''Afsar'' is a
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
film directed by
Chetan Anand. It was produced by and starred
Dev Anand
Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand (26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011), better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema, through a career that spanned over six decades. He was ...
. It co-starred
Suraiya
Suraiya Jamal Sheikh (15 June 1929 – 31 January 2004), popularly known by the mononym Suraiya, was a popular actress and playback singer in India's Hindi-language films. She was active from 1936 to 1963, and was the most celebrated actress ...
, who also recorded the
playback singing
A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...
for the film. The film was based on
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...
's play ''
The Government Inspector
''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pla ...
''.
''Afsar'' was the first film produced under the
Navketan Films
Navketan Films was a film production house based in Mumbai, India. Started in 1949 by actor-director and producer Dev Anand and his elder brother Chetan Anand, whose debut film, ''Neecha Nagar'', received the Palme d'Or (Best Film) award, at the ...
banner. The film was unsuccessful at the box office, which attributed to Suraiya's fading stardom in the early 1950s, and
Madhubala
Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era, ...
's and
Nargis
Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981) was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, she made her screen debut in a minor role ...
' simultaneous rise as the top female stars.
Plot
The story is skillfully set in the last era of British rule when after several historical land reforms in the subcontinent, the government faced the gigantic problem of assessing the actual incomes of landlords to net them in for state revenues. For purpose of direct assessments revenue officers were deputed, while for a larger number of indirect assessments, persons were sent and dispersed to villages in disguise of varying professions and for longer periods to secretly make their own assessment of on the spot realities and of actual sources and incomes.
Dev Anand a smart but long unemployed city youth unaware of the fact that persons have been secretly deputed in disguise to villages, goes along with an illiterate quirky assistant and with no equipment, bare straw furniture and with not even the barest of medical knowledge goes to a village and sets up a dispensary as a last attempt at livelihood.
Soon the ludicrous village simpletons of various sizes and shapes with rustic attires, accents and ways, a real entertainment to watch in the film, finding Dev Anand far removed from their lot, start spying on his activities, peeping in the dispensary through its falling windows and holes, and begin to spin up tales of him being of the disguised agents rumored to have been sent to assess incomes and their sources, and cook up their stories so convincingly that the owner of the entire village, the landlord, already under fear of losing some of his income and even property to the state, believes his men and their tales.
He invites Dev Anand to his impressive haveli, gives him a reception and respect and starts discussions on some medical issues. However the unconvincing, naïve and evasive replies of Dev Anand on medicine further leads the landlord to believe that he is really the agent sent by the state to rope him and his vast income. He offers Dev Anand to stay at his haveli and Dev by now having realized what his is being mistaken for, starts skillfully playing his mistaken identity or rather misperceived identity. The landlord introduces Dev Anand made purposely as a permanent guest to his daughter who is learning dancing and music, and she entertains Dev Anand with some classical songs and dances which are a part of the film.
Without much time and effort while staying at the haveli Dev Anand seduces her by his charms into a relationship without thinking of the consequences.
The landlord had been advised by his men that whatever reports Dev Anand sends to his superiors in the city will necessarily go through the village post office where by design it can be checked and brought back to the landlord to have him see its contents.
Call it misfortune or climax to come Dev Anand sends a letter to a friend in his city, narrating to him how he is enjoying in the village due to a mistaken identity. He also comments on each, the landlord his daughter and village folk, and their idiosyncrasies in the most humorous and somewhere disparaging words. This letter by scheme lands back in the hands of the landlord and read in a village gathering.
Dev Anand is also informed by some one of the letter falling into the villagers hands, and he plans to escape. However he confides to the landlords daughter that he is not the one they all are thinking to be, but is just an unemployed miserable young man, who had come to set up a dispensary in the village. The heroine says she accepts him as he is and will always be his companion, and both plan to run away from the village and make for the small railway station.
In the meantime the villagers, who had read the letter exposing Dev Anand, and his sarcastic comments about all in the village, and knowing that he has fled with the landlord's daughter, run towards the railway station. While they are after him, chasing the pair ferociously, Dev and his eloping lady miss the train by a few minutes. What happens can be well imagined, but the end is not within the memory of this writer.
Cast
*
Dev Anand
Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand (26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011), better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema, through a career that spanned over six decades. He was ...
as Kapur
*
Suraiya
Suraiya Jamal Sheikh (15 June 1929 – 31 January 2004), popularly known by the mononym Suraiya, was a popular actress and playback singer in India's Hindi-language films. She was active from 1936 to 1963, and was the most celebrated actress ...
as Bimala
*
Rashid Khan
Rashid Khan Arman ( ps, ; born 20 September 1998) is an Afghan international cricketer and a former captain of the national team. In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide Strikers in Austra ...
*
Krishan Dhawan
Krishan Dhawan (1926 - 20 May 1994 was an Indian character actor in Hindi language films.
Career
Krishan Dhawan was an actor, known for Vidhaata (1982), Mujhe Jeene Do (1963) and Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974).
Personal life
He is the fat ...
*
Ruma Guha Thakurta
Ruma Guha Thakurta (21 November 1934 – 3 June 2019) was an Indian actress and singer primarily associated with Bengali language films. She founded Calcutta Youth Choir in 1958.
Early life
Ruma Guha Thakurta was born on 3 November 1934 to ...
*Kanhaiyalal as Village Tehsildar
*
Manmohan Krishna
Manmohan Krishna (26 February 1922 – 3 November 1990) was a popular Indian film actor and director, who worked in Hindi films for four decades, mostly as a character actor. He started his career as a professor in Physics and held master's de ...
*Anand Pal
*Mohan Segal
*
Zohra Sehgal
Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal (born Sahibzadi Zohra Mumtazullah Khan Begum; 27 April 1912 – 10 July 2014) was an Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer. Having begun her career as a member of a contemporary dance troupe, she transitioned into acting ...
Music
References
External links
*
{{The Government Inspector
1950 films
1950s Hindi-language films
Films scored by S. D. Burman
1950 romantic comedy films
Films based on The Government Inspector
Films directed by Chetan Anand
Indian films based on plays
Indian romantic comedy films
Hindi-language comedy films
Indian black-and-white films