''Hatim Tai'' is a

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

Indian

Hindustani language Hindustani (; Devanagari: , * * * * ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lang ...

fantasy film directed by

Homi Wadia Homi Wadia (22 May 1911 – 10 December 2004) was an Indian film director and producer in Bollywood (Hindi cinema). He was the co-founder of Wadia Movietone productions, established in 1933 and later after the closure of Wadiatone, he founded Ba ...

for Basant Pictures. The story, script and scenario were by

JBH Wadia Jamshed Boman Homi Wadia (13 September 1901 – 4 January 1986), commonly referred to as J. B. H. Wadia, was a prominent Bollywood movie director, screenwriter, producer and founder of Wadia Movietone Studio. He was born in prominent Parsi fami ...

, with dialogues by Hakim Latta and Chand Pandit. The film had several past favorites of Wadia Brothers credited in the film title role, such as Sardar Mansoor, Mithoo Miyan and Dalpat as actors and Boman Shroff as production manager. The cast included

Shakila Shakila Mohseni Sedaghat ( fa, شکیلا محسنی صداقت, Šakīlā Moḥsenī Sadāqat), known mononymously as Shakila ( fa, شکیلا, Šakīlā; born May 3, 1962), is an Iranian singer-songwriter based in San Diego, California. She is ...

, P. Jairaj, Meenaxi, Naina, Krishna Kumari, S. N. Tripathi, B.M. Vyas and Sheikh. The film is about

Hatim Tai Hatim al-Tai ( ar, حاتم الطائي, ''Hatim of the Tayy tribe''; died 578), full name Ḥātim bin ʿAbd Allāh bin Saʿd aṭ-Ṭāʾiyy ( ar, حاتم بن عبد الله بن سعد الطائي) was the ruling prince and poet of the T ...

(Hatim of Tayy), a merchant and poet who was known for his charity and kindness. In this Arabian Nights style fantasy Hatim Tai, referred to as Shehzada (Prince) from

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

, undertakes a perilous journey in order to save a young fairy turned to stone. He can do this by answering seven questions posed to him on the way.

Plot

While dispensing charity, Hatim Tai ( P. Jairaj), a kind-hearted Shehzada (Prince) of Yemen meets a young beggar who is the rich Shezada Munir. The girl Munir loves, Husn Bano, has been cursed by a fairy, Gulnar Pari (

), that if she gets married she will turn to stone due to her father Saudagar (merchant) Bardoz's unwelcome advances towards Gulnar. On finishing the curse, Gulnar herself turns into a stone statue as a human hand has touched her. The father is repentant and has tried to get wise men from all over to find a way out of this predicament. There are seven questions written on the wall and on finding the answers for all, the curse will be lifted and Gulnar too will return to her normal self. Hatim Tai agrees to undertake the mission and extracts a promise of marriage between Munir and Husn Bano. Bardoz agrees to the promise and keeps Munir with him. Hatim Tai sets out with his companion Nazroo Dhobi on the journey, coming across mermaids from an undersea kingdom, and are able to answer the first question. They go through several similar adventures meeting Gulnar pari's twin sister Husna Pari (Shakila), who helps them. Hatim Tai and Husna Pari fall in love, but the marriage can only take place if Husna gives up her wings. However, they have to wait as Hatim has to complete his task and Husna's father has to agree. Finally all the questions are answered along with several other adventures and Gulnar resumes normal form. Husna pari's father gives permission for Hatim to marry Husna and Munir and Husan Bano also get married.

Cast

Production

The film has been remade several times since 1929, but Homi Wadia's ''Hatim Tai'' in Gevacolour is cited to be the "most popular version". The film, though produced at Basant Studios, was credited as a Wadia Brothers production. The special effects for this rare A-Grade film from Basant were by

Babubhai Mistry Babubhai Mistry (5 September 1918 – 20 December 2010) was an Indian film director and special effects pioneer who is best known for his films based on Hindu mythology, such as ''Sampoorna Ramayana'' (1961), ''Mahabharat'' (1965), and ''Parasm ...

and were regarded as the main draw for the large audiences. The film was dubbed into

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

with the title ''Maya Mohini'' and released in 1956. Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass wrote the dialogues and lyrics for the Tamil version.

T. Chalapathi Rao Tatineni Chalapathi Rao (22 December 1920 – 22 February 1994) was an Indian music composer who worked in Telugu cinema. His career spanned more than three decades from early 1950s, till 1980s. He was the cousin of T. Prakash Rao. Early life ...

composed the music for the Tamil songs.

Music

The music direction was by S. N. Tripathi, and according to the credits of the film he was assisted by JBH Wadia. The lyricists were Chand Pandit, B.D. Mishra, Akhtar Romani 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 ...

. The songs were sung by Mohammed Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur, Shamshad Begum, Asha Bhosle, and Sheikh. The song "Parwar Digaar-e-Alam", sung by Mohammed Rafi with lyrics by Akhtar Romani became popular. At the screening of the film in Hyderabad, the then Nizam of Hyderabad had the song repeatedly shown eleven times.

Songlist

Tamil Songlist

composed the music for the Tamil songs. All the tunes for all the songs for both languages are the same.

References

External links

* {{Homi Wadia 1956 films 1950s Hindi-language films Films directed by Homi Wadia Films scored by S. N. Tripathi Indian fantasy films Films based on One Thousand and One Nights 1950s fantasy films