''Chand'' () is a

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

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 ...

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 starring

Meena Kumari Meena Kumari (born Mahjabeen Bano; 1 August 1933 – 31 March 1972) was an Indian actress and poet, who worked in Hindi films. Popularly known as ''The Tragedy Queen'', she was active between 1939 and 1972. Kumari is widely considered one of ...

, Balraj Sahni,

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

and

Manoj Kumar Harikrishan Goswami (born 24 July 1937), better known by his screen name Manoj Kumar, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, lyricist and editor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is known for acting and making films with patriotic theme ...

in lead roles. The film is directed by Lekhraj Bhakri and its music is given by

Hemant Kumar Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989), known professionally as Hemant Kumar and Hemanta Mukherjee, was a legendary Indian music composer and playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, as well as other Indian ...

Plot

Although the film was released in 1959, its story is set in the early 1950s before the introduction of

The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 The Hindu Marriage Act is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted in 1955 which was passed on 18th of May. Three other important acts were also enacted as part of the Hindu Code Bills during this time: the Hindu Succession Act (1956), the Hind ...

which opposes

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...

. Mr. Kapoor ( Balraj Sahni), a rich and successful man, is happily married to his wife Kamla (

). The only grief in their lives is the absence of a legal heir as Kamla is unable to conceive. Vimla (

) is happy-go-lucky chirpy woman who's in love with Gokul (

) but due to his scheming father who also works as a ''Munshi'' (accountant) ( Sajjan) at the Kapoors', she is married to Mr. Kapoor in lieu of money. The Kapoors find Vimla as their only option to bear a child while Vimla blames her father (M. Kumar) for her fate, unknown to the fact that it was actually the ''Munshi'' who did it. Vimla soon realises that it is only the child which matters for the Kapoors and soon leave their house. Back at home, Vimla, now in depression, pledges to get back her child via legal route but she again loses to the Kapoors and is sent to a mental asylum. On the other hand, the Kapoors are also worried about Vimla's condition as they personally don't have any problems with her. In the climax of the film, Vimla flees from the asylum in order to end her life but at the nick of the moment is saved by the Kapoors'. The film ends on a happy note when Vimla realises their true intentions and the three of them live happily ever after.

Cast

* Balraj Sahni as Mr. Kapoor *

as Kamla *

as Vimla *

as Gokul * M. Kumar as Vimla's father *

Achala Sachdev Achala Sachdev (3 May 1920 – 30 April 2012) was an Indian actress who appeared in classic films of Hindi language film industry. She was from Peshawar and started her career as a child actor. She later became known for mother and grandmother ...

as Ganga * Daisy Irani as Ganga's son *

Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...

as Sharbati, the maid * Sunder as Sharbati's husband * Sajjan as Munshi * Helen as Dancer *

Kumari Naaz Salma Baig (20 August 1944 - 19 October 1995) popularly known as Kumari Naaz or Baby Naaz was an Indian actress in Hindi language films. Career She started her career as a child actor in films. Her best remembered role as a child artiste was i ...

(guest appearance)

Crew

* Director – Lekhraj Bhakri * Producer – Kuldeep Sehgal * Story – Lekhraj Bhakri * Photography – Ranjodh Thakur * Music –

* Lyrics – Shailendra, Bharat Vyas, Akhtar Lakhnawi * Editing – Lachhmann Das * Art Direction – Desh Mukherji * Playback Singers –

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 ...

, Suman Kalyanpur, Ranganath Jadhav

Soundtrack

The film had six songs in it. The music of the film was composed by

. Shailendra, Bharat Vyas and Akhtar Lakhnawi wrote the lyrics. # "Aye Baadalon" -

. Lyrics by: Bharat Vyas # "Galat Hai Lut Liyaa Tumko Husn Vaalon Ne" - Ranganath Jadhav. Lyrics by: Akhtar Lakhnawi # "Kabhi Aaj Kabhi Kal" - Lata Mangeshkar, Suman Kalyanpur. Lyrics by: Shailendra # "Khoyi Khoyi Akhiyan" - Lata Mangeshkar. Lyrics by: Shailendra # "Aa Jaa Ri Chandani" - Lata Mangeshkar. Lyrics by: Shailendra # "Muskurao Laadle Door Ho Andhera" - Lata Mangeshkar. Lyrics by: Shailendra

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0139106, Chand 1959 films Indian drama films 1950s Hindi-language films