Acting
A period adventure with Motilal in a famous dual role. Judhajit (Sankatha), the outlawed brother of the king of Udayanagar, wants revenge on the royal family. He had left the palace with one of the king's twin sons who grew up as Indrajit, the twin of the drunken and debauched Prince Shatrujit (both Motilal) due to marry Princess Chanda (Sabita Devi). Indrajit is sent to kidnap her as part of the vendetta but the two fall in love. Shatrujit is too drunk to go through the marriage procedure and the dewan (Ansari) asks Indrajit to impersonate his brother. Indrajit is now torn between his love for Chanda and his promise to the dewan, but the story ends happily,
Ostensibly a Central Asian war fantasy about a conflict between the Cossacks and the Tartars, Mehboob’s film proposes a tale advocating national independence. The Cossacks are oppressed by the despotic Russian king (Siddiqui) and his minister Jabir (Kayamali), who has Tartar blood in him. General Murad (Kumar) covertly sides with the opposition, gets arrested for treason and escapes. He meets the wild Gulnar (Sitara Devi) and gets her to spy as a maid of Princess Nigar (Bibbo). Nigar falls for Murad and Gulnar withdraws from the scene for the sake of her nation. Eventually Nigar, at the head of an army of women, helps defeat the villains.
Two lovers Ratan and Reshmi are torn apart by Reshmi's scheming, cruel brother, Anand. After the death of his father, Anand banishes Ratan from the house and gets Reshmi married to his wealthy friend.
Mehboob presents the autonomous passion of Leela (Rose) for Moti (Motilal) who is promised to another woman, Bina (Maya). Leela is portrayed as irresponsible and impulsive as she acknowledges her desire for Moti and has a child by him. Bina then releases Moti from his promise. Moti suffers when he is told by Bina’s father (Sankantha) that she is dead, while Leela’s father (Pande) enjoins his daughter to commit suicide if Moti does not marry her. In spite of the film’s endorsement of ‘traditional’, lethally oppressive patriarchal mores, incarnated by the women’s fathers, Mehboob’s narrative at least dares to depict a woman who refuses to feel guilty about her desire.
Young, bored millionaire (Motilal) has a bet with his doctor that he will go out into the world without taking any money and survive for 300 days.
A rich, fatherless young man named Vijay faces betrayal when his greedy brother-in-law, Kampta Prasad, plots to seize his inheritance. Led astray by city life and losing his fortune, Vijay's struggles are silently supported by his devoted sister. But when Kampta Prasad sets his sights on Vijay's childhood sweetheart, Dulari, a vengeful Vijay returns, ultimately becoming a brilliant eye specialist who holds Kampta Prasad's fate in his hands. It's a gripping melodrama of deception, resilience, and poetic justice.
Thakur’s music-dominated debut tells of a love triangle involving the famous gramophone singer Sundardas (Surendra) who is happily married to Mohini (Prabha), and the even more popular singer Tilottama (Bibbo), who falls in love with Sundardas’s voice and wants them to sing a duet and have an affair. Ghosh Babu (Advani) is the manager of the record label.
A neglected wife, Indira, schemes to win back her philandering bank manager husband, Bihari. She uses an unwitting musician, Madan, as a pawn, making him fall for her until her husband's jealousy is ignited. Once Bihari returns, Madan is quickly married off to the daughter of a poor clerk, Mohan, to neatly tie up the loose ends.
Nirmala (Devika Rani) is a modern girl - young, beautiful, dressed in the latest fashions, attends college, and is even the only female in an all-male class. She doesn't take second place to the men, besting all but one in the annual exams. She tied with Ramdas (Ashok Kumar). But, at the same time she is tied to the age-old culture, traditions and religion. She yearns for a husband and for motherhood. And this conflict forms the crux of the story.
