Kala Bazar

Kala Bazar is a crime movie directed by Late Vijay Anand and stars late Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman, late Vijay Anand, Late Nanda , Chetan Anand and Late Madan Puri.

One of the greatest and to some extent underrated movie of it's time which in my personal opinion doesn't got it's due credit, with great plot, stupendous execution, good acting and melodious song one of the finest movie of it's time with a good social message.

This is the only movie to have all the three Anand brothers together and non of them will disappoint you with their acting, the direction of the younger Anand was superb and the extended cameo of the Elder Anand works as the icing on the cake.

Acting is great and Dev Anand steals the show with his great skills, Waheeda Rehman was elegantly beautiful and superb in her character, the beautiful and bubbly Nanda in the role of Hero's sister might have been missed by many viewers. Madan Puri was also impressive in his negative character. Both Senior and Junior Anand were treat to watch in their limited screen presence.

Screenplay of the movie was good and will mostly keep you engaged throughout the movie. Music is great and is been a melodiously treat to the ear by Late S.D. Burman, the song 'Khoya Khoya Chand' still looks fresh in hearing. Climax of the movie is nicely crafted and gives a strong social message of ' You do good, you get good'. A Must watch movie for great acting and melodious songs.

Dev Anand again plays the role of an anti-hero with a lot of restraint and deftness. A rare film, by Indian standards, where the heroine is shown falling in love twice. Wahida Rehman is initially in love with Vijay Anand, who, having gone abroad for higher studies, falls in love with another woman, and so does Wahida, who, after initial reluctance, falls for Dev Anand. The film is also notable for the fact, that in this film, all the three Anand brothers, Chetan, Dev and Vijay acted together. Chetan Anand gave an excellent performance in a cameo role of an Advocate, who fights for the reformed Dev Anand. With excellent screenplay and dialogues, the film showed the calibre of the young director, Vijay Anand, who was directing his second movie only. Another highlight of the film was its music by Sachin Deb Burman. Mohammad Rafi's "Apni to har saans ik toofan hai" and "Khoya khoya chand, khula aasmaan" are excellent numbers. Another good song by him is "Sooraj ke jaisi golai, chanda si thandak hai paai". His duet with Geeta Dutt "Rimjhim ke tarane leke aai barsaat" to date remains one of the best rain songs. Asha Bhosle's solo "Sach hue sapne mere, jhoom le O' man mere" is one of her best songs. Her duet with Manna Dey "Sanjh dhali, dil ki lagi" is a typical experimental number by Burman da. The film also has a beautiful bhajan in "Na main dhan chahun, na ratan chahun", sung by Geeta Dutt and Sudha Malhotra.

Totally loved it. Even on moral/ethical grounds it is far better than most of today's films - 1. Male characters understand "no" and accept rejection respectfully. 2. In fact the whole love triangle is very mature and sensible. 3. No matter how many good deeds you do, it can't undo your bad deeds.

Great film. Must watch.

Kala Bazar (1960) : Brief Review -

Not entertaining due to the dark theme, but definitely a powerful film for society. Kala Bazar has one of the most entertaining black ticketing scenes. Raghuveer (Dev Anand) is fired from a job, and he sees a few people selling movie tickets in black. He sees a poster of Mother India at Liberty Cinema (Mumbai) and buys a bunch of tickets for sale in black. From Rs. 3 of Rs. 1.5, he intends to make it bigger, up to Rs. 10, and it reaches Rs. 100 at the end. All because of the celebrities' appearances. Nargis, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Mehboob Khan, Mohammed Rafi, Rajendra Kumar, and many more celebrities are seen in a cameo role in that celebrity premiere of Mother India (1957) scene. It was so lovely to see them back-to-back and people cheering with their names and personalities. Raghu makes a lot of money and becomes a rich person. However, he decides to turn the Kala Bazar into a Safed Bazar after he falls in love with an honest girl who is engaged to her boyfriend. Obviously, Raghu makes enemies too for this switch (or sacrifice, if you call it that). Here, the love triangle sees a shift, and I was hoping it would turn into "Casablanca" (1942), but I was wrong. The film then turns into a social drama about bad people's reformation. The dark theme fails to entertain after those black-ticket sales scenes, and the romance isn't exciting either. "Khoya Khoya Chand" is the most beautiful song in the entire album. Kala Bazar, a semi-hit at the box office, was the only film in which all three Anand brothers shared the screen together. The year was dominated by a big-scale spectacle like Mughal-E-Azam, so I can understand why this dark and slow film didn't stand a chance to become a big grosser. Nevertheless, it was a damn important film for its time, just like many other romantic crime dramas that shed light on non-habitual criminals in society. Although stretched, this one has a good message at the end.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

A very heart warming movie with great acting and absolutely lovely songs. A must see for cinema that portrays the grittiness of life. Dev Anand's acting is restrained and effortless. He displays all the charm that he is rightly famous for and looks quite the dandy in his ascot, coat draped over this shoulder's and bouffant hair style. None of the phony and overdone glitz of today's movies - simple, charming and a strong commentary on the insidiousness and vagaries of corruption in India. It must have been quite daring in 1960.

The music and songs are really wonderful and worth the effort to see this film. The song shot in Ooty is very well formatted as is the foot path scene in Mumbai illuminated by the street light. This is a classic of Indian cinema as is Dev Anand's other movie of 5 years later - GUIDE. Both are must see movies for those who enjoy Hindi films.