''Badnam Basti'' (English: ''Infamous Neighbourhood'') is a 1971

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Prem Kapoor and adapted from an eponymous novel by Hindi novelist

Kamleshwar Kamleshwar may refer to: * Kamleshwar (writer) * Kamleshwar Dam * Kamleshwar Patel {{Hndis, Kamleshwar ...

. Starring Nitin Sethi, Amar Kakkad, and Nandita Thakur, it is often described as India's first gay film. The film was thought to have been

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for 40 years, but a print was found in 2019.

Plot

Set in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, ''Badnam Basti'' tells the story of Sarnam Singh, a bus driver who is also a bandit. Sarnam saves Bansuri from being raped by another bandit. Bansuri falls in love with him, but he is jailed for a petty crime. Upon release, Sarnam searches for Bansuri but does not find her. He then meets Shivraj, who works in a temple, and hires him as a cleaner in the bus. The two become physically and emotionally intimate. Sarnam again encounters Bansuri, who is now living with Sarnam's crony, Rangile, who won her at an auction in a village mela. Bansuri desires to return to Sarnam, but he is torn by his longing for Bansuri and his love for Shivraj. Shivraj, however, goes on to marry Kamala. Rangile, who is a police informant, is convicted and jailed for duplicity in legal matters. As the film ends, Sarnam takes Bansuri and her newborn to his home.

Cast

* Nitin Sethi as Sarnam Singh * Nandita Thakur as Bansuri * Amar Kakkad as Shivraj * Nandlal Sharma

Production

The film is based on (''A Street with 57 Lanes''), the debut novel of the

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 ...

writer Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena which was originally titled ''Badnam Basti'' and serialized in the Hindi journal ''Hans'' in 1956 and published as a novel in 1957. ''Badnam Basti'' was produced by the

Film Finance Corporation The Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) was the government agency responsible for funding commercial productions of Australian film, documentary, and television from 1988 to 2008. Unlike other publicly funded organisations responsible for f ...

on a budget of 250,000. It was shot in a four-week period at Mainpuri. The theme of homosexual interest between the two male characters caused Kamaleshwar's novel to attract controversy; Prem Kapoor had to excise scenes from the novel and make their relationship only suggestive in order to receive clearance by the film censorship board. Although it is labelled as India's first gay film, ''Badnam Basti'' neither explicitly depicts nor identifies the male characters as gay.'''' They are

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

rather than gay, and their relationship is secondary to their heterosexual relationships.

Songs

The music for ''Badnam Basti'' was composed by

Vijaya Raghava Rao Pandit Vijay Raghav Rao (born Vijaya Raghava Rao; 3 November 1925 – 30 November 2011) was an Indian flutist, composer, choreographer, musicologist, poet and fiction writer. He was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 1970, and in 1 ...

and

Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan Ghulam Mustafa Khan (3 March 1931 – 17 January 2021) was an Indian classical musician in the Hindustani classical music tradition, belonging to the Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, followed by Padma Bhushan ...

. Khan, who previously worked with Rao in ''

Bhuvan Shome ''Bhuvan Shome'' is a 1969 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Mrinal Sen based on the story of Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay. The cast includes Utpal Dutt (Mr. Bhuvan Shome) and Suhasini Mulay (Gauri, a village belle). Sen based his film o ...

'', sang "Sajna Kaahe Nahi Aaye" for the film. Lyrics were by Virendra Mishra and

Harivansh Rai Bachchan Harivansh Rai Bachchan (; 27 November 1907 19 December 2002) was an Indian poet and writer of the Nayi Kavita literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th century Hindi literature. He was also a poet of the Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He is be ...

; Bachchan recites the poem "Mele Mein Khoi Gujariya" in the film. Rao and Satish Bhutani also sang in the film. The sound recording was done by Narinder Singh. Following is the list of songs in ''Badnam Basti'':

Release and reception

The film was released with an A certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification. It received mixed reviews. ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' called it "a welcome step forward in the direction of 'new cinema' in India". The '' Economic Times'' noted that "''Badnam Basti'' presents a true picture of reality". However, a review by Indian magazine ''Link'' penned "no film at all – its technical gimmicks are totally out of rhythm with the insipid directorial conception". Rajika Kirpalani in his book ''Another Time, Another Place'' wrote: "little more interesting than the hotchpotch that passes for films generally", and that it "sustains its interest merely because of Nitin Sethi, who truly infuses his character with hardy, virile, rural verve". Sethi received praise from ''

The Illustrated Weekly of India ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' was an English-language weekly newsmagazine publication in India. It started publication in 1880 (as ''Times of India'' Weekly Edition; later renamed as ''The Illustrated Weekly of India'' in 1923) and ceasin ...

'', which commented that "Sarnam's loneliness has been projected superbly by Prem Kapoor. It is hard to imagine anyone but Nitin Sethi in the role".

Re-release and lost film status

Originally edited by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the film did not do well at the

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

. It was re-edited by Kapoor and re-released in 1978 with a U certificate, but was a commercial failure again. The film was thereafter thought to be

with no

prints In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserve ...

available in India, but re-emerged in 2019 when a print was located in the

archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

of the ,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. It has since been digitized and was screened by the Block Museum of Art in May 2020 and at the Kashish film festival, Mumbai.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0370319, title=Badnam Basti 1970s Hindi-language films 1971 LGBT-related films 1970s rediscovered films 1971 drama films 1971 films Films based on Indian novels Films set in Uttar Pradesh Films shot in Uttar Pradesh Hindi-language drama films Indian black-and-white films Indian LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films Male bisexuality in film Rediscovered Indian films