''Kala Pani'' (; ) is a 1958 Indian

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 ...

-language

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

, produced by

Dev Anand Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand (26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011), better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema, through a career that spanned over six decades. He was ...

for

Navketan Films Navketan Films was a film production house based in Mumbai, India. Started in 1949 by actor-director and producer Dev Anand and his elder brother Chetan Anand, whose debut film, ''Neecha Nagar'', received the Palme d'Or (Best Film) award, at the ...

and directed by

Raj Khosla Raj Khosla (31 May 1925 – 9 June 1991) was one of the top director, producer and screenwriter in Hindi film industry from the 1950s to the 1980s. He was known for bringing in "neo-noir" and style in Indian cinema, and also as a "women's direc ...

. It is a remake of the 1955 Bengali film '' Sabar Uparey'' which itself was based on

A.J. Cronin Archibald Joseph Cronin (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981), known as A. J. Cronin, was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is ''The Citadel'' (1937), about a Scottish doctor who serves in a Welsh mining village before achievi ...

's 1953 novel '' Beyond This Place''. The film's music is by

S. D. Burman Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. A member of the Tripura royal family, he started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one o ...

, and the lyrics are by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in India's Hindi language film industry. He wrote Hindustani lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was ...

. ''Kala Pani'' was the story of a young man who, upon learning about his father's wrongful implication in a fifteen-year-old murder, vows to bring the true criminals to justice and release his innocent father from prison, with the help of a fearless

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

& a

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

, who is the eye-witness of the murder & have evidences against the criminals.

starred as the young man named Karan Mehra, while

Madhubala Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era, ...

and

Nalini Jaywant Nalini Jaywant (18 February 1926 – 22 December 2010) was an Indian actress who appeared in Hindi films in the 1940s and 1950s. Background and personal life Jaywant was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1926. She was first cousin of actre ...

played a fearless journalist Asha and a prostitute Kishori respectively. Agha,

Mukri Mohammed Umar Mukri (5 January 1922 – 4 September 2000), popularly known as Mukri, was an Indian actor, who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. Born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Uran, in Kokani Muslim Family. He started his film career with th ...

starred in supporting characters. Upon its release on 9 May 1958, the film became a huge critical and commercial success, with the leading actors earning high praises for their respective portrayals. At the

6th Filmfare Awards The 6th Filmfare Awards were held in 10 May 1959, at Bombay, honoring the best films in Hindi Cinema for the year 1958. ''Madhumati'' led the ceremony with 12 nominations, followed by ''Sadhna'' with 6 nominations. ''Madhumati'' won 9 awards ...

and

won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.

Plot

Karan learns that his father Shankarlal, is in jail and that his mother has been pretending from his childhood that his father has died. On meeting his father, Karan learns that he has been jailed for a murder that he did not commit. Karan sets out to gather proof of his father's innocence so that he can get the case reopened, filed against him, and get him freed. Karan comes to meet one of the witnesses who had spoken for his father in the court, who tells him about the investigating officer, Inspector Mehta. Karan stays as a paying guest, of which Asha is the owner and she is also a journalist. From Inspector Mehta, Karan learns of other witnesses - Kishori and Jumman. The Inspector confesses that although he smelt a rat, he was silenced by the prosecutor Jaswant Rai. Inspector Mehta also tells Karan that he overheard Kishori and Jumman speaking of a letter, and that this might prove to be a mighty proof of Shankarlal's innocence. Karan goes about to woo Kishori, so that he can get the letters possessed by her. In the meantime, romantic feelings develop between Karan and Asha. Karan also approaches Jaswant Rai as to how he can reopen the case to prove his father's innocence. He also asks whether it will suffice to get the letter from Kishori. The prosecutor tells him to get the letter first, so that he can see what to make out of it. The prosecutor turns out to be a villain. He warns Sardari Lal, the person who actually committed the murder, that Karan is after the letter that Kishori possesses. Sardari Lal, in turn, asks Jumman to warn Kishori about this. Kishori confronts Karan saying that he cheated her, that he was showing false love to her. But Karan answers back, that one who is the cause for jailing his innocent father cannot complain to him of lying to her. Kishori, upon knowing the truth, repents and gives the letter to Karan. An overjoyed Karan shows the letter to the prosecutor, only to see Jaswant Rai burn the letter. Karan realizes that the prosecutor was also involved in the plot. He starts a protest against the prosecutor outside his house, but gets arrested by the police. Asha tries to help him by printing about the prosecutor in the newspaper she works for. However, she is stopped by her editor, who says that she does not have proof to print anything against him. Kishori learns of this. She comes to Karan, now carrying the original letter. Karan submits this to get the case against his father reopened. The prosecutor Jaswant Rai admits his crime. The story ends with Shankarlal leaving prison, and with Karan marrying Asha.

Cast

as Karan Mehra *

as Asha *

as Kishori * Agha as Badru *

as Madhosh *

Jankidas Jankidas Mehra (1910 – 18 June 2003) was an Indian actor of Hindi cinema, cyclist, production designer, and writer. He made over 1000 film appearances between the 1930s and 1997. Biography Sports Jankidas served as the only Indian member of ...

as Daulatchand *

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 ...

as Public Prosecutor Rai Bahadur Jaswant Rai *

Krishan Dhawan Krishan Dhawan (1926 - 20 May 1994 was an Indian character actor in Hindi language films. Career Krishan Dhawan was an actor, known for Vidhaata (1982), Mujhe Jeene Do (1963) and Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974). Personal life He is the fat ...

as Jumman *

Sapru Sapru is a clan of Kashmiri Pandits. The majority of them are now living in diaspora outside the Kashmir Valley. Most Saprus are Hindus while some are Muslims. Notable people *Tej Bahadur Sapru, lawyer, political and social leader *Muhammad Iqba ...

as Diwan Sardarilal *

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 in ...

as Inspector Mehta * M. A. Latif as Shankarlal Mehra * Mumtaz Begum as Mrs. Mehra *

Rashid Khan Rashid Khan Arman ( ps, ; born 20 September 1998) is an Afghan international cricketer and a former captain of the national team. In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide Strikers in Austra ...

as Ramdas *Bir Sakuja as Deccan Times Editor *Heera Sawant as Kothewali

Soundtrack

The songs of the film are composed by

and lyrics are by

. Song list is as follows:

Technical specs

* Movie run time: 164 min (14 reels, 4380.89 m) * Sound Mix: Mono * Color:

Black and White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

Release

Critical reception

''Kala Pani'' was theatrically released on 9 May 1958, and critic reviews were mostly positive. Bhaichand Patel wrote, "Brilliant performances and songs are highlights of this film." He commented on the performances of lead actors: "The facile charm toned down, the mannerisms off-loaded, nandbrings intensity and conviction to his role. Madhubala is effervescent, especially in the song sequence "Accha Ji Main Haari". The film lsohas some fine acting by Nalini Jaywant."

Box office

''Kala Pani'' was the eight highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1958. It grossed 12 million, including a nett of 6 million. ''Best of The Year'' estimated the film's gross in today's value to be 2.2 billion.

Awards

Filmfare Best Actor Award The Filmfare Award for Best Actor is an award, begun in 1954, presented annually at the Filmfare Awards to an actor via a jury. This is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi (Bollywood) films. The award was first ...

for

Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award The Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress is given by '' Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role. Although the Filmf ...

for

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalapani (Film) Films scored by S. D. Burman 1958 films 1950s Hindi-language films Films based on works by A. J. Cronin Films directed by Raj Khosla Indian black-and-white films Films set in India Indian prison films Indian thriller drama films Hindi remakes of Bengali films Hindi-language education