Samaj Ko Badal Dalo

Vijay Bhatt's usually strident martial melodrama made with the informal help of the IPTA, mounted an IPTA-style attack on social conventions in the context of the Independence movement's promise of liberation. Heroine Manorama (Mridula) is the daughter of a clerk is not allowed to marry the hero, Kishore (Arun) because her father cannot afford the dowry. She instead marries evil widower Jayant (Yakub) who tortures her. Kishore marries the rich Champa (Leela Pawar) but magnanimously allows her to marry the man she really loves, Naresh. The hero's goodness eventually clashes with the villian's evil and in a frenzied climax, he ends up killing both Jayant and Manorama. He is arrested and pronounced insane.

Matwala Shayar Ram Joshi

A classical Marathi tamasha musician tells the life story of Ram Joshi, 1758 to 1812. Played by Jayaram Shiledar, Joshi is a poet, who later became exceedingly popular with the vani and militan powada forms. The film narrates the poet's history, his descent into alcoholism and his rise to greatness. The dramatic pivot to the story is his love for the tamasha dancer, Baya (Hansa Wadkar). Several scenes illustrate V Shantaram's tendency to use symbolism. For example, Ram Joshi drops a jug of liqour but it gets stuck in his clothing, showing that alcohol will not let go of him.

Shehnai

A marital drama featuring the four daughters of a comedian (V H Desai) and their rival, the arrogant daughter of the zamindar (Indumati); and the various men in their lives the zamindar's secretary (Radhakrishnan), the police inspector (Kishore Kumar) etc. The film had composer Ramchandra's hit song, `Aja Meri Jaan, Sunday Ke Sunday' (sung by Mina Kapoor, Shamshad Begum and the composer).

Neel Kamal

Although a commercial flop, it introduced Raj Kapoor and Madhubala. A love triangle, the film is set in an un-defined Rajput court. The king and the queen are killed when the king's evil brother-in-law seizes power. Both their daughters escape. The younger princess, Kamala (Madhubala), is rescued and adopted by a clan of untouchables. She meets and nurses to health a young atheist sculptor, Madhusudan (Raj Kapoor), who falls in love with both Kamala and her sister (Begum Para), forcing Kamala to commit suicide. In Kedar Sharma's classic idiom, a lotus flower grows where she died.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.