Chitralekha (1941)

Directed by

Kidar Sharma

Country

British Raj

Runtime

2h 36m

Rating

10.0 of 10 from 1 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A courtesan is caught between love and social judgment in a story about passion and reputation. The film is known for its classical music and a controversial bathing scene that brought fame to the lead actress.

classicalmelodicdramaticpoignantromanticnostalgicelegant

What happens

Chitralekha is a 1941 Indian Hindi-language film, directed by Kidar Sharma and based on the 1934 Hindi novel of the same name by Bhagwati Charan Verma. Its music is by noted classical musician Ustad Jhande Khan, giving popular songs like "Sun sun Neelkamal Muskaye," "Saiyyan Saware Bhaye Baware," and "Tum Jao Bde Bhagwan Bane, Insaan Bano." It was the second-highest grossing Indian film of 1941. Khan used classical Ragas like Bhairavi and Asavari to the score, making it influential for classical based Hindi film songs. This was the debut of actor Bharat Bhushan, who later achieved fame with Baiju Bawra (1952). Sharma cast Mehtab as he felt she was "perfect" for the role of Chitralekha. Mehtab achieved both fame and notoriety with the famous bathing scene in the film. It was remade by Sharma in 1964, also titled Chitralekha, starring Meena Kumari and Pradeep Kumar. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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