Golden Era of Bollywood: 60 Years of Kala Bazar

Tuesday 7 January 2020

60 Years of Kala Bazar

Today in the period of Multiplexes and Online ticket booking of films, this generation would not believe that there was a time when there used to be black on cinema tickets. On this subject, a film could be made?
. For many of you, the idea of a Kala Bazaar might be alien. but this happened 60 years ago by Dev Anand and Navketan Films.
In Kala Bazar, Dev Anand plays Raghuvir, a common man who becomes a successful black marketer by selling cinema tickets to earn money for his family. Raghuvir's dark trade flourishes and he is able to move into a more comfortable home with his brother, sister (Nanda) and mother (Leela Chitnis).
Raghuvir meets his match in Alka (Waheeda Rehman), the beautiful girl who stuns him with her idealismThough aware that Alka is in love with someone else, he prodigiously pursues her. The script has plenty of twists, Just when we think that Alka's rejection of Raghuvir will spell the end of their romance, Vijay Anand's character resurfaces and fixes everything. It's awesome how the film shows that a girl is very much capable of falling in love twice. Alka falls in love with Raghuvir.
“Kala Bazar” is indeed a timeless classic. With a director like Vijay Anand to make use of their genius, every actor played his part in a composed manner. Some close to reality sequences in this movie only underlined the importance of his direction. No wonder, Dev Anand regarded his brother “a great asset. The rare part of the film was the presence of the three brothers( Dev, Chetan, and Vijay Anand) playing important characters.

But the most entertaining part is the first scene where there is a real-life premiere show of Mother India, Mehboob Khan's 1957 blockbuster. The camera captures the excitement breeding heavy amongst the audience who are waiting for a rare glimpse of their favorite movie stars. We, sitting on the other side of the screen, also get to catch the likes of Dilip Kumar, Nargis, Naseem Banu, Kishore Kumar, Nadira, Kumkum, Mohd Rafi, Guru Dutt, Geeta Dutt, Raj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Sohrab Modi, and Nimmi. It was the genius of Vijay Anand who thought of creating a unique scene that was followed by many filmmakers.

Vijay Anand's direction and attention to small details contribute to make the movie memorable. There is so much to admire in Kala Bazar, starting with the incredible music by S.D Burman with lyrics by Shailendra. Each innovatively picturized song is a stand-alone classic – Khoya Khoya Chand, Rim Jhim Ke Tarane Leke Aayi Barsaat, Apni Toh Har Aah Ek Toofan Hai and of course Na Mai Dhan Chahoon.