Chimni Pakhare/Nannhe? Munne

1952 134’ b&w Marathi/Hindi? d Datta Dharmadhikari pc Alhaad Chitra s/co-lyr G.D. Madgulkar co-lyr Phani c Bal Bapat m Vasant Pawar, Ramchandra Wadhavkar lp Baby Shakuntala, Raja Nene, Sulochana, Indira Chitnis, Indu Kulkarni, Rambhau Gramopadhye, Dada Mirasi, Raja Gosavi

Typical Dharmadhikari melodrama about a 12 year-old girl (Shakuntala) who raises her three younger brothers when their father runs away after committing a crime and their mother dies of shock. Several songs intensify the sentimental approach, e.g. Aai meli baap gela aata sambhali vithala (Mother is dead, father is gone, now we’re in God’s hands). The film’s stark realism, adapted from e.g. Bimal Roy, demonstrates its compatibility with tragic melodrama, as the film sets up a basic conflict between goodness and evil (the latter represented by a neighbour who wants the children evicted from their house), and eventually evokes the saint film in a contemporary setting (cf. the formal similarities with Sant Dnyaneshwar, 1940).

Film