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Neecha Nagar
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| Neecha Nagar | |
|---|---|
![]() Poster | |
| Directed by | Chetan Anand |
| Written by | Khwaja Ahmad Abbas |
| Story by | Hayatullah Ansari |
| Produced by | Rashid Anwar A. Halim |
| Starring | Rafiq Anwar Uma Anand Kamini Kaushal Rafi Peer Hamid Butt Zohra Sehgal |
| Cinematography | Bidyapati Ghosh |
| Music by | Ravi Shankar |
Production company | India Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 122 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Neecha Nagar (transl. Lowly City) is a 1946 Indian Hindi-language film, directed by Chetan Anand, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Hayatullah Ansari, and produced by Rashid Anwar and A. Halim. It was a pioneering effort in social realism in Indian cinema and paved the way for many such parallel cinema films by other directors, many of them also written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. It starred Chetan Anand's wife Uma Anand, with Rafiq Anwar, Kamini Kaushal, Murad, Rafi Peer, Hamid Butt, and Zohra Sehgal. Neecha Nagar (Lowly City) was a Hindi film adaptation in an Indian setting of Russian writer Maxim Gorky's 1902 play The Lower Depths.
Neecha Nagar became the first Indian film to gain recognition at the Cannes Film Festival, after it shared the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (Best Film) award at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 with eleven of the eighteen entered feature films.[2] It is the only Indian film to be ever awarded a Palme d'Or.[3] Ironically, the film was never released in India.[4] However the film was telecasted on Doordarshan, (India's national broadcaster) in 1980s.
Overview
[edit]It was based on a Hindi story, Neecha Nagar, written by Hayatullah Ansari, which in turn was inspired by Gorky's The Lower Depths. It took an expressionist look at the gulf between the rich and poor in society.[5][6]
Neecha Nagar was the debut film of actress Kamini Kaushal and for Ravi Shankar as a music director.
Cast
[edit]- Rafiq Anwar as Balraj
- Uma Anand as Maya
- Kamini Kaushal as Rupa
- Murad as Hakim Yaqub Khan Sahab
- Rafi Peer as Sarkar
- S.P. Bhatia as Sagar
- Hamid Butt as Yaqoob Chacha
- Mohan Saigal as Raza
- Zohra Sehgal as Bhabi
- B. M. Vyas as Balraj's brother
Soundtrack
[edit]This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2021) |
The music of the film was composed by Ravi Shankar with lyrics by Mammohan Anand and Vishwamitra Adil.
- "Utho Ke Hame Waqt Ki Gardish" - chorus
- "Kab Tak Gahri Raat Rahegi" - Lakshmi Shankar
- "Birha Ki Aag" - Geeta Dutt
- "Dil Mein Samaake" - N/A
- "Ek Nirali Jyot Bujhi Hai" - N/A
- "Haiya Ho Haiya" - N/A
- "Hum Rukenge Bhi Nahi" - N/A
- "So Na O Nanhi" - Lakshmi Shankar
Awards
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ "Celebrating Zohra Segal". Google.com. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (1939–54)
- ^ "Revisiting Neecha Nagar, The Only Indian Film to Win Palme D'Or at Cannes". The Quint. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
- ^ "Everything You Need to Know About Neecha Nagar - 1st Indian Movie to Make It to Cannes in 1946". India Times. 17 May 2016.
- ^ History will never forget Chetan Anand Archived 20 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine 13 June 2007.
- ^ Maker of innovative, meaningful movies The Hindu, 15 June 2007.
References
[edit]External links
[edit]- Neecha Nagar at IMDb
- Neecha Nagar on YouTube
Neecha Nagar
View on GrokipediaPlot
Synopsis
Neecha Nagar portrays a stark class divide in a Himalayan village, with the wealthy inhabiting the elevated Ooncha Nagar and the destitute residing in the lowland Neecha Nagar built on a dry riverbed. The antagonist, the autocratic landlord Sarkar, schemes to redirect sewage and waste from his palatial estate into the village's river to clear land for his real estate ambitions, contaminating the water supply and sparking a deadly epidemic among the poor.[2][4][5] Led by the resolute Baldev, the villagers mount protests against this environmental and social injustice, highlighting the exploitation by the elite. Complicating the resistance is a forbidden romance between Baldev and Sarkar's daughter Mala, whose affection for the villager draws her into the fray and exposes familial tensions. As disease ravages the community, the narrative builds to a confrontation emphasizing collective defiance against systemic oppression, with the poor demanding access to clean water and basic dignity.[6][7]Production
Development and Pre-Production
Chetan Anand conceived Neecha Nagar as his directorial debut, drawing from his recent entry into filmmaking around 1943 after exposure to European and Russian cinema, and his involvement with the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), which emphasized socialist realism and social critique.[8] The film's story originated from Hayatullah Ansari's adaptation of Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths, reimagined to address class exploitation in pre-independence India, allegorizing industrialist oppression akin to British imperialism.[8][4] The screenplay was penned by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, in collaboration with Anand and Ansari, focusing on a narrative of villagers resisting a wealthy landlord's plan to divert sewage into their low-lying settlement, symbolizing broader inequities in 1940s rural-urban divides amid nationalist fervor.[6][8] Abbas's script integrated IPTA-influenced themes of collective resistance and underdog agency, echoing Gandhian non-cooperation while critiquing elite greed without direct confrontation of colonial rule due to British censorship constraints.[9] Pre-production aligned with IPTA's progressive ethos, emphasizing low-cost, realistic portrayal over commercial spectacle, with principal photography beginning in 1945 in Bombay studios and outdoor locations to pioneer an Indo-realist style.[8] The project prioritized thematic urgency over star power, assembling a debut-heavy crew including cinematographer Bidyapati Ghosh, whose German-trained expressionist techniques shaped the film's visual allegory of height-based social hierarchy.[8]Casting and Principal Crew
The principal cast of Neecha Nagar featured Rafiq Anwar in the lead role of Balraj, a principled villager opposing exploitation; Uma Anand, wife of director Chetan Anand, as Maya, Balraj's supportive sister; and Kamini Kaushal as Rupa, marking her acting debut in Hindi cinema.[10] [11] Rafi Peer played the antagonistic Sarkar, the affluent landlord whose actions precipitate the central conflict, while supporting roles included S.P. Bhatia as Sagar, Hameed Butt as Yaqoob Chacha, and Mohan Saigal as Raza.[10] [12] Additional performers such as Zohra Sehgal contributed to the ensemble depicting the struggles of the underclass.[10]| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Rafiq Anwar | Balraj |
| Uma Anand | Maya |
| Kamini Kaushal | Rupa |
| Rafi Peer | Sarkar |
| S.P. Bhatia | Sagar |
