''Neecha Nagar'' () is a 1946 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
Chetan Anand, written by
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (7 June 1914 – 1 June 1987) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist in Urdu, Hindi and English. He won four National Film Awards in India. Internationally, his films won the Palme d'Or (Golden ...
and
Hayatullah Ansari, and produced by Rashid Anwar and A.Halim. It was a pioneering effort in
social realism
Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...
in
Indian cinema
The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...
and paved the way for many such
parallel cinema
Parallel cinema, or New Indian Cinema, is a film movement in Indian cinema that originated in the state of West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema.
Inspired by Italian Neorealism, Parallel Cinema ...
films by other directors, many of them also written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. It starred Chetan Anand's wife
Uma Anand
Uma Anand (1923 – 13 November 2009) was an Indian journalist, actress, and a broadcaster in the mid-1900s.
She was born in 1923 in Lahore, Punjab, British India to a prominent Bengali Christian family. One of her sisters, Indu Mitha, is a Bh ...
, with Rafiq Anwar,
Kamini Kaushal
Kamini Kaushal (born as Uma Kashyap, 24 February 1927) is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films and television. She is noted for her roles in films such as ''Neecha Nagar'' (1946), which won the 1946 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at Cannes Fil ...
,
Murad
Murad or Mourad ( ar, مراد) is an Arabic name. It is also common in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Turkish, Persian, and Berber as a male given name or surname and is commonly used throughout the Muslim world and Middle East.
Etymology
It ...
, Rafi Peer, Hamid Butt, and
Zohra Sehgal
Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal (born Sahibzadi Zohra Mumtazullah Khan Begum; 27 April 1912 – 10 July 2014) was an Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer. Having begun her career as a member of a contemporary dance troupe, she transitioned into acting ...
. ''Neecha Nagar'' (Lowly City) was a Hindi film adaptation in an Indian setting of
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
's 1902 play ''
The Lower Depths
''The Lower Depths'' (russian: На дне, translit=Na dne, literally: ''At the bottom'') is a play by Russian dramatist Maxim Gorky written in 1902 and produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902 under the direction of Konstantin ...
''.
''Neecha Nagar'' became the first
Indian film to gain recognition at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
, after it shared the
Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (Best Film) award at the
first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 with eleven of the eighteen entered feature films. It's the only Indian film to be ever awarded a
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
. Ironically, this film was never released in India.
Overview
It was based on a Hindi story, ''Neecha Nagar'', written by
Hayatullah Ansari, which in turn was inspired by Russian writer
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
’s ''
The Lower Depths
''The Lower Depths'' (russian: На дне, translit=Na dne, literally: ''At the bottom'') is a play by Russian dramatist Maxim Gorky written in 1902 and produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902 under the direction of Konstantin ...
''. It took an expressionist look at the gulf between the rich and poor in society.
Maker of innovative, meaningful movies
''The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'', 15 June 2007.
''Neecha Nagar'' is the debut film of actress Kamini Kaushal
Kamini Kaushal (born as Uma Kashyap, 24 February 1927) is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films and television. She is noted for her roles in films such as ''Neecha Nagar'' (1946), which won the 1946 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at Cannes Fil ...
and for Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...
as a music director.
Cast
* Rafiq Anwar as Balraj
* Uma Anand
Uma Anand (1923 – 13 November 2009) was an Indian journalist, actress, and a broadcaster in the mid-1900s.
She was born in 1923 in Lahore, Punjab, British India to a prominent Bengali Christian family. One of her sisters, Indu Mitha, is a Bh ...
as Maya
* Kamini Kaushal
Kamini Kaushal (born as Uma Kashyap, 24 February 1927) is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films and television. She is noted for her roles in films such as ''Neecha Nagar'' (1946), which won the 1946 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at Cannes Fil ...
as Rupa
* Murad
Murad or Mourad ( ar, مراد) is an Arabic name. It is also common in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Turkish, Persian, and Berber as a male given name or surname and is commonly used throughout the Muslim world and Middle East.
Etymology
It ...
as Hakim Yaqub Khan Sahab
* Rafi Peer as Sarkar
* S.P. Bhatia as Sagar
* Hamid Butt as Yaqoob Chacha
* Mohan Saigal as Raza
* Zohra Sehgal
Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal (born Sahibzadi Zohra Mumtazullah Khan Begum; 27 April 1912 – 10 July 2014) was an Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer. Having begun her career as a member of a contemporary dance troupe, she transitioned into acting ...
as Bhabi
* B. M. Vyas as Balraj's brother
Soundtrack
The music of the film was composed by Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...
with lyrics by Mammohan Anand and Vishwamitra Adil.
#"Utho Ke Hame Waqt Ki Gardish" - chorus
#"Kab Tak Gahri Raat Rahegi" - Lakshmi Shankar
#"Birha Ki Aag" - Geeta Dutt
#"Dil Mein Samaake" - N/A
#"Ek Nirali Jyot Bujhi Hai" - N/A
#"Haiya Ho Haiya" - N/A
#"Hum Rukenge Bhi Nahi" - N/A
#"So Na O Nanhi" - Lakshmi Shankar
Awards
; 1946 Cannes Film Festival
* Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
Citations
References
''Neecha Nagar'' at the ''New York Times''
Remembering Chetan Anand and Neecha Nagar
''Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...
'', 29 September 2007
External links
*
''Neecha Nagar''
on YouTube
{{The Lower Depths
1946 films
1940s Hindi-language films
Palme d'Or winners
Films based on works by Maxim Gorky
Films directed by Chetan Anand
Social realism in film
Films about poverty in India
Films scored by Ravi Shankar
Films with screenplays by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
Indian drama films
1946 drama films
Indian black-and-white films
Hindi-language drama films