1957: Year that was

In the end, a long suffering Mother India puts an end to her rebellious son8217;s activities by killing him, fertilising the soil with his blood. The film is a remake of Mehboob8217;s own film Aurat 1940.

Guru Dutt8217;s classic melodrama was the first in a series of films addressing the state of the nation. Vijay Guru Dutt is an unsuccessful poet whose work is sold by his brothers as waste paper. Unable to bear the rejection of his talent, he elects to live on the streets. A young prostitute, Gulab Waheeda Rehman falls in love with him and his poetry, while his former girlfriend Meena Mala Sinha marries an arrogant publisher, Mr Ghosh Rehman, for comfort and security. When a dead beggar to whom Vijay gives his coat is mistaken for Vijay, Gulab has his poetry published in a book which becomes a best seller. Everyone whopreviously rejected Vijay now gathers to pay tribute to the dead poet. Vijay disrupts the celebration with a passionate song denouncing hypocrisy and calling for violent destruction of a corrupt world 8212; Jalaa do ise phoonk daalo yeh duniya8217;.

A melodrama about the perils of progress: Villain Kundan Jeevan introduces an electric saw mill and cars into an isolated, sylvan village. And the economic, caste and religious divisions between the rural folk are woven into the main story of the rivalry between Shankar Dilip Kumar and Krishna Ajit over the heroine Rajani Vyjayanthimala. The dramatic high point sees everyone joining forces to build a road to prove that traditional technology is just as good as new machinery. Ironically, the nationalist modernisation argument is advanced by the villain while the benevolent father figure Seth Maganlal Nasir Hussain hopes that a humanist attitude will abolish all class divisions. The hero Shankar argues for collectivisation asthe proletarian way of managing new technology. The film has O P Nayyar8217;s classic compositions, Reshmi salwar kurta jaali ka8217;, Saathi haath badhana8217; Main Bambai ka babu8217;

Partly made in colour, this love story and crime drama is a comic variation of the Hamlet theme. The story revolve around an old landowner. Hasmukhlal Om Prakash his son Kishore Kishore Kumar who is accused of murder, and the villain Raj Pran who is Kishore8217;s cousin. The love object is Nirmala Vyjayanthimala, the niece of a millionaire coveted by Raj. Kishore, masquerading as an Arab, launches a theatre company and resolves the conflict by performing a play in front of the real life character to whom the fiction is addressed. The song Eena Meena Deeka8217; sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle in two different versions becomes very popular.

This is a stylised parable about human virtue. An idealistic cop Adinath V Shantaram, believing people to befundamentally good, takes six simple-minded murderers to a desolate area to set up a farming commune. In spite of the threat of violence, they run a good farm and come into conflict with the virtuous citizens of a nearby village who see their economic interests threatened. They reveal themselves to be the real villains. Sandhya plays Champa, a seller of children8217;s toys who befriends the prisoners 8212; the only woman in an oppressively male world.