Director: Tapan Sinha; Writer: Tapan Sinha, Banaphool; Producer: Ashim Dutta; Cinematographer: Dinen Gupta; Editor: Subodh Ray; Cast: Ashok Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Ajitesh Bannerjee, Chhaya Devi, Samita Biswas, Rudraprasad Sengupta, Bhanu Bannerjee, Geeta De, Samit Bhanja, Chinmoy Roy, Partha Mukherjee
Duration: 01:45:02; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 96.906; Saturation: 0.006; Lightness: 0.344; Volume: 0.196; Cuts per Minute: 8.349
Summary: Maudling Sinha melodrama about a benevolent rural doctor Mukherjee (Kumar) working in a village on the Bengal-Bihar border where, along with some good villagers, he opposes the cruel landlord and rapist Lachhman (A. Bannerjee). The doctor solves local problems and becomes a political hero. The comely widow Chhipli (Vyjayanthimala) is the dramatic pivot, as the villain first tries to seduce and then rape her. The doctor rescues her, but both hero and villain die. The villagers unite to ensure the success of the doctor’s new mobile hospital. With this film Sinha began using major Hindi stars to play larger-than-life, explicitly anti- Communist ‘common-man’ heroes (cf. Dilip Kumar in Sagina Mahato, 1970) opposing the Left Front’s rise in West Bengal. The film is remembered mainly for the well-known stage star Ajitesh Bannerjee’s performance of untramelled villainy.
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