''Suhaag Raat '' (Wedding Night) also called Sohag Raat, is a

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

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 ...

film of

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 ...

directed by

Kidar Sharma Kidar Nath Sharma, also Kedar Sharma (12 April 1910 – 29 April 1999), was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, and Lyricist of Hindi films. While he had great success as a director of such movies as '' Neel Kamal'' (1947), ''Bawre ...

. A

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

, it was Oriental Pictures first film, with distribution rights owned by

Varma Films Varma Films was a film production and distribution company founded in Bombay, India and predominantly involved in producing and distributing Hindi-language films. During its 18-year existence, starting from its inception with the release of th ...

. The story was a joint effort by F. A. Mirza and V. Sharma, while the screenplay, dialogue and lyrics were written by Kidar Sharma. The music was composed by

Snehal Bhatkar Snehal Bhatkar (real name ''Vasudev Gangaram Bhatkar'', B. Vasudev; 17 July 1919–29 May 2007), was a well known Hindi and Marathi film music composer from Mumbai, India. He is the recipient of Lata Mangeshkar Award instituted by Governmen ...

, with cinematography by D. K. Ambre and D. C. Mehta.

Geeta Bali Geeta Bali (born Harkirtan Kaur; 1930 ‒ 21 January 1965) was an Indian actress who appeared in Hindi language films. She was the wife of noted film actor Shammi Kapoor. Early life Geeta Bali was born as Harikirtan Kaur in Amritsar in the Pu ...

made her debut in a lead role with this film, which co-starred

Bharat Bhushan ''Bharatbhushan Bhalla'' better known as ''Bharat Bhushan'' (14 June 1920 – 27 January 1992) was an Indian actor in Hindi language films, scriptwriter and producer, who is best remembered for playing Baiju Bawra in the 1952 film of the sam ...

and

Begum Para Begum Para (née Zubeda Ul Haq; 25 December 1926 – 9 December 2008) was an Indian Hindi film actress who was active mostly in the 1940s and 1950s. After almost 50 years of absence in the industry, she returned to films with her last role in ...

. The rest of the cast included Pesi Patel,

Nazir Kashmiri Nazir Kashmiri was a prolific character actor in Hindi cinema who appeared in over 100 films. His career extended from 1941 to 2008 spanning 67 years. He started his career in Lahore. He appeared in several Lahore productions before moving to Bo ...

, S. Nazir, Nazira and Shanta Kumar. The story was set in a village in

Kullu Kullu is a municipal council town that serves as the administrative headquarters of the Kullu district of the states and union territories of India, Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the Beas River in the Kullu Va ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

. Though Kullu was used as a backdrop, most of the shooting actually took place in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. The costumes worn by the film's character were representative of the hilly people of Himachal Pradesh and justified the setting. The outdoor photography by D. K. Ambre and D. C. Mehta was praised for its "picturesque" composition. The story was a romantic triangle, with two girls, one rich and the other poor, falling in love with the same man. Geeta Bali as Kammo, the poor village girl, and Begum Para as Paro, the rich landlord's daughter, portray the two girls. Bharat Bhushan as Beli, who has been saved by Kammo's father, Jaggu (Pesi Patel), plays the love interest. The arrival of the villain Rahu, Beli's step-brother, and its consequences form the rest of the story. Sohag Raat was released at Excelsior and Lamington Cinemas, in Bombay on 25 June 1948, and was the seventh highest grossing Indian film of 1948. The film's success was attributed to the "refreshing" debutante Geeta Bali, with

Baburao Patel Baburao Patel (1904–1982) was an Indian publisher and writer, associated with films and politics. Career He was the editor and publisher of India's first film trade magazine, ''Filmindia'', the first edition of which was published in 1935. B ...

titling his review of the film in the August 1948 issue of

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 ...

, as "Geeta Bali's Sohag Raat".

Plot

A dying mother asks her step-son, Rahu, to look after his younger stepbrother, Beli (

). The stepson decides to have Beli murdered in order to lay claim to the entire property. Rahu appoints Jaggu (Pesi Patel) to carry out the killing. However, Jaggu changes his mind when Beli asks him if he has any children. Jaggu then takes Beli to his village in Kullu where he lives with his cheerful and spirited daughter Kammo (

). Beli soon finds a job at the Zamindar's (Landlord) house. The landlord's daughter, Paro (

) is good friends with Kammo. Both Kammo and Paro fall in love with Beli, but Beli likes Paro. Rahu finds out that Beli is not dead and comes to the village, ingratiating himself with the Zamindar. He asks for Paro's hand in marriage and the Zamindar agrees. On the wedding night, Kammo persuades Beli and Paro to elope but they are stopped by Rahu who tries to shoot Beli. Kammo comes in the way and is shot. She dies uniting the two lovers.

Cast

as Beli *

as Paro *

as Kammo * Pesi Patel as Jaggu * Maruti *

Geeta Bali

started her cinematic career with R. K. Shorey's short film called ''The Cobbler'' (1942) at the age of twelve, following which she made her maiden feature film appearance in actor-director Majnu's ''Badnami'' (1946). Author Tilak Rishi writes that Sharma cast Bali after being attracted by her lively dance performances and "offscreen vivacity". According to Sharma, in his autobiography "The One and Lonely Kidar Sharma", he was impressed by Geeta Bali's "nymph like naughtiness", and was convinced to cast her as the main heroine. Patel's quote on Bali's debut, and about her being introduced as "a New Talent" in the film's booklet were:

Review and reception

The film was to mark a turning point for its heroine, Geeta Bali. The audiences related to Geeta Bali's lively performance and as stated by Rishi, she was "inundated with film offers". Filmindia in its review Title, referred to the film as "Geeta Bali's Sohag Raat", giving the debutant, Geeta Bali, full credit for its box-office success. According to author Ashok Raj, "Kidar Sharma reached the zenith of his intense creative work with Suhaag Raat".

Music

The music director was

, who composed songs like "Rhoom Jhoom Matware Badal Chha Gaye", "Chhod Chale Munh Mod Chale", "Javo Javo Na Satao" and "Mere Dil Ki Dhadkanon Mein" all written by Kidar Sharma. "Lakhi Babul Mere Kaahe Ko Dinhi Bides" (Father, Why Do You Send Me To a Foreign Land), the ''

bidai The Bidai were a tribe of Atakapa Indians from eastern Texas.Sturtevant, 659 History Their oral history says that the Bidai were the original people in their region.Amir Khusro Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253–1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar who lived under the Delhi Sultanate. He is an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian s ...

" was sung by

Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...

. The song, which is lip-synced by Jaggu (Pesi Patel) appeared twice in the film, the second version being the sad one when Kammo dies. Songlist:

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0332419 , title=Suhaag Raat 1948 films 1940s Hindi-language films Indian black-and-white films Indian romantic drama films 1948 romantic drama films