''Jeevan Prabhat'' (Dawn Of Life) is a 1937 Hindi film social drama, produced by

Bombay Talkies Bombay Talkies was a movie studio founded in 1934. During its period of operation, Bombay Talkies produced 40 movies in Malad, a suburb of the Indian city of Bombay. The studio was established in 1934 by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. After R ...

and directed by Franz Osten. The music director was Saraswati Devi with lyrics and dialogues by J. S. Casshyap. The screenplay was by

Niranjan Pal Niranjan Pal (17 August 1889 – 9 November 1959) was an Indian playwright, screenwriter, and director in the Indian film industry in the silent and early talkie days. He was a close associate of Himanshu Rai and Franz Osten, with whom he was a fo ...

. The film's "star value" was

Devika Rani Devika Rani Choudhuri (30 March 1908 – 9 March 1994), usually known as Devika Rani, was an Indian actress who was active in Hindi films during the 1930s and 1940s. Widely acknowledged as the first lady of Indian cinema, Devika Rani ha ...

, with

Kishore Sahu Kishore Sahu (22 November 1915 – 22 August 1980) was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer. He appeared in 22 films between 1937 and 1980, and he directed 20 films between 1942 and 1974. His directorial venture Kuwara Ba ...

making his debut as an actor in the film. The cast included another debutant, Renuka Devi, with

Mumtaz Ali Mumtaz Ali (15 March 1905 – 6 May 1974) was an Indian dancer and character actor in Hindi cinema from the 1940s to 1970s. He was the father of Indian actor Mehmood. He also had his own dance troupe "Mumtaz Ali Nites" which performed all ...

, Maya Devi and M. Nazir. The film deals with the social evils of the caste system, and remarriage. Uma is sent back to her father's home after her husband remarries, as she is unable to bear children. Her renewed friendship with a childhood friend, Ramu, a

Harijan Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...

, bings censure and misunderstanding from her husband and society.

Plot

Set in a village, a young Brahmin couple Nandlal (

) and Uma (

) are unable to have any children. The husband plans to take another wife, Padma. Ramu (

) belongs to the potters family, where Uma normally spent most of her time before marriage. The friendship has been frowned upon as Ramu is from the Harijan caste. Nandlal sends Uma to her father's house, where she renews her friendship with Ramu. Nandlal sees Uma talking to Ramu (

). While at her father's house, Uma discovers that she is pregnant. Misunderstandings arise when Nandlal gets suspicious about Uma and Ramu, but all is set right by Padma, Nandlal's second wife. She clears Uma's name, and gets Nandlal and Uma together before walking out of their lives.

Cast

as Uma *

as Nandlal *

as Ramu * Renuka Devi *Chandraprabha *Maya Devi *Vimala Devi *Aloka Aloka *Tarabai Solanki *Saroj Borkar *Kamta Prasad * P.F. Pithawala *M. Nazir *N. M. Joshi *G.S. Vaishampayan

Review

Jeevan Prabhat was released on 2 November 1937, at Minerva Talkies, Bombay.

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. ...

, the ''

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 ...

'' editor, in his review of December 1937, called it Osten's "better work than ever before". Saraswati Devi's music composition and Wirsching's cinematography were praised, as was Niranjan Pal's screenplay, "a good story with plenty of entertainment". Devika Rani was hailed for scoring "another triumphant". Renuka Devi was praised for her looks but criticised for her acting. Kishore Sahu was stated to be a "big disappointment". The audience reception was good with the film running for over 17 weeks in Bombay, while doing good business in the rest of the country too, becoming a commercial success.

Production

The film starred Kishore Sahu with Devika Rani, who was cited as a "bankable star". Bombay Talkies was producing a large quantity of films in a short period of time. ''Jeevan Prabhat'' was completed in two months, while ''

Achhut Kanya ''Achhut Kannya'' ( en, Untouchable Maiden, italic=yes) is a 1936 Indian Hindi film. Among the early super-hits in the Bombay film industry, the film deals with the social position of Dalit girls and is considered a reformist period-piece. T ...

'' was made in six weeks. In a little over four years, Osten had directed about sixteen films for Bombay Talkies.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Saraswati Devi, with lyrics by J. S. Casshyap. The singers were Devika Rani, Balwant Singh, Mumtaz Ali, Saroj Borkar and Saraswati Devi.

Song List

References

External links

* {{Franz Osten 1937 films 1930s Hindi-language films Indian black-and-white films Films directed by Franz Osten Films about the caste system in India Indian drama films 1937 drama films Hindi-language drama films