Chandan Ka Palna

Chandan Ka Palna is one of Meena Kumari's later years films when she lost a bit of her simplistic charm and looked a little heavier because of alcohol abuse and other personal problems. However, she still shines as one of the best female actors of Hindi films without a question. This film is all about Meena Kumari, first as Shobha ( Meena Kumari ) a happy wife in a wealthy family being married to Ajit (Dharmendra ) after a brief courtship. Everything was going pretty well until it became evident that she cannot bear a child with no future possibility of being a mother as determined by the doctor. First she became a little unstable with a binge for dressing western and alcohol but was severely reprimanded by her husband and ultimately thrown out of the house and divorced. Ajit married again and Shobha prayed to god for his wife to have a child and which finally happened but the new mother dies at child birth. Meena Kumari did a splendid piece acting in her second role as a tormented woman with a lot of pain because of the circumstances. Dharemendra as her husband did very well as well as strong support from veterans like Dhumal, Durga Khote, Nasir Hussain and Mehmood. This film is not a classic but it is a well-directed good movie to watch with good music by RD Burman. I gave it a seven out of ten.