''Chandni Chowk'' is a

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

classic

Muslim social The Muslim social is a film genre in Bollywood that portrays Islamic culture in India. It flourished in the 1950s and 1960s and lasted till the early 1980s. Muslim socials are divided into two categories: "classic Muslim socials" that explore na ...

drama film directed by

B. R. Chopra Baldev Raj Chopra (22 April 1914 – 5 November 2008) was a famous Indian director and producer of Bollywood industry and television series . Best known for directing Hindi films like ''Naya Daur'' (1957), '' Sadhna'' (1958), ''Kanoon'' (1961) ...

. The music was composed by Roshan with lyrics written by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in India's Hindi language film industry. He wrote Hindustani lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was ...

Saifuddin Saif Saifuddin Saif (20 July 1922 12 July 1993) was a Pakistani lyricist, poet, film producer-director, and the founder of Rehnuma Films, a film studio of 1954. He was involved in writing poems and lyrics before and after the Partition. However, ...

, Kamil Rashid, Shailendra and

Raja Mehdi Ali Khan Raja Mehdi Ali Khan (23 September 1915 – 29 July 1966) was an Indian poet, writer and a lyricist. Early life and career Raja Mehdi Ali Khan was born on 23 September 1915 at Karamabad village, near Wazirabad, Gujranwala District of Punjab, Br ...

. Story was by D. P. Berry with screenplay by

I. S. Johar Inder Sen Johar(16 February 1920 – 10 March 1984), better known as I. S. Johar, was an Indian actor, writer, producer and director, who excelled in comedic roles. Early life Inderjeet Singh Johar was born on 16th February, 1920 in Talagang ...

and dialogue written by Kamil Rashid. Produced by Prince Hira Sinh of Baria and Goverdhandas Aggarwal under the banner of Hira Films. The director of photography was Keki Mistry. The film starred

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 ...

, Shekhar, Jeevan, Agha,

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 ...

and

Smriti Biswas Smritirekha Biswas (Commonly known as Smriti Biswas) is an Indian actress. Career She has worked in many Hindi, Marathi language, Marathi and Bengali language, Bengali movies. Biswas started her career as a child artist. She worked in the fil ...

. The main hero Shekhar was one of the less appreciated lead actors of the 1940s and 1950s but has been cited as a "master of realistic portrayals" usually cast in "mid-budget films". The story involves a Nawab belonging to the

Chandni Chowk The Chandni Chowk, also known as Moonlight Square is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, India. It is located close to the Old Delhi Railway Station. The Red Fort monument is located at the eastern end of Chandni Chowk. It was bu ...

area of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

in the early 1920s, who gets "tricked into marrying his daughter to the gardener's son".

Plot

The film is set in the early 1920s in the Chandni Chowk area of Delhi. Nawab Safdarjung (Kumar) has a young daughter Zarina (

), who he's keen to get married off. One of the applicants for her hand in marriage is the young Nawab Akbar (Shekhar) of Lucknow. After the wedding takes place, Nawab Safdarjung is informed by Ibrahim Beg ( Jeevan) that Akbar is in fact the gardener's son. The plot to introduce Akbar as a Nawab was conceived by Ibrahim to teach the arrogant Nawab a lesson when he refused his newly rich neighbour, Yusuf's ( Agha) proposal to marry Zarina, by haughtily declining it for him being a mere vegetable vendor. Angry on learning about the subterfuge, the Nawab calls off the marriage. Zarina however, decides to go to her in-laws house as she now considers Akbar her husband. Akbar leaves for Egypt in the hope of earning money. He finds a job there and soon gets entangled with a dancer Noorie (Smriti Biswas), who falls in love with him. Noorie creates grave misunderstandings in Zarina's life when she reads Zarina's letter to Akbar. She sends off a wire informing the in-laws that Akbar is dead. Finally Noorie dies telling Akbar about the misunderstanding created, and Akbar returns home to his bride.

Cast

as Zarina * Shekhar as Akbar * Jeevan as Ibrahim * Agha as Yusuf *

Sunder Sunder may refer to: *Sunder (actor) Sunder Singh as some of his earlier movies he's screen name given Sundar Lall he was a noted Indian film actor between the 1930s and 1980s. He acted in many Hindi and Punjabi language films in his career ...

as Kallan * Kumar as Nawab Safdar Jung * Yashodra Kathju as Shabnam *

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Press Release, Smriti Biswas Smritirekha Biswas (Commonly known as Smriti Biswas) is an Indian actress. Career She has worked in many Hindi, Marathi language, Marathi and Bengali language, Bengali movies. Biswas started her career as a child artist. She worked in the fil ...

as Noorie * Pratima Devi as Akbar's mother *

as Begum * Krishna Kumari as Laila * Ramma Sharma as Suraiya * Kammo as Dancer * Srinath as Arif * Abbas Ajmeri as Zaman Khan *

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 Mirza * Naaz as Young Zarina *

Romi Romi is a given name and may refer to: *Romi Dames (born 1979), Japanese-American actress *Romi Garduce (born 1969), Filipino mountain climber and IT Professional in Procter and Gamble Philippines *Romi Goldmuntz (1882–1960), Belgian businessman ...

as Young Akbar

Box-office

B. R. Chopra had shifted to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

from

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

where he edited the ''Cine-Herald''. In Bombay, Chopra joined Shri Gopal Pictures as a producer. Chopra's first film as a director, Afsana (1951) was a big hit running for over twenty-five weeks (silver-jubilee). ''Chandni Chowk'', Chopra's third directorial venture was also a big success at the box office, which gave him the impetus to start his own film company B. R. Films in 1956.

Soundtrack

The film's music director was Roshan, who went on to compose music for films such as '' Barsat Ki Rat'' (1960) and ''

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

'' (1963), winning the

Filmfare Award for Best Music Director The Filmfare Best Music Album Award is given by the '' Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to the best composer/arranger of a soundtrack. This category was first presented in 1954. Naushad Ali was the fir ...

for the latter film. With lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kamil Rashid, Shailendra, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Saifuddin Saif. The film's credits however,Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
name only Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shailendra and Raja Mehdi Ali Khan as the lyricists. The playback singing was provided by

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 cont ...

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...

Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...

Shamshad Begum Shamshad Begum (Hindi: शमशाद बेगम, IAST: ''Śamśād Bēgam''; 14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) was an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry. Notable for her distinctive voice and ...

and

Usha Mangeshkar Usha Mangeshkar (born 15 December 1935) is an Indian singer who has recorded many Marathi, Manipuri, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Nepali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Assamese songs. Personal life Usha Mangeshkar is an Indian singer. She is the fou ...

Song list

References

External links

* {{B. R. Chopra 1954 films Films scored by Roshan 1950s Hindi-language films 1950s Urdu-language films Films directed by B. R. Chopra Indian drama films 1954 drama films Indian black-and-white films Urdu-language Indian films