''Mojili Mumbai'' (English: ''The Slaves of Luxury'') was 1925 silent social film directed by

Manilal Joshi Manilal Joshi (1893 – 7 September 1927) was a film director of silent films from Indian cinema. Biography Joshi was a school teacher in Bombay before joining cinema. He was trained under cinematographer Vishnu B. Joshi at Kohinoor Studio (19 ...

from India.

Plot

Wealthy businessman Nanavati was charmed by Roshanara, a dancer. Chhotalal who worked as a pimp/agent of Roshanara makes a plan to rob Nanavati who has bought a gold necklace to gift her daughter on her birthday. Chhotalal make Nanavati to visit Roshnara. Roshnara seduces Nanavati and gets the necklace. When Nananvati realises that he is robbed, he confronts Chhotalal who had replaced it with fake necklace by then.

Cast

The cast is as follows: * Yakbal as Roshanara *

P. K. Raja Sandow Raja Sandow (born P. K. Nagalingam) was an Indian actor, film director and producer. He began his career as an actor in silent films and later became a prominent actor and director in Tamil language, Tamil and Hindi films of the 1930s. He is co ...

as Mr. Nanavati * Jamna * Ganibabu * Moti * Noor Mohammed as Chhotalal * Baby Saraswati

Production

The film depicted the moral decline in urban middle class and rich people of colonial Mumbai which was one of the first film to depict contemporary culture. It provided the moral commentary on westernized rich and dark side of "modern civilization". The character of Roshanara was reportedly based on a real-life

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

dancer Roshnara. This silent black-and-white film was 8220 feet long.

Reception

The film was one of the Joshi's best known films. It sparked debate in ''Be Ghadi Mouj'', a journal, about "morality and cinematic realism" between its editor

Shayda Harji Lavji Damani, better known by his pen name Shayda (24 October 1892 – 31 May 1962) was a Gujarati language poet, novelist, short-story writer and playwright from Gujarat, India. He is known as ''Ghazal Samrat'', the king of ghazal poetry, ...

and Joshi. Joshi defended that he only wanted to make social comment on common incidents in culture of Mumbai by his film. Several other films such as ''Baap Kamal'' (1925) depicted a character of dancer named Roshanara.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 1925 films Indian black-and-white films 1925 drama films Indian silent films Films set in Mumbai Films shot in Mumbai