Baiju Bawra

1952 168’ b&w Hindi d Vijay Bhatt pc Prakash Pics st Ramchandra Thakur sc R.S. Choudhury dial Zia Sarhadi lyr Shakeel Badayuni c V.N. Reddy m Naushad lp Bharat Bhushan, Meena Kumari, Surendra, Kuldeep Kaur, Bipin Gupta, Manmohan Krishna, B.M. Vyas, Mishra, Radhakrishan, Kesari, Ratan Kumar, Bhagwanji, Baby Tabassum, Rai Mohan, Nadir

Bhatt took considerable liberties with the history of India’s classical music for this megahit focusing on an encounter between Tansen (Surendra), court musician in Akbar’s (Gupta) Mughal court, and the itinerant Baiju (Bhushan). When Tansen’s guards kill Baiju’s father (Bhagwanji), he avenges himself by defeating Tansen in a musical contest. Naushad used leading classical singers D.V. Paluskar and Amir Khan as playback voices for the highlight of the movie, the contest itself. This was Meena Kumari’s first important role, playing Baiju’s self-sacrificing sweetheart, Gauri. Remembered mostly for its music.

Film