehra" of 63