FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

OUR REVIEW Bari Behen " Draws Huge Crowds ! Picture Becomes A Mass Entertainer ! The only good reason why this oicture has been produced is possibly be anxiety of the producer to open i small gold mine for the slump■veary exhibitors. "Bari Behen" is loing that job splendidly the way t is drawing the masses daily to the mperial Cinema in the city to see he love tangle of a couple of ugly rirls thrown against a couple of nsipid hoys with a couple of fat )ersons thrown in for humorous junctuation. The story is a concoction, pure tnd simple, with the usual box-office 'ormula which does not strain one's ntelligence or imagination at any ptage throughout the picture. It is i marvellous feat to find this writer)roducer. Kashyap. doing a story at he lowest mass level continuously Torn the first foot to the last w ithout ;ven a single mistake of a lightning apse of intelligence. D. D. Kashrap deserves an Oscar of the Faquir llohamed variety for this unique Piii. USUAL LOVE TANGLE The plot is about two ugly sisters. >hama and Kiran. Shama. the elder me. takes up household work to give in education to Kiran. the younger >ne. While Shama slaves at her vork in some far away hill station, (iran. instead of studying, has fun nth a scam | > called A jit. Dr. Sham, the son of the family vhere Shama works, soon gets intertsted in Shama and begins to love ler. He must be a poor student of inatomy to fall in love with a person ike Shama. In the city A j it makes Kiran preglant and runs away leaving her .tranded. Kiran now arrives at her aster's place and to avoid the shame »f the whole affair, both the sisters eave suddenly for a strange place. )r. Sham is heartbroken and like he usual she-man of the screen he I ings a song about love and its guile tc. MEDICAL DHOBIES Kiran delivers the goods shortly nd Shama supports Kiran and her BARI BEHEN Producers: Famous Pictures Language: Hindustani Screenplay: D. D. Kashyap Dialogue: Bajendra Krishna etc. Songs: Kajendra Krishna etc. Music: Htisanlal Bhagatram Photogra|ih\ : Surendra Pai Sound: P. S. Misra & Copalrani I a-t: Suraiya, Rehman, Illhas, Pran. Gulah. Geeta Bali etc Released At: Imperial. Bombay Hate of Release: 8th April 1949 Directed By D. D. KASHYAP child by working as a nurse with an idiot called Dr. Ramesh. The screen doctors provide a bad advertisement to our modern medicos. They carry a barber's hag and look like dhobies wearing borrowed clothes. It is a pity that Indian directors do not realize the importance of these small characters in correctly portraving the atmosphere of a story. Now it is Dr. Sham's (urn to fall ill. Like the she-man that he is. he suddenly starts shivering one day after bringing home his barber s bag and from then onwards he keeps hovering between life and death for no apparent reason except to see the strange anatomical composition called Shama. Thereris an old colonel with tender points in the story who now ru^hcto Shama and brings her back alive to the she-man hero. The climax is soon reached in which that scoundrel, Ajit. is quickly put on the crucifix at the point of a gun and the she-man hero rushes from his shivering bed into the two outstretched anatomical parts of Shama. It ends well, w ith every one more than damn satisfied. KASHYAP'S SECRET DESIRE The picture has a couple of attractive songs one of which is rather lustily acted by Geeta Bali. The picture accidentally reveals one of the personal suppressions of D. D. Kashyap when he brings in a tight-robed young fisherwoman rushing for medical aid to Dr. Sham. Working too near the \^ orli fishing village, it is not surprising to find this complex in Kashyap — otherwise it is difficult to explain the presence of a fisherwoman in the hills. But then •"Vgri women also dress like that and perhaps Kashyap likes only the dress that gives an extra edge to the female form. The picture is shot in an haphazard manner and seems to have been rushed through to keep the box-office date. The production values are, therefore, naturally erratic. Music is good, a couple of tunes heinsr definitelv attractive. The less said about Kashyap's direction the better. He has done better work before. GEETA BEATS SURAIYA Both the girls. Suraiya and Geeta Bali, are ugly but Suraiya is so carefullv photographed — giving us a full face always — that she looks a bit pleasant especially with Geeta Bali providing the contrast. In their work, however. Geeta Rali who plays Kiran leaves Suraiya. who plays Shama. far far behind. Vi hile Geeta acts. Suraiya merely make* faces. Geeta is certainly a more talented girl and she outclasses this Suraiya duckling completely. Pran lives up to his natural face as Ajit while Rehman who plays Dr. Sham looks like a barber in wrong clothes. I llhas looks a well-fed retired colonel of the army. An ayah in his household would have added more spice to the role. Retired colonels need people to help them about. Well, the best part of "Bari Behen" is not in the picture but outside it, in the theatre and the street, where thousands clamour for tickets. "Bari Behen*' is a big box-office success whatever that may mean in India and exhibitors are destined to make money on this picture. 53