''Nartakee '' (Dancer) is a 1963 Indian social film directed by

Nitin Bose Nitin Bose (26 April 1897 – 14 April 1986) was an Indian film director, cinematographer and screenwriter of the nation's film industry. He was born in Calcutta and died in the same city. In the 1930s and early 1940s, he worked with New Theatre ...

. The story and screenplay were written by

Dhruv Chatterji Dhruv is a spelling variant of Dhruva. It is a Sanskrit word and commonly refers to: * Dhruva, a devotee of Vishnu who later became the Pole Star in Hindu mythology Dhruv may also refer to: Military * HAL Dhruv, a multi-role helicopter developed ...

, with dialogues by S. K. Prabhakar. Produced by Mukund Trivedi for Film Bharti, its director of photography was Nana Ponkshe. Director

Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as ''Do Bigha Zamin'', ''Parineeta (1953 film), Parineeta'', ''Biraj Bahu'', ''Devdas (1955 film), D ...

did the editing for the film. Choreography was by Sohanlal, assisted by choreographer Saroj. The music director was

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...

and the lyricist was

Shakeel Badayuni Shakeel Badayuni (3 August 1916 – 20 April 1970) was an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist and songwriter in Hindi / Urdu language films. Early life Shakeel Badayuni was born in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Mohammed Jamaal Ahmed Sokhta Qadir ...

. The film starred

Sunil Dutt Sunil Dutt (born Balraj Dutt; 6 June 1929 — 25 May 2005) was an Indian actor, film producer, director and politician. Dutt was one of the major stars of Hindi cinema in the late 1950s and 1960s and continued to star in many successful film ...

and

Nanda Nanda may refer to: Indian history and religion * Nanda Empire, ruled by the Nanda dynasty, an Indian royal dynasty ruling Magadha in the 4th century BCE ** Mahapadma Nanda, first Emperor of the Nanda Empire ** Dhana Nanda (died c. 321 BCE), last ...

in key roles with

Om Prakash Om Prakash (born Om Prakash Chibber 19 December 1919 – 21 February 1998) was an Indian film actor. He was born in Jammu as Om Prakash Chibber and went on to become a well-known character actor of Bollywood. His most well-known movies are Nam ...

, Agha, Zeb Rehman, Pritibala and

Aruna Irani Aruna Irani (born 3 May 1946) is an Indian actress, who has acted in over 500 films throughout Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and Gujarati cinema, playing mostly supporting and character roles. She has won two Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Act ...

. According to Nanda, as stated in an interview to journalist Ranjan Das Gupta, "It was Nitin Bose who extracted the best from me as an actress in Nartaki. He followed Satyajit Ray's style of realistic film making and advised me to use the least amount of makeup". The story was about a dancing girl (Nanda) brought up in the

Tawaif A ''tawaif'' was a highly successful entertainer who catered to the nobility of the Indian subcontinent, particularly during the Mughal Empire, Mughal era. The tawaifs excelled in and contributed to music, dance (mujra), theatre, and the Urdu l ...

(courtesan) milieu, who wants to better herself with an education. She is helped amidst great societal clash, by a newly arrived Professor (Sunil Dutt).

Cast

as Lakshmi *

as Professor Nirmal Kumar *

as Seth Jamnadas * Agha as Azaad * Zeb Rehman * Pritibala as Ratna *

Nana Palsikar Nana Palshikar ( mr, नाना पळशीकर) (1907 – 1 June 1984) was an Indian actor who appeared in over 80 Hindi films. He made his film debut in 1935 with ''Dhuwandhar'', and went on to play character roles in both Hindi mainstream ...

as Professor Varma * Chandrima Bhaduri as Lakshmi's Aunt, Rampiary * Moni Chatterjee as the Principal * Polson

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ravi, with Shakeel Badayuni's lyrics. One of the popular song from this film was "Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Akele The Ham" sung by

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 ...

. A critically acclaimed song was "Zindagi Ki Uljhanon Ko Bhool Kar" sung by Asha Bhosle. The other popular song was "Aaj Duniya Badi Suhani Hai" sung by Asha Bhosle. The playback singers were Asha Bhosle, Mahendra Kapoor, Mohammed Rafi, Usha Khanna and Usha Mangeshkar.

Songlist

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0057356, title=Nartakee 1963 films 1960s Hindi-language films Indian dance films Films scored by Ravi