Director: Master Vinayak; Writer: P.K. Atre; Cinematographer: Pandurang Naik; Editor: Madhav Kamble; Cast: Damuanna Malvankar, V.G. Jog, Dada Salvi, Meenakshi, Javdekar, Vedpathak, Shakuntala Bhome
Summary: Vinayak and Atre’s classic sequel to the hit
Brahmachari (1938) addresses prohibition
and Gandhian morality. The naively innocent
bachelor Bagaram (Malvankar/Vinayak), a clerk in
a municipal office, has to find some brandy to
restore the ill son of his boss, who is also the
brother of Malati (Meenakshi), whom he secretly
loves. Not knowing what brandy is, Bagaram gets
embroiled in adventures, including a famous scene
in a crowded bar. He eventually procures a bottle
but his beloved persists in regarding him merely as
‘a brother’. Documentary footage of Vallabhbhai
Patel making a speech about abstinence (included
with his permission) had to be removed because of
censor objections, as was the ambiguous line by
Bagaram who, surrounded by young women,
implored the god Krishna to ‘give me a break too’.
The film was widely attacked for its irreverence
towards Hindu tradition but went on to become a
perennial commercial hit, establishing Atre’s scripts
as an independent stellar attraction.
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