Azaad (1955)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Sriramulu Naidu S.M.

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

After her widower dad, Kedarnath, passes away, Shobha goes to live with his friend, Charandas, and his wife...

Plot Keywords:

Remake

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Dilip Kumar	...	Azaad / Abdul Rahim Khan / Kumar
Meena Kumari	...	Shobha
Pran	...	Sunder
Raj Mehra	...	Police Inspector
Murad	...	Jagirdar
Om Prakash	...	Head Constable Motilal
Achala Sachdev	...	Shanta
Shammi	...	Janki
S. Nazir	...	Chander
Badri Prasad	...	Charandas
Randhir
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Deepa	...	Paro
Sai	...	Chanda (as Sayee)
Ramesh Sinha
Subbalaxmi	...	Gopi (as Subbulakshmi)

Also Known As:

Free (International: English title)

Runtime:

163 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Pakshiraj Studios

Movie Connections:

Remake of Malaikallan (1954)

Soundtrack:

Dekho Ji Bahar Aayi Baghon Me Khili Kaliyan, Aana Hai To Aa Jao, Suni Hai Meri Galiyan

Tuneful!

This was a mainly studio bound vehicle for its two stars, the ever lovely and dignified Meena Kumari and ever dashing and confident Dilip Kumar, only occasionally venturing outside with real backgrounds. Not that it bothers me though - entertainment doesn't require realism, witness all the blockbuster live action/cgi cartoons that Hollywood is pumping out nowadays.

He has his convoluted reasons but Dilip Kumar plays a number of characters in disguise, from a humble neighbour of Meena's, to the rather admired thief Azaad with a fantastic hideaway. He, along with the real baddie of the story, falls in love with Meena and the battle is on first to win her, out the baddie and establish his respectable credentials to the world. The comic melodramatic plot is a bit tortuous at times – the IMDb plot summary gives you a good idea, but the songs are the thing after all. And there are some all time olde time Indian musical classics by Ramchandra here, especially Naa Bhole and Jaare Jaare Oh both sung by Lata and gracefully danced to by Meena striking many iconic poses in the process, the earnest Kitna Haseen out in the mountains, and even a memorable and exuberant qawali is squeezed in. But for me the pinnacle is Aplam Chaplam, a wondrous tune so precisely sung by both Lata and Usha to some beautiful precise dancing. The only thing I didn't like about the film was that there were far too many slapstick interludes in the police station, although I bet they went down well with the original audiences.

The print used on the Eros DVD I've just watched seems to have more cuts and slashes than the version I taped off UK Channel 4 in the '80's, but it's not too distracting. I've no idea why this is apparently so neglected - it's a nice little film: for the ladies Dilip Kumar was at his most romantic – "The heart that is on fire cares not for time" etc, but from my point of view of course with Meena to look at and especially Lata to listen to it's well worth watching too!