Here’s Poonam Saxena’s list of 10 movies to watch that define this era. See how she made her picks.
Mehboob Khan’s highly unusual film about a modern girl named Neeta (Nargis) who becomes friendly with her father’s manager Dilip (Dilip Kumar) even though she is engaged (to Rajan, played by Raj Kapoor). The enigmatic relationship between Neeta and Dilip is the core of the film and both stars turn in superb performances. Though Mehboob Khan opted for a conservative, disappointing ending, Andaz is an outstanding film that hasn’t dated. Bonus: hit music by Naushad
Probably director-actor Raj Kapoor’s finest film, this is the story of a naive man named Raju (Raj Kapoor) who comes to Bombay from Allahabad and is seduced by the city’s wicked charms and its cynical, get-rich-quick schemes. In the end he is saved by the good schoolteacher Vidya (Nargis). The lead pair have crackling chemistry and the songs (music by Shankar-Jaikishen) are hummed to this day. Mera Joota Hai Japani
The director’s credit is given to Abrar Alvi but many people believe it was directed by Guru Dutt himself. A deeply atmospheric film about a decaying feudal Bengali zamindari family, it had memorable characters such as the neglected Chhoti Bahu (Meena Kumari, in a career-best performance) who starts drinking to get her husband’s attention, and the innocent Bhootnath (Guru Dutt) who becomes her unlikely confidante. Once again, the songs (music by Hemant Kumar) were out of this world.
This landmark film by Mehboob Khan is justly regarded as a gem in the annals of Hindi cinema. The epic story of a courageous, principled woman named Radha (Nargis), who tills her piece of land with her blood and tears, refuses to give in to an unscrupulous moneylender even when her children are on the edge of starvation, and sacrifices her son to keep the honour of the village intact. She epitomised a newly independent India that walked through fire to finally come into its own. Nargis’s performance is sublime.
Kamal Amrohi’s classic Gothic thriller is set in an abandoned mansion with shadowy corridors, sweeping staircases, swaying chandeliers, carved doors and chiming wall clocks. When the new owner of the mansion Hari Shankar (Ashok Kumar) arrives, he is haunted by a beautiful “ghost” (Madhubala). Over time, Hari Shankar becomes obsessed with this mysterious woman and descends into a spiral of madness. Aayega Aanewala (sung by Lata Mangeshkar and composed by Khemchand Prakash) is easily one of the greatest Hindi film songs ever.
This magnificent film by K Asif that took over a decade to complete is about the majestic Mughal emperor Akbar and the grandeur of his court. It is also the story of a tense father-son conflict as Prince Salim (Dilip Kumar) falls in love with a kaneez, Anarkali (Madhubala), much to Akbar’s disapproval. The extravagant sets and costumes, glorious music (Naushad), powerful dialogue and stellar performances make Mughal-e-Azam a jewel in the crown of Hindi cinema.
This Raj Khosla-directed film is a great example of what can be called Bombay noir – a thriller set in a big city, with Dev Anand playing a role that became his calling card, a dashing, debonair urban man who smoked cigarettes, wore Western clothes, drove cars and went to nightclubs. In CID, he plays an inspector out to solve the murder of a newspaper editor. He gets entangled with a mysterious femme fatale (Waheeda Rehman) in cahoots with the criminals and falls in love with his superior’s daughter Rekha (Shakila). Another film with a foot-tapping music score (OP Nayyar).
This good brother-bad brother film by Nitin Bose had Dilip Kumar in one of his most unforgettable roles – as the simple rustic Gunga forced into becoming a dacoit and then faced with the prospect of his police officer brother Jumna (Nasir Khan) hunting him down. Dilip Kumar, a Pathan from Peshawar, spoke in flawless, lilting Bhojpuri through the film. Gunga Jumna spawned dozens of “brothers on opposite sides of the law” films, most notably Yash Chopra’s Deewar (1975).
Bimal Roy’s poignant, gut-wrenching film is about a peasant named Shambhu (a brilliant Balraj Sahni) and his desperate attempts to save his little piece of land from a rapacious zamindar. He goes to Calcutta and becomes a rickshaw puller to earn money to pay off his loan, but the inhumanity of the city leaves him and his family with nothing. In the end, all they can do is stand, alone and helpless, and watch a factory come up on their village land.
Outright comedies are not that common in Hindi cinema but this Satyen Bose film is an early example. It revolves around three brothers who run a garage – the eldest (Ashok Kumar) hates women but the younger two (Kishore Kumar and Anup Kumar) long for romance. Enter the beautiful Madhubala on a rainy night and the fun begins. A superb music score by SD Burman had racy songs that were integrated into all the crazy goings-on.
