I've always considered this to be the seminal Indian love triangle epic, a masterpiece in almost every department of filming: especially script, production and acting. I may smile at director Mehboob's aversion to the West however apparently not the exportation of its capitalism, or the general comment on society made that "Western tunes can't be played on Indian strings" however musically the reverse on the piano was OK, but overall it's virtually perfect.
It starts perfectly too: the beautiful Nargis in jodhpurs playfully whipping a servant, en route to a horse ride and her life being saved by the dashing Dilip Kumar. Her gratefulness and treating him as purely a friend is misconstrued by all especially her chain smoking father, Kumar himself and eventually the real love of her life, the whimsical Raj Kapoor. She's accused of social naughtiness but is completely innocent, later murders in self defence and is given life imprisonment. Harsh! Throughout there are of course many emotional or dramatic twists and turns, with Nargis as the centre of attention seemingly able to strike iconic poses at random and the music and words perfectly reflecting each phase. It was her film, her two men (one overplaying, the other underplaying) in here were not worthy or her! As a counterpoint to her amazing elegance the production values were excellent too, especially her elegant house - or should that be temple - showing to good advantage. Favourite song is Koi Mere Dil Mein sung by Lata, with Nargis dawdling on the enormous ornate staircase.
Sadly time has taken its toll - the only print I've ever seen gets a bit blotchy at times but it's never too distracting. This is the best starting point; what this film says has been repeated by Bollywood thousands of times since but never better.
It starts perfectly too: the beautiful Nargis in jodhpurs playfully whipping a servant, en route to a horse ride and her life being saved by the dashing Dilip Kumar. Her gratefulness and treating him as purely a friend is misconstrued by all especially her chain smoking father, Kumar himself and eventually the real love of her life, the whimsical Raj Kapoor. She's accused of social naughtiness but is completely innocent, later murders in self defence and is given life imprisonment. Harsh! Throughout there are of course many emotional or dramatic twists and turns, with Nargis as the centre of attention seemingly able to strike iconic poses at random and the music and words perfectly reflecting each phase. It was her film, her two men (one overplaying, the other underplaying) in here were not worthy or her! As a counterpoint to her amazing elegance the production values were excellent too, especially her elegant house - or should that be temple - showing to good advantage. Favourite song is Koi Mere Dil Mein sung by Lata, with Nargis dawdling on the enormous ornate staircase.
Sadly time has taken its toll - the only print I've ever seen gets a bit blotchy at times but it's never too distracting. This is the best starting point; what this film says has been repeated by Bollywood thousands of times since but never better.