Zindagi (1964)

Director:

Ramanand Sagar

Genre:

Musical | Drama | Family

Plot:

Beena works as a stage actress and lives a poor lifestyle with her widowed mother. One day while returning...

Cast

Prithviraj Kapoor	...	Rai Bahadur Gangasaran
Mehmood	...	Jaggu
Jeevan	...	Bankhe
Jayant	...	Sher Khan
Dhumal	...	Chameli's dad
Hiralal	...	Ratanlal
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mumtaz Begum	...	Jaggu's mom
Leela Chitnis	...	Beena's mom
Helen	...	Chameli
Kanhaiyalal	...	Pandit
Raaj Kumar	...	Gopal
Rajendra Kumar	...	Rajendra "Rajan"
Moolchand	...	Moolchand Moochwala
Nirupa Roy
Satyajeet
Vyjayanthimala	...	Beena

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Gemini Pictures

a movie par excellence greatest flawless classic

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

produced by renowned Gemini studios madras and directed by the great maestro ramanand sagar who in 1989 produced and directed the magnum opus t.v. series that mesmerized the whole of India,"Ramayan".its a flawless classic which brings together the talents of screen goddess Vyjanthimala and tragedy prince Rajendra kumar.it has a inspiring musical score by the great duo of Shanker-Jaikishan.

then it has perfect screen gentleman Rajkumar in a very special role.the great Prithviraj kapoor plays rajendra kumar's father.there is also the comic talent of Mehmood and talent of mesmerizing sex siren and great dancer Helen to liven-up dark areas of the film.

this also shows that Indian women can take control of their lives and look after their family too.it brought social awakening in the society of that time when women were repressed a lot.it also proves that the girl child can too earn for the family and support it if need be.a most powerful role written for Vyjanthimala.

print on Indus is very good.

the story follows Vyjanthimala who is born in a poor family.she takes up acting on stage,in a period when in India it was looked down upon as a profession for girls of good families.there her director is Rajkumar.Rajkumar is mesmerized by her beauty,simplicity and truthfulness,and begins to love her.but his heart breaks down when he comes to know she has already chosen Rajendra Kumar as her husband.his father thinks her a clever bimbo who wants to marry his son for money.he also begin to believe that actually she is in love with Rajkumar.

but his son convinces him and they are married.few months after marriage she has gone out to shop when some riots start in the city,curfew is imposed and the only near by shelter is Rajkumar's home.she stays all night there and returns home in the morning.the same day a man is murdered who had quarrel with Rajkumar that day.police nabs him on suspicion.all the proofs in court go against him,he is set receive death penalty on charges of cold-blooded planned murder in the same court where Prithviraj Kapoor is the judge.when Vyjanthimala learns the facts she rushes to the court to tell the whole story to save Raj Kumar's life despite knowing fully well that this will tarnish her own reputation as people will say what did they do all night in the same house.in spite of knowing fully well that this will malign her character and may also break her marriage she does that.Rajkumar goes scoot free,but what happens to her ,see the film for it.a lovely authentic family film very realistic and without any airs or artificiality.a story well captured on celluloid.one of the best that Hindi film industry ever made .