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NFAI finds rare reel of Kishore Kumar's banned Hindi film after 60 years
“The film was banned by the Bombay High Court as Paramount Pictures America alleged that it was a copy of their 1954 movie Knock on Wood. Paramount won the case and the Bombay High Court ordered all the prints of the film to be destroyed,” said NFAI director Prakash Magdum
The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) has found a reel of a banned 1957-Kishore Kumar starrer film, Begunah, more than 60 years after the Mumbai High Court ordered all prints of the film to be destroyed.
“The film was banned by the Bombay High Court as Paramount Pictures America alleged that it was a copy of their 1954 movie Knock on Wood. Paramount won the case and the Bombay High Court ordered all the prints of the film to be destroyed,” said NFAI director Prakash Magdum.
“Fans of Shankar Jaikishen have been searching for this rare clip where Jaikishen could be seen on screen performing on the song, Ae Pyaase Dil Bezubaan, and we were searching for it too, when one of our sources informed us of the two 16mm reels,” added Magdum.
After initial inspection, NFAI said that the picture is okay, but the sound quality is bad. “We have written to information and broadcast ministry as well as to the law ministry for advice on preservation and conservation of these reels. We also wrote to the Bombay High Court for a copy of the judgement, but the High Court has written that they will need exact details of the movie to find the order.”
The rare clip, found last week, shows music composer Jaikishen (of Shankar-Jaikishen fame) on the piano, actor Shakila dancing and Mukesh as the playback.
“Several people have been searching for the reel for many years. Since we didn’t have it, we too started looking for it actively. It is a miracle that we found it,” said Magdum.
“We obtained the reels from cinema lovers within India,” he added.
He said fans of music composer duo Shankar-Jaikishan had been looking for the footage for a long time as it is the only film to feature Jaikishan in a major appearance. “We have two 16 mm reels of Kishore Kumar’s film ‘Begunah’ in two phases consisting of around 60 to 70 minutes. One reel came two months back and another came last week. The second one has the song ‘Ae Pyase Dil Bezubaan’. It features Jaikishan on the piano and actor Shakila dancing. The song is sung by Mukesh,” Magdum said.
The condition of the reel is not in good condition but the song is “runnable”, he added.
(With agency inputs)
