''Apna Desh'' (Our Country) is a 1949

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 ...

social drama film set against the backdrop of

Partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

and directed by

V. Shantaram Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre (18 November 1901 – 30 October 1990), referred to as V. Shantaram or Shantaram Bapu, was an Indian filmmaker, film producer, and actor known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films. He is most known for films such ...

for his

Rajkamal Kalamandir Rajkamal Kalamandir was a noted film production company and studio in Mumbai. It was established by V. Shantaram in 1942, after he left Prabhat Films. The studio produced films both in Hindi and Marathi, and it was best known for '' Dr. Kotnis Ki Am ...

banner. The story was written by Diwan Sharar and

Keshavrao Date Keshavrao Date (1889–1971) was an Indian film actor, who worked in both silent and sound movies. He tried to run his own drama company but found it difficult to perform the dual roles of manager and actor. Career His role in the drama ''An ...

. Sharar also wrote the screenplay and dialogue along with acting in the film. Music was by S. Purshottam and lyrics were by Diwan Sharar and

Mirza Ghalib ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Kala Mahal, Agra, Maratha Confederacy , death_date = , death_place = Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, British India , occupation = Poet , language ...

. The cast included Pushpa Hans, Umesh Sharma, Sudha Apte,

Chandrashekhar Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the nam ...

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 ...

, Keshavrao Date, Krishna Goel, Diwan Sharar, Parshuram and Satish Vyas. The film was made a year after Shantaram made '' Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani'' (1946), which was not a success at the box office. ''Apna Desh'' is the story of revenge by an abducted woman after the rejection she faces when she meets her family. Using the Partition as background, the film's theme focussed on black-marketing.

Plot

Mohini a Hindu Punjabi girl, is living with her family when the Partition riots break out. In the melee while her family escape their home, which now becomes part of Pakistan, and go to India, she is kidnapped and raped by some Muslim rioters. After undergoing several harrowing experiences, Mohini manages to come to India and locate her family. Her family and society is unwilling to accept her in their midst. Determined to get revenge on the society that has boycotted her, she becomes a smuggler and gets into the black-marketing business. She sends ammunition to Pakistan smuggled in crates that have music instruments. Mohini soon becomes involved with another refugee, Satish. When Satish is implicated in the smuggling racket, Mohini admits her role in the business and surrenders to the police.

Cast

* Pushpa Hans * Umesh Sharma *

* Sudha Apte * Krishna Goel * Parshuram * Satish Vyas * Dewan Sharar

Review and reception

Shantaram made socially relevant films and in ''Apna Desh'' he dealt with the issues of abduction, rape and black-marketing during, and following Partition. The film "predicted" problems like languages, black-marketing and corruption that India would face following the "newly acquired independepence". In a searing indictment of the wrongdoers, the judge calls the black-marketeers "padhe-likhe daku, samaaj ke chor, azaadi ke lootere, desh ke dushman ducated thugs, thieves of society, looters of freedom, enemies of the state, labelling them traitors or "desh ke gaddaar". The story caused a backlash of criticism from all the reputed papers and magazines and had to be eventually withdrawn from theatres.

Baburao Patel Baburao Patel (1904–1982) was an Indian publisher and writer, associated with films and politics. Career He was the editor and publisher of India's first film trade magazine, ''Filmindia'', the first edition of which was published in 1935. B ...

's ''

Filmindia ''filmindia'' is an Indian monthly magazine covering Indian cinema and published in English language. Started by Baburao Patel in 1935, ''filmindia'' was the first English film periodical to be published from Bombay. The magazine was reportedl ...

'' in the 1949 issues had readers writing in to ask for a ban on the film and calling it "Apna Trash" (Our Trash). The magazine referred to the fact that the film was passed by the censors due to Shantaram's initiation into the censor board by

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

, who was the then Home Minister to the Government of Bombay. The magazine also hinted at the story being given the finishing touch by Desai. However, ''Apna Desh'' is cited as a film of "exceptional merit" and one of Shantaram's successful films. Shantaram's other two socials completing his trilogy of socially relevant films during this phase were, ''Surang'' (1953) on quarry workers, and '' Teen Batti Char Rasta'' (1953) "advocating harmony" among the different states and religions of India.

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

versions of the film were also released, called ''Nam Naadu'' (1949).

Soundtrack

Hindi Songs

The film's music composer was S. Purushottam. He had also sung songs for Hindi films like '' Billi'' (1949) and ''Meri Bhabhi'' (1948). The lyrics were by Dewan Sharar and

and the background music was scored by

Vasant Desai Vasant Desai (1912–1975) was an Indian film music composer, most remembered for his score in V. Shantaram films like ''Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje'' (1955), ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' (1957), Vijay Bhatt's ''Goonj Uthi Shehnai'' (1959), ''Sampoorn ...

. The singers were Manmohan Krishna, Umesh Sharma, Pushpa Hans and Purushottam.

Tamil Songs

The film's music composer was

G. Govindarajulu Naidu G. Govindarajulu Naidu was an acclaimed music director in 1940s and 50s in the south Indian film industry. Hailing from Tiruchirappalli, he was one among the musicians who defined the way of music in South Indian film industry. He composed music ...

and the lyrics were by Rajagopla Iyer. The singers are

M. L. Vasanthakumari Madras Lalitangi Vasanthakumari (popularly referred to as MLV) (3 July 1928 – 31 October 1990) was a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. MLV and her contemporaries D. K. Pattammal and M. S. Subbulak ...

S. Rajam S. Rajam (10 February 1919 – 29 January 2010) was a distinguished Indian Carnatic musician and painter from the state of Tamil Nadu. He was a student of the Carnatic musician Papanasam Sivan and the older brother of Tamil film director and m ...

and Mayilsamy.

References

External links

*
Songs Audio
at Surjit Singh Apna Desh songs {{V. Shantaram 1940s Hindi-language films 1949 films 1949 drama films Indian drama films Indian black-and-white films Films directed by V. Shantaram Hindi-language drama films