''Shejari'' (

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

: शेजारी) is also known as ''Padosi'' in Hindi version as (पड़ोसी, پڑوسی ''Neighbour''). Padosi is a 1941

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 ...

social drama film directed by

V. Shantaram Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre (18 November 1901 – 30 October 1990), referred to as V. Shantaram or Shantaram Bapu, was an Indian filmmaker, film producer, and actor known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films. He is most known for films such ...

. It was produced by

Prabhat Film Company Prabhat Film Company (popularly known as Prabhat Films) was an Indian film production company and film studios founded in 1929 by the noted film director V.Shantaram and his friends. It was formed in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India in 1929, towar ...

and the bilingual film in Marathi and Hindi was the last film Shantaram made for Prabhat before venturing to form his

Rajkamal Kalamandir Rajkamal Kalamandir was a noted film production company and studio in Mumbai. It was established by V. Shantaram in 1942, after he left Prabhat Films. The studio produced films both in Hindi and Marathi, and it was best known for '' Dr. Kotnis Ki Am ...

. The film is cited as one of the three social classics Shantaram made at Prabhat. The other two were ''

Duniya Na Mane Duniya may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Duniya'' (1968 film), a Hindi romantic thriller * ''Duniya'' (1984 film), a Hindi film * ''Duniya'' (2007 film), an Indian Kannada-language film * ''Duniya'' (album), a 1997 album by Raageshwar ...

'' (1937) and '' Aadmi'' (1939). The story and dialogue were by

Vishram Bedekar Vishwanath Chintamani Bedekar (1906–1998), who professionally used the name Vishram Bedekar, was an Indian Marathi-language writer and film director. Bedekar was born on August 13, 1906 in Amravati. After receiving his college degree in Amra ...

in the Marathi version, while the dialogues in the Hindi version were by Pandit Sudarshan, who also wrote the lyrics. The music director was Master Krishnarao. The famous character artist Radhakrishan made his acting debut in the film as a villain. The film starred Mazhar Khan,

Gajanan Jagirdar Gajanan Jagirdar (2 April 1907 – 13 August 1988) was a veteran Indian film director, screenwriter and actor. He worked in Hindi Cinema, also called Bollywood, as well as Marathi cinema. The period of 1942 to 1947, saw his rise as a film direct ...

, Anees Khatoon, Radha Kishan, Lajwanti, Sumitra, Gopal and Balak Ram. The story concentrated on the topical issue of Hindu-Muslim unity, making a "strong plea" for it. The film was made against the backdrop of communal tension at the formation of the

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

. Shantaram attempted a theme showing amicable relations between the Hindus and the Muslims. To achieve a better geniality, he had Mazhar Khan, a Muslim playing a Hindu and Gajanan Jagirdar, a Hindu play the Muslim character. With his trio of social films and especially ''Padosi'', Shantaram has been cited by author Bajaj as the third best pre-1960 director in the top ten rating, following

P. C. Barua Pramathesh Chandra Barua (24 October 1903 – 29 November 1951) was an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era, born in Gauripur, Dhubri, Assam. Early life Barua was the son of the royal family of ...

for ''

Devdas ''Devdas'' ( bn, দেবদাস, transliterated as ''Debdās'') is a Bengali romance novel written by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee. The story pivots a tragic triangle linking Devdas, an archetypal lover in viraha (separation); Paro, his forbidden ...

'' (1935) and

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 ''

Miss Frontier Mail ''Miss Frontier Mail'' is a 1936 Indian action crime thriller film directed by Homi Wadia and produced by Wadia Movietone. The film starred Fearless Nadia, billed as the "Indian Pearl White" in the film. Her co-stars were Sardar Mansur, John Ca ...

'' (1936), followed by

Mehboob Khan Mehboob Khan (born Mehboob Khan Ramzan Khan; 9 September 1907
at filmreference.com. – 28 ...

for ''

Mother India ''Mother India'' is a 1957 Indian epic drama film, directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar. A remake of Khan's earlier film '' Aurat'' (1940), it is the story of a poverty-stricken village woma ...

'' (1957).

Plot

The story is set in a small village in India where the villagers of different communities live in harmony. Pandit ( Mazhar Khan) a Hindu, and Mirza (

) a Muslim, are two old friends who function as the village elders and look out for each other's families. An industrialist, Onkar, arrives to construct a dam in the village. He is opposed by the two friends and the other villagers. Onkar decides to create distrust and disunity between the two communities and friends. When a house is set on fire, Mirza is made to believe it is the work of Pandit and his son. Encouraged by the villagers, he is forced to ex-communicate the two. This causes strife and the dam is constructed. Finally the dam breaks and the two old friends come together again and die in their attempt to save lives.

Cast

* Mazhar Khan as Thakur *

as Mirza * Anees Khatoon as Girija * Radhakrishan as Jayaram * Balwant Singh as Gokul * D. D. Kashyap as Onkar * Vasant Thengadi as Naim * Lajwanti as Ameena * Sumitra Devi as Munni * Gopal as Sarju * Balakram as Akbar * Sarla Devi as Jodhi

Crew

* Director:

* Producer:

* Music: Master Krishnarao Phulambrikar * Lyricist: Pandit Sudarshan * Cinematographer: V. Avadhoot * Art Direction: S. Fattelal * Sound Recordist: V. G. Damle * Special effects: Prahlad Dutt * Choreographer: Kali Bose * Editor: A. R. Sheikh, Raja Nene

Marathi Version

The Marathi version, ''Shejari'', had essentially the same cast and crew. However, in the Marathi version, the role of the Pandit was played by Keshavrao Date, while Jagirdar played his original role of the Muslim friend, Mirza. The Marathi cast included

Keshavrao Date Keshavrao Date (1889–1971) was an Indian film actor, who worked in both silent and sound movies. He tried to run his own drama company but found it difficult to perform the dual roles of manager and actor. Career His role in the drama ''An ...

, Chandrakant, Jayashree and Master Chhotu.

Review And Box-office

The social and patriotic aspect of the film was stated to be a reason for its critical as well as commercial success as were Shantaram's other socially relevant films like ''Duniya Na Mane'', ''Aadmi'' and ''Shakuntala''. The film was known for its harsh criticism of the British Divide and Rule policy.

Soundtrack

The music director was Master Krishnarao, who scored a ten-minute long song "Lakh Lakh Chanderi", featuring a dance scene which was highly commended. Vasant Desai was the assistant music director. The lyrics were written by Pandit Sudarshan and the singers were Krishnarao, Anees Khatoon, Balwant Singh, Balakram, Gopal and Mulia.

Song List

References

External links

*
Padosi (1941)
on YouTube
Shejari (1941)
on YouTube {{V. Shantaram 1941 films 1940s Hindi-language films Prabhat Film Company films Films directed by V. Shantaram 1940s Marathi-language films Indian drama films 1941 drama films Indian black-and-white films 1940s multilingual films Indian multilingual films Hindi-language drama films