Set in the Roman era at the time of Jewish persecution in Rome, Bimal Roy's Yahudi (meaning Jewish) is a well written and original love story. The film tells the story of Hannah, a young Jewish woman, and Marcus, a Roman prince. Hannah's real name is actually Lydia, and she is the daughter of cruel Roman emperor Brutus. As a child Lydia was kidnapped by Emanuelle, the faithful servant of a jeweler named Ezra, after the latter's little son was sentenced to death by Brutus post an insignificant incident. When the little girl is brought to Ezra, he pities the little girl and refuses to take revenge by killing her. Instead, he decides to make her take his dead son's place and bring her up as his own daughter. That's how her name is changed to Hannah. Soon a young and beautiful Hannah falls for a Roman prince named Marcus, who is to marry princess Octavia, Brutus's niece. Marcus falls for her too, and in order to spend time with her pretends to be a Jewish. Their relationship comes to an end when Hannah finds out he is not Jewish. The following sequences are of the film's most intense and unpredictable.
Bimal Roy, one of the finest filmmakers to have ever worked in the Indian film industry, directs Yahudi with great precision. He captures the atmosphere of those times and his portrayal of both the Jewish people and the Roman empire is well done. The costumes, the sets are great, and the music is very good and melodious. Yahudi is a love story more than anything else; the dialogues are very poetic and the songs are very romantic. Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari star as Marcus and Hannah and both do a very good job. Kumar is once again restrained and effective, while Kumari looks impossibly beautiful in this one, and she was always the perfect choice for dramatic features of this sort. Sohrab Modi is excellent as Ezra, and Nigar Sultana is wonderful as the arrogant Octavia. Yahudi is not among the very best films of Bimal Roy, but it is still enjoyable and memorable. What I particularly liked about the film is its ending, which is not sugarcoated as many other endings. It was heartwarming and the very final dialogues were outstanding. Yahudi is a lesser known Bimal Roy picture which is definitely worth watching.
Bimal Roy, one of the finest filmmakers to have ever worked in the Indian film industry, directs Yahudi with great precision. He captures the atmosphere of those times and his portrayal of both the Jewish people and the Roman empire is well done. The costumes, the sets are great, and the music is very good and melodious. Yahudi is a love story more than anything else; the dialogues are very poetic and the songs are very romantic. Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari star as Marcus and Hannah and both do a very good job. Kumar is once again restrained and effective, while Kumari looks impossibly beautiful in this one, and she was always the perfect choice for dramatic features of this sort. Sohrab Modi is excellent as Ezra, and Nigar Sultana is wonderful as the arrogant Octavia. Yahudi is not among the very best films of Bimal Roy, but it is still enjoyable and memorable. What I particularly liked about the film is its ending, which is not sugarcoated as many other endings. It was heartwarming and the very final dialogues were outstanding. Yahudi is a lesser known Bimal Roy picture which is definitely worth watching.
