''Tamanna'' is a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film. It was released in 1942. The film was directed by

Phani Majumdar Phani Majumdar was a pioneering Indian film director, who worked in Hindi cinema, most known for his film '' Street Singer'' (1938) starring K.L. Saigal noted for its song, ''Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Jaye'', Meena Kumari classic ''Aarti'' (19 ...

, who also wrote the screenplay, for the Laxmi Productions Ltd. banner. This was the first film from the Laxmi banner, which had been started by Chimanlal Trivedi who earlier headed Circo Productions. ''Tamanna'' was also the renowned dancer,

Leela Desai Leela Desai, aka Lila Desai, was an Indian actress in the 1930s and 1940s. She was the daughter of Umedram Lalbhai Desai and his second wife Satyabala Devi, a musician of the early 1900s. Desai was born in Newark, New Jersey when her parent ...

's, first film in Bombay. The main cast included Leela Desai,

P. Jairaj Paidi Jairaj (born 28 September 1909 – 11 August 2000) was an Indian actor, director and producer known for his works majorly in Hindi; few Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu language films, and Telugu theatre.Luminaries of 20th Century, Potti Sreeram ...

Karan Dewan Karan Dewan (born Dewan Karan Chopra; 6 November 1917 - 2 August 1979) was an Indian cinema actor in Hindi films. He worked in over seventy films from 1941 to 1979. He started as a journalist while still in college, editing a film-based magazin ...

, Jagdish Sethi and

K. C. Dey Krishna Chandra Dey (24 August 1893 – 28 November 1962), better known as K.C. Dey, was an Indian music director, music composer, musician, singer, actor, and music teacher born in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He was S.D. Burman's first musical te ...

, who besides acting, composed the music. S. K. Kalla wrote the dialogue and lyrics. Leela Desai, had previously worked in films made in Calcutta, like ''

Vidyapati Vidyapati ( – 1460), also known by the sobriquet ''Maithil Kavi Kokil'' (the poet cuckoo of Maithili), was a Maithili and Sanskrit polymath-poet-saint, playwright, composer, biographer, philosopher, law-theorist, writer, courtier ...

'' (1937), ''

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

'' (1937), ''Kapal Kundala'' (1939), '' Nartaki'' (1940) and ''Jiban Maran'' (1940).

Nargis Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981) was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, she made her screen debut in a minor role ...

appeared as a child actress in the film and "charmed the audiences". The story revolves around two people, Ramesh and Uma, who are in love with each other. Uma forgoes her love for Ramesh in order to help him fulfill his mission by marrying someone else.

Plot

Ramesh (

) is a straightforward young man with a desire to help mankind. He works as an engineer in a mill, and is interested in inventive research. Half his income is spent on that, and the rest on the betterment of the villagers. Uma (

), is a wealthy young girl and lives with her brother, who is a Professor. She can not avail of money entitled to her till she gets married. Uma and Ramesh meet when they share a taxi. They soon fall in love but Ramesh's ideals come in the way. Uma marries someone else in order to procure the money for Ramesh to fulfill his mission.

Cast

;Main Cast *

as Uma * Jairaj as Ramesh * Jagdish Shethi as Arabind *

as Ramdas * Shanta Kumari as Shanti *

as Anupam * Shankerlal as Mr. Mehta * Majid as Chimanbhoy ;Supported by

Suraiya Suraiya Jamal Sheikh (15 June 1929 – 31 January 2004), popularly known by the mononym Suraiya, was a popular actress and playback singer in India's Hindi-language films. She was active from 1936 to 1963, and was the most celebrated actress ...

, Babyrani, and Kashinath.

Review

In his review of ''Tamanna'',

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. ...

, editor of the cine-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 ...

'' of August 1948, commented, "The fundamental defect in the picture is the poor story, poorly presented". He put the blame of this on director Phani Majumdar. He praised Leela Desai, Jairaj, and Jagdish, with a special mention for K. C. Dey's acting "K. C. Dey attracts attention with his emotional work in certain tense moments".

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Manna Dey Prabodh Chandra Dey (May 1, 1919 − October 24, 2013), known by his stage name Manna Dey, was an internationally acclaimed and celebrated Indian playback singer, music director, and a musician. As a classical vocalist, he belonged to the Bhe ...

and the background score composed by

with lyrics by S. K. Kalla.

Song List

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id = 0236787, title =Tamanna (1942 film) 1942 films 1940s Hindi-language films Indian black-and-white films Indian drama films 1942 drama films Hindi-language drama films