''Jhoola '' () is a 1941 Indian

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 de ...

-language film directed by Gyan Mukherjee. It was produced by

Sashadhar Mukherjee Sashadhar Mukherjee (29 September 1909 – 3 November 1990) was an Indian filmmaker in Hindi cinema. He started his career with Bombay Talkies in the 1930s, and later established Filmistan Studio with Rai Bahadur Chunilal (father of music direc ...

under the banner of

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 Ra ...

. The film starred

Leela Chitnis Leela Chitnis (''née'' Nagarkar; 9 September 1909 – 14 July 2003) was an Indian actress in the Indian film industry, active from 1930s to 1980s. In her early years she starred as a romantic lead, but she is best remembered for her later role ...

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

, Shah Nawaz, V.H.Desai,

Mumtaz Ali Mumtaz Ali (15 March 1905 – 6 May 1974) was an Indian dancer and character actor in Hindi cinema from the 1940s to 1970s. He was the father of Indian actor Mehmood. He also had his own dance troupe "Mumtaz Ali Nites" which performed all ...

, Karuna Devi, Shahzadi, Rajkumari Shukla, Minoo Cooper (Also known as Minoo the Mystic), M.A.Aziz, and Master Laxman. The music was composed by Saraswati Devi with lyrics by

Kavi Pradeep Kavi Pradeep (born Ramchandra Narayanji Dwivedi; 6 February 1915 – 11 December 1998), was an Indian poet and songwriter who is best known for his patriotic song "''Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo"'' written as a tribute to the soldiers who had died d ...

. The film was remade in Telugu as ''Uyyala Jampala'' (1965).

Synopsis

A young widow called Kamala (Karuna Devi) approaches the new zamindar of her village to get the land tax waived as she is in bad financial straits. She has called for a private audience with him, where she is surprised to discover that the new zamindar is none other than Mahesh (Shah Nawaz), her one-time lover. Mahesh inquires about her late husband out of curiosity, only to discover to his surprise that she never married. Having considered him her husband, she pretended to be a widow to avoid being forced into marriage against her will. The irresponsible, hedonistic Mahesh waives off her taxes, but refuses to take the relationship any further. On his way back, he stops at the post office to send a telegram. There he meets a young lady Geeta (Leela Chitnis) seated on a swing (Jhoola), to whom he is instantly attracted. Geeta is the niece of the postmaster (V. H. Desai), with whom she is living. An amateur photographer, Mahesh captures pictures of Geeta before leaving for his home in the city. Back home, he gets into a heated discussion with his father, who intends to make a will distributing his property equally between his two sons: Mahesh and his adopted younger brother Ramesh. The old man strains his already weak heart in the course of the quarrel, suffering a heart attack. News of the heart attack is instantly relayed to Ramesh (Ashok Kumar), who rushes to meet his dying adopted father one last time. After a short meeting, the old man passes away. Mahesh, who is angry with his father for giving away half the property to a man who is not even his real son, picks up a quarrel with Ramesh. Disgusted with his brother's behaviour, Ramesh leaves the house in a huff. Unsure where to go, Ramesh boards a train. There he chances on the image of Geeta seated on the swing, which is the cover photo of a magazine. Instantly drawn to the face, he heads for Jharnaghat, the village where the young lady lives - unaware of the fact that the village is part of his inheritance. Once in Jharnaghat, Ramesh lives next door to the postmaster's assistant (Mumtaz Ali). He uses an alias to conceal his actual identity, writing love letters to Geeta using his actual name. The circumstances lead Geeta to think that her anonymous lover is none other than the man with the camera (who she later discovers is also the zamindar of her village). Ramesh' innocent actions result in a series of misunderstandings, which are eventually sorted out. The brothers finally patch up, Ramesh marrying Geeta and Mahesh agreeing to marry Kamala.

Cast

as Geeta *

as Ramesh * Shah Nawaz as Mahesh * V.H.Desai as Postmaster *

as Postman/Dancing Courtier * Karuna Devi as Kamala * Shahzadi * Rajkumari Shukla * Minoo Cooper * M.A.Aziz * Master Laxman

Reception

Jhoola was the fourth highest grossing Indian film of 1941.

Legacy

The song ''naa jaane kidhar aaj merii naav chalii re'' (I know not where my boat is heading), sung by Ashok Kumar, was an immensely popular song in the 40s. Another song from the movie, ''mai.n to dillii se dulahan'', was extremely popular. Dance master

capitalised on the success of that song to start his own dance troupe. The song ''ek chatur naar'' was later popularized when it was sung in 1968

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

Padosan ''Padosan'' () is a 1968 Indian Hindi-language musical comedy film directed by Jyoti Swaroop and produced by Mehmood, N. C. Sippy and written by Rajendra Krishan. It is a remake of the Bengali-language film ''Pasher Bari'' (1952) based on a sh ...

Manna Dey Prabodh Chandra Dey (May 1, 1919 − October 24, 2013), known by his stage name Manna Dey, was an internationally acclaimed and celebrated Indian playback singer, music director, and a musician. As a classical vocalist, he belonged to the Bhen ...

, Ashok Kumar's brother

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 Mumtaz Ali's son

Mehmood Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Siam Mahmud *Mahmood (singer) (born 1 ...

. Having played second fiddle to his heroines in all his earlier movies, ''Jhoola'' was the first movie in which Ashok Kumar played the lead role. The success of the movie established him as one of the popular actors of the era, two years before the runaway success of '' Kismet'' (1943) would propel him to stardom.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0033772, title=Jhoola
Jhoola (1941)
on indiancine.ma 1941 films 1940s Hindi-language films Hindi films remade in other languages Indian black-and-white films Films directed by Gyan Mukherjee Films scored by Saraswati Devi