''Basant Bahar'' (), directed by

Raja Nawathe Raja Nawathe (; 14 October 1924 – 15 November 2005) was an Indian film producer, director, assistant film director, in Bombay's Hindi film industry, long before it came to be known as Bollywood. He is known for films like Raj Kapoor-Narg ...

, is a

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n film. This musical had nine outstanding songs, with lyrics written by Shailendra and

Hasrat Jaipuri Hasrat Jaipuri, born Iqbal Hussain (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999) was an Indian poet, who wrote in the Hindi and Urdu languages. He was also a renowned film lyricist in Hindi films, where he won the Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricis ...

; and music composition by

Shankar–Jaikishan Shankar–Jaikishan (also known as S-J), were an Indian composer duo of the Hindi film industry, working together from 1949 to 1971. They are widely considered to be one of the greatest ever music composers of the Hindi film industry. After Jaiki ...

. The movie is an adaptation of the

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

novel ''Hamsageethe'' by TaRaSu. ''Hamsa'' means swan and ''Geethe'' means song. It is believed that before a swan dies, it will sing without opening its mouth. That mutter of melody is believed to be unmatched since any scene of lyricism falls short of its reach.

Plot

The film begins with Gopal Joshi (

Bharat Bhushan ''Bharatbhushan Bhalla'' better known as ''Bharat Bhushan'' (14 June 1920 – 27 January 1992) was an Indian actor in Hindi language films, scriptwriter and producer, who is best remembered for playing Baiju Bawra in the 1952 film of the sam ...

) singing a

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

. His father, Narsin Joshi (

Om Prakash Om Prakash (born Om Prakash Chibber 19 December 1919 – 21 February 1998) was an Indian film actor. He was born in Jammu as Om Prakash Chibber and went on to become a well-known character actor of Bollywood. His most well-known movies are Nam ...

), the royal astrologer, comes and scolds him for singing and says he should become an astrologer. On the other hand, in his neighbourhood, his neighbour Malaya, the son of the royal musician is scolded by his father for being lesser than Gopal in singing. He is preparing him for a music competition, the winner of which will become the royal musician. At the same time, Gopal enters and says that he will not participate, to which Malaya's father refuses, and convinces Gopal to participate. On the day of the competition however, Malaya gives Gopal some holy water. He has secretly added a poison that ruins Gopal's singing ability. He loses the competition. Shortly thereafter, he loses his voice completely. A new friend Gopi (

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 ...

) who is a dancer, eventually helps him regain his voice. Gopal eventually gets to sing in front of the king and impress him.

Cast

as Gopal *

as Gopi *

Kumkum Kumkuma is a powder used for social and religious markings in India. It is made from turmeric or any other local materials. The turmeric is dried and powdered with a bit of slaked lime, which turns the rich yellow powder into a red color. In Indi ...

as Radhika (as Kum Kum) *

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 ...

as Lehri Baba * Parsuram (as Parashram) *

Chand Burke Chand Burke (2 February 1932 – 28 December 2008), also known as Chand Burque, was an Indian character actress in Hindi and Punjabi language films. She was the paternal grandmother of Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh. Career Chand Burke made he ...

as Leelabai (as Chand Burque) * Shyam Kumar (actor) * S. K. Prem * Babu Raje * S. B. Nayampalli (as Nayam Pally) * Indira *

Chandrashekhar (actor) Chandrashekhar Vaidya (7 July 1922 – 16 June 2021), known simply as Chandrashekhar, was an Indian actor and filmmaker working in the Bollywood film industry. He was best known for playing supporting characters in films starring Rajesh Khanna ...

as Emperor (as Chandra Shekhar) *

Leela Chitnis Leela Chitnis (''née'' Nagarkar; 9 September 1909 – 14 July 2003) was an Indian actress in the Indian film industry, active from 1930s to 1980s. In her early years she starred as a romantic lead, but she is best remembered for her later role ...

as Gopal's mom *

as Narsin

Awards

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

- Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film in Hindi

Soundtrack

References

External links

* {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Hindi 1956 films 1950s Hindi-language films Films scored by Shankar–Jaikishan Indian epic films Films directed by Raja Nawathe Indian musical films 1956 musical films Indian black-and-white films