''Jhinder Bondi'' ( bn, ঝিন্দের বন্দী; English: Prisoner of Jhind) is a 1961 Indian

Bengali-language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken of t ...

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

produced by Bholanath Roy under his banner B.N Productions and directed by the legendary

Tapan Sinha Tapan Sinha (2 October 1924 – 15 January 2009) was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both ...

, starring

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar ( bn, উত্তম কুমার; born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), popularly known as the Mahanayak, was an Indian actor, producer, director, Screenwriter, script writer, composer, and sing ...

Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...

Arundhati Devi Arundhati Devi (; also known as Arundhati Mukherjee or Mukhopadhyay) (1924 – 1990) was an Indian actress, director, writer and singer who is predominantly known for her work in Bengali cinema. Arundhati Devi was a student of Visva-Bharati Un ...

in lead role and

Tarun Kumar Tarun Kumar (born 8 January 1980) is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has also appeared in few Tamil and Malayalam films. He has received three state Nandi Awards and the National Film Award for his works. H ...

Radhamohan Bhattacharya and others playing the supporting roles. Uttam Kumar played duel role in this film. Film music composed by Ustad

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he ...

. The film is regarded as one of the greatest and most iconic Bengali film ever. The film become successful at the box office. The film was based on a novel of same name ঝিন্দের বন্দী written by

Saradindu Bandyopadhyay Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (30 March 1899 – 22 September 1970) was an Indian Bengali-language writer. He was actively involved with Bengali cinema as well as Bollywood. The creator of the Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi, Sharadindu compos ...

, though the ending has been totally altered from that in the novel, whose base plot was adapted from the 1894 novel ''

The Prisoner of Zenda ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' is an 1894 adventure novel by Anthony Hope, in which the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces within the realm are such that, in order ...

'' by

Anthony Hope Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope (9 February 1863 – 8 July 1933), was a British novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: ''Th ...

. The book had already been adapted into English-language films in

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

, and later, in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

is cast, uncharacteristically, in a villain role in the film. Sarod maestro

directs the music.

Plot

A person comes to meet Gauri Shankar Roy (

), who lives in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. He introduces himself as a 'fauji Sardar' (Chief of the Armed Forces) of Jhind, a small kingdom in

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

. He says that the to-be King of Jhind, Shankar Singh, was found missing from the kingdom right before his coronation; this is apparently a conspiracy by his own brother Udit Singh, who wants the kingdom for himself. Earlier, too, there were two occasions when coronation was arranged, but on both occasions, the King was found missing. Udit is a cruel man, unfit to be a good king. Shankar Singh has his vices too, but is a kind-hearted person who would care for his citizens and is thus worthy to be king. Now, coincidentally, Gauri looks exactly like Shankar Singh (also played by

). This being the last hope, the fauji Sardar requests him to pretend to be the King for the coronation and until the real King can be found. Gauri agrees. The two set off for Jhind. Things aren't easy at the Palace in Jhind. Despite the great luxury of kingly life, Gauri is constantly threatened by Udit and his friend, the dashingly handsome but evil Mayurvahan (

). The coronation however takes place successfully; moreover, the pretend King becomes engaged to Rani Kasturi Bai (

) on the occasion. In spite of the situation becoming more and more tense, with the life of the King at stake, a romance blooms between Kasturi Bai and Gauri. A secret agent reveals that the real King is hidden in a fortress owned by Udit, who will murder him as soon as he gets rid of Gauri. The fauji Sardar then reveals to Gauri in secret that Gauri deserves the throne as much as Shankar or Udit because they were all the sons of the then-

Dewan ''Dewan'' (also known as ''diwan'', sometimes spelled ''devan'' or ''divan'') designated a powerful government official, minister, or ruler. A ''dewan'' was the head of a state institution of the same name (see Divan). Diwans belonged to the el ...

of Jhind, Kali Shankar Roy. The then-king being issue less, adopted Shankar and Udit as sons. After a secret entry to the fortress where the King is being held prisoner, Gauri fights a battle with Mayurvahan, finally killing him as well as surprising and killing Udit. As he approaches his look-alike Shankar Singh, he has a momentary desire to kill the King and gain the kingdom for himself, he being as deserving by blood as Shankar Singh; but his humanity wins over and he approaches the King respectfully, addressing him as "Your Highness". He then bids a last goodbye to Kasturi Bai and mounts a horse to head back to Kolkata.

Cast

as Gauri Shankar Roy/Shankar Singh *

as Rani Kasturi Bai *

as Mayurvahan * Radhamohan Bhattacharya as Fauji Sardar of Jhind *

as Udit Singh, Brother of Shankar Singh * Dilip Roy as Rudrarup, a loyal companion of the king *

Sandhya Roy Sandhya Roy is an Indian actress and politician. She is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She is the recipient of BFJA Award for three times, and one Filmfare Awards East best actress for '' Ganadevata''. Roy made her cinematic debut with ...

as Champa * Dhiren Mukherjee

Soundtrack

Production

The film is based on the novel of

Saradindu Bandopadhyay Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (30 March 1899 – 22 September 1970) was an Indian Bengali-language writer. He was actively involved with Bengali cinema as well as Bollywood. The creator of the Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi, Sharadindu compos ...

of a same name which he itself rewrite of famous English novel Prisoner of Jenda. For the first time two legendary actor of Bengali cinema Uttam and Soumitra worked together. This is the second work with

for both the actors. The film shooting held in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

and also shoot in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

and

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. Uttam Kumar played duel role for the second time in his career after Tasher Ghar in 1957.B Before starting work on the film, director Tapan Sinha told Uttam to learn ride a horse. Then Uttam used to get up at five in the morning and learning the ride his horse in the field. Absolutely rules. No matter how busy he is. It also gave results. Seeing him during the shooting, Tapan Sinha felt that this hero is not Uttamkumar, he look like a horse-rider. Also need to learn

swordplay Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

for the film. Utram also agreed to that. Tapan Sinha then brought in a foreigner called Massey Taylor who is an Olympic champion. Uttam copied Massey's movements exactly the director even Massey himself was shocked on Uttam's talent, skill and dedication.

Reception

The film regarded as one of the greatest Bengali film ever made. Uttam Kumar played one of the most popular duel role and give one of the finest performance in his career. But in a 2013 review in the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'' said that "Here Soumitra was the antagonist and to some extent overshadowed protagonist Uttam Kumar. After ‘Jhinder Bondi’, many even fell in love with an antagonist Mayurbahon more than the protagonist Shankar Singh." The film became superhit at the box office.

References

External links

*
Jhinder Bondi - Movie Profile (Seventymm)
{{Tapan Sinha Bengali-language Indian films Films based on The Prisoner of Zenda Indian historical drama films Films directed by Tapan Sinha Indian black-and-white films 1960s Bengali-language films Films based on Indian novels