''Half Ticket'' is a 1962 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Kalidas and produced by

Bombay Talkies Bombay Talkies was a movie studio founded in 1934. During its period of operation, Bombay Talkies produced 40 movies in Malad, a suburb of the Indian city of Bombay. The studio was established in 1934 by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. After R ...

. Starring

Madhubala Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era, ...

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. He ...

and Pran, the film revolves around Vijay, a good-for-nothing young man who decides to leave his house when his father forces him to get married. ''Half Ticket'' is one of the last films to star Madhubala, as well as her final collaboration with her husband Kishore Kumar. It was a critical and commercial success and has become a

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

since its release. In 2020, ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' listed the film in its "10 Bollywood comedies to watch in your lifetime".

Plot

Vijay (

) is the good-for-nothing son of a rich

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

, who becomes bored of his father's constant railing and the efforts to marry him off, with the intention of getting him "settled" in life. So Vijay walks out of his home and decides to leave for Bombay and start life afresh there, however he does not have enough money for a ticket. Vijay gets a burst of inspiration from a plump child called Munna, who is waiting in line with his mother (

Tun Tun Tun Tun
Press Release, eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

half-ticket. Now disguised as Munna, Vijay is used as a mule for a diamond smuggler ( Pran) without his knowledge. On the train, Vijay also meets Rajnidevi (

) and falls in love with her. The rest of the film follows Vijay's exploits as he avoids capture by the diamond smuggler and his girlfriend ( Shammi), romances Rajnidevi while avoiding her auntie-ji ( Manorama), and reunites with his father.

Cast

as Rajnidevi / Asha *

as Vijaychand vald Lalchand vald Dhyanchand vald Hukumchand alias Munna / Vijay's Mother * Pran as Notorious Thief Raja Babu aka Chacha * Shammi as Lily Raja Babu's Mistress * Manorama as Asha's Aunty *

Pradeep Kumar Pradeep Kumar (born Sital Batabyal; 4 January 1925 – 3 November 2001) was an Indian actor who is recognized for his work in Hindi, Bengali and English-language films. Career When Kumar was 17 years old, he decided to take up acting. He sta ...

as Special Appearance * Moni Chaterjee as Seth Lalchand Vijay's Father *

Tun Tun Tun Tun
Press Release, Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

as Stage Dancer in the song ''Woh ek Nigah'' (Special Appearance)

Production

Soundtrack

Music composed by

Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He composed music for films in 13 languages. This in ...

and all songs are written by Shailendra.

Release

''Half Ticket'' was released on October 19th, 1962.

Critical reception

Critic reviews were generally positive.

Sukanya Verma Sukanya Verma is an Indian journalist and film critic. She has been the principal movie reviewer with web portal '' Rediff.com''. She has written a number of columns as a freelance writer for ''The Hindu''. She is a member of the Film Critics Gu ...

wrote, "Fabulous soundtrack, frolicking premise and frothy dialogues led by the King of Comedy (Kumar) and Queen of vivacity (Madhubala), there is nothing half-hearted about this

ilm Ilm or ILM may refer to: Acronyms * Identity Lifecycle Manager, a Microsoft Server Product * '' I Love Money,'' a TV show on VH1 * Independent Loading Mechanism, a mounting system for CPU sockets * Industrial Light & Magic, an American motion ...

" ''

Film Geek ''Film Geek'' is a 2005 independent film written and directed by James Westby and starring Melik Malkasian as Scotty Pelk. The story revolves around Pelk's life as a super film geek and a love interest that develops with a girl named Niko (Tyler ...

'' stated: "The movie makes a little more sense than that—only a little—but it matters not at all, as Kishore Kumar's limitless zany energy, Madhubala's irresistible charm, and several absolutely superb songs combine to make ''Half Ticket'' a delightful and hysterical ride."

Box office

In India, the film had a box-office gross of ₹1

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

, with a

nett Nett also written as Net, is one of the administrative divisions of Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia. Description Nett is one of the six municipalities located in the main island of Pohnpei. It corresponds to the north-central sec ...

of ₹0.5 crore, becoming the twelfth highest-grossing film of 1962. The Best of the Year gave its inflation-adjusted nett as ₹251 crore. ''Box Office'' magazine calculated its inflation-adjusted gross by comparing the collection with the price of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

in 1962, which gave it an adjusted gross of ₹119 crore in 2011.

Legacy

''Half Ticket'' is considered an important

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

made in 1960s

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 ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0056052 1962 films 1960s Hindi-language films Indian romantic comedy films Films scored by Salil Chowdhury Indian remakes of American films Cross-dressing in Indian films 1962 romantic comedy films