1940
A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
*January ...
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 ...
fantasy film directed by
Mehboob Khan
Mehboob Khan (born Mehboob Khan Ramzan Khan; 9 September 1907 at filmreference.com. – 28 ...
for
Sagar Movietone
Sagar Movietone also Sagar Films, Sagar Film Company and Sagar Productions was an Indian film production company involved in the making of films for Indian cinema. It was launched by Ardeshir Irani with Chimanlal Desai and Dr. Ambalal Patel in 19 ...
. The music was directed by Anil Biswas, with lyrics written by Safdar Aah. The film was a bilingual, made in
Punjabi language
Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers.
Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 m ...
as ''Alibaba'' at the same time. It starred
Surendra
Surendra is an Indian masculine given name. Notable people with this name include:
* Surendra (actor/singer)
* Surendra Bhave
* Surendra Chaturvedi
* Surendra Dubey
* Surendra Gambhir
* Surendra Hiranandani
* Surendra Jain
* Surendra Jha 'Sum ...
,
Sardar Akhtar
Sardar Akhtar (1915–1986) was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi and Urdu films. She started her acting career on the Urdu stage. Her early films were with Saroj Movietone, where she did a majority of stunt (action) roles. She came into pr ...
, Ghulam Mohammed and Wahidan Bai.
In this
Arabian Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
fantasy ''Alibaba'', Surendra played the title role and also appeared in the role of Alibaba's son. Sardar Akhtar, who went on to marry Mehboob Khan, was not a well-known actress at this time. She was given the starring role while Wahidan Bai, mother of the actress
Nimmi
Nawab Bano (18 February 1933 – 25 March 2020), better known by her stage name Nimmi, was an Indian screen actress who achieved stardom in the 1950s and early 1960s in Hindi films. She was one of the leading actresses of the "golden era" of Hin ...
played the second female lead.
Plot
Alibaba and his son live with his rich brother Cassim. Marjina and Zabba are two slave girls who work in Cassim's house. Marjina and Alibaba's son are in love with each other. Zabba is in league with Abu Hassan, who is the leader of a gang of thieves. Alibaba finds the thieves' cave and becomes rich. Cassim's wife insists on knowing the secret of his wealth. Alibaba tells his brother who goes to the cave but can't get out as he's forgotten the magic words. The thieves find him and kill him. Alibaba and his son find Cassim and bring his body back for burial. Abu Hassan finds out about Alibaba, and the story then follows Marjina outsmarting Abu Hassan, who comes visiting as a merchant.
Cast
*
Surendra
Surendra is an Indian masculine given name. Notable people with this name include:
* Surendra (actor/singer)
* Surendra Bhave
* Surendra Chaturvedi
* Surendra Dubey
* Surendra Gambhir
* Surendra Hiranandani
* Surendra Jain
* Surendra Jha 'Sum ...
*
Sardar Akhtar
Sardar Akhtar (1915–1986) was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi and Urdu films. She started her acting career on the Urdu stage. Her early films were with Saroj Movietone, where she did a majority of stunt (action) roles. She came into pr ...
* Wahidan Bai
* Ghulam Mohammed
* Shetty
* Jagdish Kupal
* Ishrat Jaan
* Amirjaan
Production
The first shot for ''Alibaba'' was taken at the same studio (Imperial), where Mehboob Khan had started his career as one of the forty thieves in a vat, ''Alibaba Aur Chalis Chor'' (1929). He remained unseen in the vat for the entire length of his debut role.Ahmed2008, p. 9 This was the remake of the same film. Alibaba was shot at night as it was the fasting month of Ramzan. It was during the shooting of this film that Mehboob Khan and Sardar Akhtar got together and later married. The film was the last film Khan made for Sagar Movietone as he soon moved on to form
Mehboob Productions
Mehboob Studio is an Indian film studio and recording studio in Bandra (W), Mumbai, founded in 1954 by director and producer Mehboob Khan, who previously owned Mehboob Productions (founded 1942), and is most known for films such as ''Mother Indi ...
.Ahmed2008, p. 54
Music
The film had music by Anil Biswas, with lyrics written by Aah Sitapuri. The singers are Surendra, Wahidan Bai and Anil Biswas.