''Dak Ghar'' 1965

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 ...

fim based on an eponymous 1912 play by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

. It was directed by Zul Vellani and starred Sachin,

Mukri Mohammed Umar Mukri (5 January 1922 – 4 September 2000), popularly known as Mukri, was an Indian actor, who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. Born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Uran, in Kokani Muslim Family. He started his film career with th ...

, AK Hangal, Sudha and

Satyen Kappu Satyendra Kappu (born Satyendra Sharma; also credited as Satyen Kappu; 7 February 1931 – 27 October 2007), was an Indian character actor in Bollywood films. He has acted in 390 films. His most remembered role is Ramlal in the movie ''Sholay'' ...

among others, with

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s by Balraj Sahni and

Sharmila Tagore Sharmila Tagore (also known as Begum Ayesha Sultana; born 8 December 1944) is a retired Indian actress, primarily known for her work in Hindi and Bengali cinema, Tagore is the recipient of two National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award, and the F ...

Background

'' Dak Ghar (The Post Office)'' is a 1912

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

play by

. W.B. Yeats produced an English-language version of the play and also wrote a preface to it. It was also translated into Spanish and French. It was performed in English for the first time in 1913 by the Irish Theatre in London with Tagore himself in the attendance. The Bengali original was staged in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in 1917. It also had a successful run in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

with performances in concentration camps during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. A Polish version was performed under the supervision of

Janusz Korczak Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). After spending ...

in the

Warsaw ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

Plot

Amal, a young boy with an incurable disease is trapped inside the house by the local pandit-doctor's orders. He spends the day chattering with passersby and villagers while daydreaming about those encounters later. When the chowkidar tells him the new building across the road from his house is a new Post Office belonging the Raja, Amal starts fantasising about visiting the King beyond the hills, and getting a letter or delivering the letters going all around, setting out from the confine of his house.

Cast

Sachin Pilgaonkar Sachin Pilgaonkar, often known mononymously by his screen name Sachin, is an Indian actor, director, producer, writer and singer of Marathi and Hindi films. He has directed and acted in several Marathi films of the late 1980s and early 1990s. ...

as Amal * AK Hangal as Pandit-doctor *

as Madhabdutta, Amal's uncle (Pishemoshai in original play) * Sudha as flower seller girl * Balraj Sahni as Andhe Baba/Fakir (Thakurdas in original play) *

as Dahiwala (Doiwala in original play)

Soundtrack

* "Jhan Jhan Baaje Iktaara, Raja Ka Mai Harakaara"... Sushma Shrestha * "Kheli Hu Bahaaron Me, Bahaaron Me, Bahaaron Me Pali Hu Hu"... * "Kyu Roj Akela Jaata Hai Ae Suraj Le Chal Saath Mujhe"... Bhupinder * "Taaza Dahi Le Lo Taaza Dahi, Taaza Dahi Le Lo"... Shyam Vasvani * "Ye Bhor Jahaan Se Aati Hai, Koi Mujhko Wahan Pahuncha Deta"... Bhupinder

References

External links

* 1960s Hindi-language films 1965 films Films based on works by Rabindranath Tagore Indian films based on plays Indian drama films {{1960s-Hindi-film-stub