''Barsaat'' (English: ''Rain'') is a

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

Indian

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 ...

-language film directed by

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: �aːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ born Shrishti Nath Kapoor; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered one of th ...

. The film stars the famous duo of Kapoor 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 ...

as well as

Prem Nath Prem Nath Malhotra, better known as Prem Nath, was an Indian actor and director, who was best known for his works in Hindi films. Nath made his debut with the film ''Ajit'' (1948), and went on to appear in over 100 films throughout his career. ...

. It was also the introduction of 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 ...

in her first film role. ''Barsaat'' was one of the first major hit films directed by Kapoor. This success allowed Kapoor to buy RK Studios in 1950. This was Raj Kapoor's second directional venture after Aag. Barsaat became the highest-grossing movie in Indian cinema at the time of its release beating Mehboob Khan's Andaz which released 2 months earlier.

Plot

The film revolves around two love stories. Pran (Raj Kapoor) and Reshma (Nargis) and Gopal (Prem Nath) and Neela (Nimmi). Two friends with opposite personalities, the rich but sensitive Pran and the womanizing Gopal both have affairs with two mountain girls while holidaying in the valley of Kashmir. While Pran and Reshma's love is true and reciprocated, Gopal is a womanizing villain, who disregards the faithful Neela (Nimmi) and condemns her to wait faithfully for his return with the barsaat (rainy season). Many plot intrigues follow through with Pran and Reshma facing many trials on the path to true love, including parental opposition, accidents, and an attempted forced marriage of Reshma to an uncouth fisherman. The couple are finally reunited. Gopal on the other hand finally becomes a reformed character and rushes to claim the ever-faithful Neela who has been pining away, only to arrive to find his true love dead. The film ends with Gopal lighting Neela's funeral pyre as the rains finally come.

Artwork and Publicity

The much-acclaimed poster and publicity for the movie were illustrated by the master artist Dr

S. M. Pandit Sambanand Monappa Pandit (25 March 1916 – 30 March 1993) was an Indian painter from Karnataka, popular in the school of Realism in contrast to the contemporaneous net-traditionalist Bengal Renaissance and other Indian modern art movements ...

. One of the posters showing the heroine dangling on the arm of the hero would go on to inspire the R K Studios' famous logo.

Music

The music of ''Barsaat'' became famous upon the film's release in 1949. The film was the debut for music directors

Shankar Jaikishan Shankar may refer to: People *Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist * S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar *Sanka ...

and established their careers. The famous playback singer

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...

famously sang for both Nargis and Nimmi in ''Barsaat''. Actress Bimla Kumari appears swaying in the song 'Hawa mein udta jaaye', the song become very popular as well. The soundtrack was listed by Planet Bollywood at number 1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks. Rakesh Budhu of Planet Bollywood gave 10 stars stating, "Barsaat is ideally one of Hindi cinema's best soundtracks".

Track list

References

External links

*
Review at Rediff.com

Barsaat (1949)
on YouTube {{Raj Kapoor 1940s Hindi-language films 1949 films Films directed by Raj Kapoor Films scored by Shankar–Jaikishan R. K. Films films Indian black-and-white films Indian romantic drama films 1949 drama films