''Sassi'' is a 1954 Pakistani

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

film directed by Dawood Chand and produced by

J.C. Anand Jagdish Chand Anand better known as J.C. Anand (1922 – 17 May 1977) was a Pakistani film producer and distributor. One of the largest distributors within the country, he founded Eveready Pictures in Karachi. Background Anand was born in ...

under banner

Eveready Pictures Eveready Pictures is a Pakistani film and television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television ...

. It was a remake of the director's own ''Sassi Punnu'' (1939) which was based on the legend of the same name. Sabiha played the titular role in the film opposite

Sudhir Sudhir is an Indian given name, Indian masculine given name. The Sanskrit word ' means "very wise", "resolute". Notable people with the name include: *Sudhir (Pakistani actor) (1922–1997), Pakistani actor *Sudhir (Hindi actor) (1944–2014), ...

, while

Asha Posley Sabira Begum better known as Asha Posley ( Punjabi, ur, ) (1927 – 25 March 1998) was the first heroine of Pakistani films. Early life Asha Posley was born as Sabira Begum in Patiala, Punjab, British India in 1927. Asha Posley was the da ...

, Nazar and Ghulam Mohammad were in pivotal roles. The musical socre of the film was composed by G. A. Chishti. ''Sassi'' was a commercially successful film, and is recognised as the first

golden jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...

hit film of the

Pakistani cinema Cinema of Pakistan, popularly known as Lollywood ( ur, ), refers to the film industry, filmmaking industry in Pakistan. Pakistan is home to several film studios centres, primarily located in its three largest cities – Karachi, Lahore, and ...

Plot summary

The plot is based on ''

Sassui Punnhun Sassi Punnuh or Sassui Punhun ( sd, سَسُئيِ پُنهوُن) is a love story from Punjabi, Sindhi, and Balochi folklore. The story is about a faithful lover who will endure any difficulty while seeking her beloved husband who was separat ...

'', one of the four popular tragic romances of the Punjab. It revolves around Sassi who faces hardships and difficulties while seeking his beloved husband who was separated from her by the rivals.

Cast

* Sabiha *

* Ghulam Mohammad *

* Nazar * Shah Nawaz * Saleem Raza * Maya Devi * Bibbo * G. N. Butt

Soundtrack

Production

''Sassi'' was the remake of director Dawood Chand's 1939 film ''Sassi Punnu''.

Sabiha Khanum Sabiha Khanum ( ur, ; born Mukhtar Begum; 16 October 1935 – 13 June 2020), was a Pakistani film actress. She is also known as the "First Lady of Pakistani Cinema", and is often recognized for her role in Pakistani cinema during the 1950s an ...

played the titular role in the film, the role played by her mother in 1939 version. The film had a huge production budget with respect of that time. Filming took place in the

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

and neighbouring areas of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. Hemant Kumar's song ''Na Yeh Chand Hoga, Na Taray Rahen Ge'' was plagiarized in the film.

Release and reception

''Sassi'' was released on 3 June 1954 in the cinemas of Lahore and Katachi. The film ran for 51 weeks, and create the history by being first Pakistani film to celebrate its

Golden jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...

on the Box office. The film was released in India as well.

Critical reception

While reviewing the film, Indian Magazine ''

Filmindia ''filmindia'' is an Indian monthly magazine covering Indian cinema and published in English language. Started by Baburao Patel in 1935, ''filmindia'' was the first English film periodical to be published from Bombay. The magazine was reportedl ...

'' panned it stating, "Sassi is an ugly, rotten seventh rate picture which makes the spectator restless in his seat ten minutes after its start. There is not a trace of technical skill, art or imagination in the entire length of this darkened celluloid. Extremely poorly photographed, more poorly directed and containing silly performances, shoddy sets and dreadfully dull music, the picture is a rarely ugly and crude sight and makes one limp with sheer boredum by the time it traverses its tiresome course to reach its long awaited end."

Impact

Due to the first

hit film of the newly established

Pakistani film industry Cinema of Pakistan, popularly known as Lollywood ( ur, ), refers to the filmmaking industry in Pakistan. Pakistan is home to several film studios centres, primarily located in its three largest cities – Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad. ...

, the film established the industry and proved as an indigenous for the future productions. The film proved to be a breakthrough for Sabiha's career. Due to the film's success, Eveready Pictures made another folktale-based film ''Sohni'' (1955), also starring Sabiha and Sudhir.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0239939 1950s Urdu-language films Pakistani romance films Urdu-language Pakistani films Pakistani black-and-white films Pakistani remakes of Indian films