Chetan Anand – The man behind Neecha Nagar

Long before the Art Cinema or Parallel cinema’s existence, Chetan Anand’s passion for filmmaking gave birth to the Art Cinema in 1946 by making Neecha Nagar. This was his debut film as a Director.
This film was a social drama and also the debut film for Pandit Ravi Shankar who scored the music, the debut film of Kamini Kaushal. It also starred his wife Uma Anand as a heroine, Rafiq Ahmed, and Zohra Sehgal. 

Neecha Nagar was awarded the Grand Prix Prize (Now Golden Palm) at the first-ever Cannes Film Festival in 1946.It had to compete with many amazing films that year like Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City (Italy), David Lean’s Brief Encounter (UK), and Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (USA). It is indeed a proud thing to say that it won the hearts of critics and viewers alike and emerged as a winner for the category.
You would be surprised to note that this film was not released in India even it won the prestigious award. Neecha Nagar was an expressionistic take on a social problem where a town is divided into an upper Ooncha Nagar and a lowly Neecha Nagar. 
The villagers of 'Neecha Nagar' harbor hate for Sarkar and their hatred is fueled even more by the fact that Sarkar plans to direct all the sewage into the village in order to make way for his housing project. The villagers protest this move with their head, Balraj (Rafiq Anwar) leading a movement against Sarkar's plan. Sarkar's daughter Maya (Uma Anand) joins the movement against her father and falls in love with Balraj.
 It is a poetic portrayal of destitution and deprivation of rural India and highlights the exploitation of the poor peasants by the aristocracy. The music of the film is noteworthy for its lyrics as much as for the fact that it happens to be the first film of Pandit Ravi Shankar as a Music Director. Two of the songs are revolutionary battle cries and it is surprising how the British authorities allowed them uncut.

Song of Neecha Nagar 1946

Song of Neecha Nagar

Song of Neecha Nagar 1946

Song of Neecha Nagar 1946

70 Years ago Dev Anand got his first Hit Film

It was 70 years ago in 1948 a star emerged in Hindi Cinema with the release of Ziddi directed by Shaheed Latif. It was based on a story written by Ismat Chughtai, which launched the career of Dev Anand as the lead hero. The film helped establish its actors Dev Anand, Kamini Kaushal and Pran in Hindi films. The playback singers - Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar recorded their first duet - "Ye Kaun Aya Re" together in this 1948 film, Ziddi.Kishore Kumar also got a break in acting for a small role in this film.
. It was Dev Anand’s fourth film and first foray into hits. The heroine was played by Kamini Kaushal and Pran played an important character. The film was based on Ismat Chughtai’s book Ziddi.

The music of the film was composed by Khemchand Prakash. The soundtrack featured the first film song sung by playback singer Kishore Kumar, "Marne ki duayen kyon mangu", a solo picturised on Dev Anand. The film also included Lata Mangeshkar's solo, "Chanda re ja re ja re, piya se sandesa mora kahiyo jaa" picturised on Kamini Kaushal.
It was a Bombay Talkies film which was a great banner that time Ashok Kumar was one of the owners of this studio. Dev Anand who had 3 films before this was looking for work and fortunately met Shahid Latif the Director of this film at Churchgate railway station. He asked Dev to come next day at the studio. He introduced Dev Saheb to his boss Ashok Kumar.
Ashok Kumar liked the young man's confidence and on the spur of the moment, offered him 'Ziddi', asking him how much he wanted as his remuneration to which Dev Anand replied, 'My fee will be people saying that you have given the industry a star.' That answer sealed the deal for him.
Dev Anand started Navketan in 1949 in 1950 released Baazi he became a superstar.

Song of Ziddi 1948

Song of Ziddi 1948

Song of Ziddi 1948

Kishore Kumar's first appearance in Ziddi

Song of Ziddi 1948

Song of Ziddi 1948