Director: Mehboob; Writer: Babubhai A. Mehta, Wajahat Mirza; Cinematographer: Faredoon Irani; Cast: Arun, Sheikh Mukhtar, Anuradha, Jyoti, Harish, Kanhaiyalal, Mohan, A. Banbasi, Jagdish Rai, Devi, Wasker, Gani
Summary: Mehboob uses a didactic style to address contemporary topics, a concern extended in e.g.
Roti (1942). The orphan and shipwreck survivor Raja (Arun) works as a coolie forming a trio of friends with Mangoo (Sheikh Mukhtar), a pickpocket, and Vithal (Mohan), a hansom cab driver. Mala (Anuradha) and her father (Gani) come to the city where she is kidnapped by Banke (Kanhaiyalal) and sold to a rich man while her father accuses Mangoo of theft. Mangoo kills the father. Mala escapes and finds shelter with Raja, with whom she falls in love. The problems of the trio increase when they enlist in the army for WW 2. The film opposes religious faith to atheistic fatalism (the latter exemplified by Mangoo whose mother dies in an accident and he becomes a killer) and dares to present a couple openly living together as Mala stubbornly rejects the pressures of her stepmother (Devi) and her villainous cousin Madan (A. Banbasi).
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