''Achhut Kannya'' ( en, Untouchable Maiden, italic=yes) is a

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

Indian Hindi film. Among the early super-hits in the Bombay film industry, the film deals with the social position of Dalit girls and is considered a reformist period-piece. The film was one of several successful Bombay Talkies collaborations between

Franz Osten Franz Osten (23 December 1876 in Munich – 2 December 1956) was a Bavaria, Bavarian filmmaker who along with Himansu Rai was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Rai on a number of India's earliest blockbuster film ...

, Niranjan Pal, Himanshu Rai, and their leading lady, Devika Rani. Music is by

Saraswati Devi Saraswati ( sa, सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a go ...

and lyrics by

J.S. Kashyap JS or js may refer to: Computing * JavaScript, a high-level, just-in-time compiled, object-oriented programming language * JScript, Microsoft's dialect of the ECMAScript standard used in Internet Explorer Businesses and organizations * Jonge Soc ...

and this was Ashok Kumar's debut film The movie stars Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani in the lead roles.

Plot

The movie is set in the 1900s. Mohan, a Brahman by caste, sells daily essentials to villagers. He is a kind soul and helps those really in need. Dukhiya, a kacchu by caste, is a railway crossing guard. Though an untouchable, he saved Mohan's life from a snake-bite and since then Mohan and Dukhiya develops deep friendship. As such, Pratap, son of Mohan (Ashok Kumar) and Kasturi, daughter of Dukhiya, (Devika Rani) also become friends since childhood. Growing up together, they fall in love with each other. Babulal, the village doctor, holds severe grudges against Mohan and always looking for any chance to slander his reputation in village. Pratap being a Brahmin boy and Kasturi being an untouchable girl (''achhut''), social conventions of that time preclude any possibility of these two lovers uniting. Thereafter, due to many evil twists and turns of fate and instances, Pratap ends up marrying Meera (Manorama), while Kasturi marries Mannu (Anwar). Both of them are unable to forget their first love, but tries hard to make their respective marriages work. Unfortunately, the situation gets compounded by the fact that Mannu also has a first wife, Kajri, with whom he is estranged due to excessive interference from his in-laws. The hitherto smug Kajri suddenly feels threatened by the arrival of a new woman in her husband's life and arrives at Mannu's house unannounced. Meera tries hard to win Pratap's attention towards herself and confesses her troubles to her friend, Kajri. Kajri who is also unable to gain attention of Mannu towards her blames Kasturi for their similar misfortune. Thus, she poisons Meera's mind. The two of them hatch a diabolical conspiracy to discredit Kasturi in the eyes of Mannu and villagers. They take Kasturi along to a fair mela in the neighbouring village, and then abandons her there. While searching for them in fair, Kasturi meets Pratap, who has a food stall there and both of them decides to return to their village. Meanwhile, Meera and Kajri as per their plan upon reaching their village tell Mannu that Kasturi has eloped with her lover Pratap. Seeing Pratap and Kasturi returning together, misguided and enraged Mannu attacks Pratap, exactly when his Bullock-cart just arrives at the railroad crossing. There ensues a fisticuffs between the two, even as a train rushes towards them and the bullock-cart. Desperate to save all lives at stake, Kasturi rushes towards the train, signaling and imploring the driver to stop and in the process gets herself killed. That act of selflessness makes her a martyr in the eyes of the villagers, despite her lowly origins.

Cast

* Devika Rani as Kasturi * Ashok Kumar as Pratap * Manorama as Meera *Anwar as Mannu * Pramila as Kajari *Kamta Prasad as Dukhia *Kusum Kumari as Kalyani *

P. F. Pithawala P. F. Pithawala was an actor who appeared in several movies made by Bombay Talkies in the 1930s and 1940s. Filmography External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pithawala, P.F 20th-century Indian male actors Indian male film actors Male actors ...

as Mohan *Kishori Lal as Babulal *N. M. Joshi as Inspector of Police *Ishrat as Sukhlal *Khosla as Patient ;Principal Dancers * Mumtaz Ali *Sunita Devi

References

External links

*
Full movie on YouTube
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''Achhut Kannya'' at National Film Archives Pune

Watch ''Achhut Kanya'' entirely annotated with archival material at Indiancine.ma
{{Franz Osten 1936 films 1936 romantic drama films 1930s Hindi-language films 1930s Urdu-language films Indian black-and-white films Films directed by Franz Osten Films about the caste system in India Articles containing video clips Indian romantic drama films Films scored by Saraswati Devi