Post Box 999

1958 ?’ b&w Hindi d Ravindra Dave pc Nagina Films s/lyr P.L. Santoshi c M.W. Mukadam m Kalyanji Veerji Shah lp Sunil Dutt, Shakila, Purnima, Leela Chitnis, Manorama, Krishnakant, Gulab, Sadhana, Anwari, Amarnath

Apparently inspired by Hathaway’s Call Northside 777 (1947), this is the best-known and the most successful of Dave’s crime thrillers. Journalist Vikas (Dutt) is hired by an old woman (Chitnis) to prove the innocence of her wrongly convicted son Mohan. The investigation of the villainous hotel owner Banarasilal involves Vikas and his girlfriend Nilima (Shakila) posing as magicians while the intrepid mother helps out by going to work in the villain’s bird-shop. Mohan’s innocence can only be proved via the testimony of Bindiya, supposedly long since dead but believed to be still alive by the investigators.

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