: ''This article is written about the 1960 film; for the 1937 film or the 1944 film, see

Parakh (1937 film) Parakh may refer to: * ''Parakh'' (1937 film), a 1937 Indian film starring K. Narayan Kale * ''Parakh'' (1944 film), a 1944 Indian film by Sohrab Modi, starring Mehtab and Balwant Singh * ''Parakh'' (1960 film), a 1960 Indian romantic comedy f ...

Parakh (1944 film) ''Parakh'' is a Bollywood social film. It was released in 1944. Directed by Sohrab Modi Sohrab Merwanji Modi (2 November 1897 – 28 January 1984) was an Indian stage and film actor, director and producer. His films include '' Khoon Ka ...

.'' ''Parakh'' is a 1960 Indian

Hindi film 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 ...

, based on a story by famed music director Salil Chowdhury, that displays

Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as '' Do Bigha Zamin'', '' Parineeta'', '' Biraj Bahu'', ''Devdas'', ''Madhumati'', '' Sujata'', '' ...

's lighter side and is a satirical look at Indian democracy in its early years. Bimal Roy received the

Filmfare Best Director Award The Filmfare Best Director Award is one of the main awards presented given by the annual Filmfare Awards to recognise directors working in Hindi cinema. It was first presented in 1954 in the inaugural year. Superlatives Bimal Roy has the re ...

for the film. The ensemble cast was led by Sadhana and

Basanta Choudhury Basanta Choudhury (also Chowdhury; 5 May 1928 – 20 June 2000) was an Indian actor in Bengali and Hindi films. He worked with directors Asit Sen, Rajen Tarafdar, Ajay Kar and Bijay Bose, often in leading roles. He is a former Sheriff of Kolk ...

. The film has music by

Salil Choudhury Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He composed music for films in 13 languages. This incl ...

, featuring

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...

's hit "O Sajana Barkha Bahaar Aai". The film became a "semi-hit" at the box office.

Plot

The central character is the Post Master Nivaran who is given a mysterious cheque for 500,000 to be given to anyone who will use it to benefit the people of the village. There is a postman Haradhan who is actually Sir Jagdish Chandra who pretends to be lame and has secretly come to the village to know the right person to hand over the cheque, so he visits most of the possible candidates for verification of their honesty. Then there is the postmaster's wife, who is sick and would rather use the money to cure her illness, and his beautiful daughter Seema, who has a crush on the village schoolmaster Rajat. Meanwhile, all the greedy and influential people of the village are busy trying to convince everybody why they are most deserving of the money; they include the village Pandit, the landlord Rai bahadur tandav, the money lender Bhanjhi Babu, the village doctor, Vaidji and the school master Rajat who withdraws his name, who is by far the most respected. Each one tries to woo the villagers by being sympathetic and become a cheerful giver to all by offering various sops. They all decide democracy is the best means and decide to hold an election where the winner gets the money. One day the landlord's westernised sister in law Chanda arrives to the village, who is given lift by Rajat on his cycle from the railway station, thereafter she tries to get friendly to Rajat with some excuse or the other. Seema gets upset over this scenario and quarrels with him. The movie is a satirical look at democracy through various twists and turns in the plot, interwoven with a simple love story.

Cast

* Sadhana as Seema *

Durga Khote Durga Khote (14 January 1905 − 22 September 1991) was an Indian actress, beginning as one of the foremost leading ladies of her times, she remained active in Hindi and Marathi cinema, as well as theatre, for over 50 years, starring in arou ...

as J.C. Roy's mother (Rani Ma) *

Leela Chitnis Leela Chitnis (''née'' Nagarkar; 9 September 1909 – 14 July 2003) was an Indian actress in the Indian film industry, active from 1930s to 1980s. In her early years she starred as a romantic lead, but she is best remembered for her later role ...

as Mrs. Nivaran * Praveen Paul * Mumtaz Begum as Mrs. Tandav * Mehar Banu *

as Prof. Rajat Sen Sharma *

Nazir Hussain Nazir Hussain (15 May 1922 – 16 October 1987) was an Indian actor, director and screenwriter. He was famous as a character actor in Hindi cinema and acted in almost 500 films. Dev Anand starred in a large proportion of the films he acted i ...

as Postmaster Nivaran * Kanhaiyalal as Pandit Tarkalankarji *

Jayant Jayanta ( sa, जयन्त, "victory"), is a character who appears in Hindu literature. He is the son of Indra, the king of the devas (gods), and his wife, Shachi (Indrani). He has a sister called Jayanti. He appears in various Hindu scri ...

as Rai Bahadur Tandav Landlord * Rashid Khan as Village Doctor * Asit Sen as Bhanju Babu * Motilal as Haradhan / Sir Jagdish Chandra Roy * Hari Shivdasani as School's Principal * Moni Chatterjee as Kaviraj (Vaidji) *

Keshto Mukherjee Keshto Mukherjee (7 August 1925 – 2 March 1982) was an Indian actor and comedian. He was born in Kolkata,Bengal Presidency, British India. He specialised in comic drunkard roles in Hindi films. Though he was famous for his drunkard typecas ...

as Keshto (The Compounder) * Nishi as Chanda (Tandav's sister in law)

Music

This film has a very popular song "O Sajana, Barkha Bahar Aai..." sung by

, penned by Shailendra and composed by

Salil Chowdhary Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He composed music for films in 13 languages. This ...

who also happens to be story-writer of the film.

Awards and nominations

''Parakh'' is one of the seven Bimal Roy's film where he won

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

for Best Direction. ;Won *

* Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award - Motilal * Filmfare Best Sound Award -

George D'Cruz George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

;Nominated *

Filmfare Award for Best Film The Filmfare Award for Best Film is given by the '' Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. The award was first given in 1954. Here is a list of the award winners and the nominees of the respective years. Ea ...

Filmfare Award for Best Story The Filmfare Award for Best Story is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a writer who wrote a film's story. List of winners 1950s * 1955 Mukhram Sharma – '' Aulad'' * 1956 Rajinder Sing ...

References

External links

* {{Bimal Roy 1960 films 1960s Hindi-language films Films directed by Bimal Roy Indian satirical films Indian black-and-white films Films scored by Salil Chowdhury