''Insan Jaag Utha'' () is a

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

Hindi-language social drama film, produced and directed by

Shakti Samanta Shakti Samanta (13 January 1926 – 9 April 2009) was an Indian film director and producer, who founded Shakti Films in 1957, which is most known for films such as ''Anand Ashram'' (1977), Anusandhan /'' Barsaat Ki Ek Raat'' (1981), ''anay abhi ...

, and written by

Nabendu Ghosh Nabendu Ghosh (27 March 1917 – 15 December 2007) was an Indian author in Bengali literature, and screenwriter. He has written screenplays of classic Bollywood movies like, Sujata, Bandini, Devdas, Majhli Didi, Abhimaan and Teesri Kasam. He ...

and Vrajendra Gaur, based on a story by Saroj Mitra. The film stars

Madhubala Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era, ...

, Sunil Dutt,

Nasir Hussain Mohammad Nasir Hussain Khan (16 November 1926 — 13 March 2002), better known as Nasir Hussain, was an Indian film producer, director, and screenwriter. With a career spanning decades, Hussain has been credited as a major trendsetter in the ...

, Bipin Gupta and Madan Puri in lead roles. It has music by

Sachin Dev Burman Sachin may refer to: * Sachin (given name), an Indian given name, including a list of people with the name ** Sachin (actor) (born 1957), Indian actor and filmmaker ** Sachin Tendulkar (born 1973), Indian cricketer Films * ''Sachein ''Sachein' ...

, with lyrics by Shailendra.

Plot

Gauri lives in a small village in India with her crippled ex-army-man and freedom fighter dad, Laxmandas, and a younger brother, Gulab, and makes a living working as a laborer. One day she notices a man lurking around their house, this man subsequently introduces himself as Ranjeet, who has just arrived from Bombay. Ranjeet and Gauri become friends after he treats a wound on Gauri's foot, and then both fall in love with each other. Ranjeet starts working for the Government which is in the process of building a dam, where Gauri also works. Ranjeet starts work as a laborer also, but is subsequently promoted as a crane operator. What Gauri and Laxmandas do not know is that Ranjeet is in this village for a reason - greed for the suitcase of gold that he himself had buried in Gauri's front-yard - the very same gold that he was caught smuggling five years ago and the very same gold that he had spent five years in prison for.

Cast

as Gauri * Sunil Dutt as Ranjeet *

Nazir Hussain Nazir Hussain (15 May 1922 – 16 October 1987) was an Indian actor, director and screenwriter. He was famous as a character actor in Hindi cinema and acted in almost 500 films. Dev Anand starred in a large proportion of the films he acted i ...

as Laxmandas * Bipin Gupta as Minister * Madan Puri as Mohan Singh *

Minoo Mumtaz is a city in northwestern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Its name is commonly romanized as "Minō" or "Minoo"; however, the city government officially uses the spelling Minoh in English. As of October 2016, the city has an estimated population of 134 ...

as Muniya * Sundar as Sukham * Mauji Singh in the song (Baharon Se Nazaron Ke Dekho) * Praveen Paul as Hotel Owner * Nishi as Hansa / Riny * Keshav Rana as Robert * Shyam Kumar as Chander * Kundan as Bahadur

Production

Early in his career, Samanta had directed only crime thrillers including '' Inspector'' (1956) and ''

Howrah Bridge The Howrah Bridge is a balanced cantilever bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal. Commissioned in 1943, the bridge was originally named the New Howrah Bridge, because it replaced a pontoon bridge at the same location linking the cities ...

'' (1958). A few days after the success of ''Howrah Bridge'' (1958), which was directed and also produced by him, he began working on ''Insan Jaag Utha''. ''Insan Jaag Utha'' was a film with social and patriotic themes, and this was an attempt by Samanta to shift to making social films. A large part of the film was shot on location at the Nagarjuna Saagar Dam, and the whole crew stayed in several guest rooms situated near the dam.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by S. D. Burman, with lyrics by Shailendra. It is noted for the duet ''Jaanu Jaanu Ri'' sung by

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in th ...

and

Geeta Dutt Geeta Dutt (born Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri; 23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972) was an Indian playback singer and a famous Hindi and Bengali classical artist, born in Faridpur before the Partition of India. She found particular prominence as a ...

, which was shot on location at the under-construction

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is a masonry dam across the Krishna River at Nagarjuna Sagar which straddles the border between Nalgonda district in Telangana and Palnadu district in Andhra Pradesh. The dam provides irrigation water to the Nalgonda, Sur ...

Reception

Critical reception

Shoma A. Chatterjee of ''Upperstall'' found the film's storyline to be "powerful" and its songs to be "beautiful". '' Filmfare'' had mentioned Madhubala's performance as Gauri in the film among her best performances.

Box office

''Insan Jaag Utha'' was a hit with audience and eventually emerged as the thirteenth highest-grossing film of 1959, taking 0.52 crore at the box office. However, since the film was made on a big budget, its earning brought Samanta only a little profit. In an interview he gave several years after the film's release, he recalled ''Insan Jaag Utha'' as a "mediocre success". Discouraged by the little box-office returns of ''Insan Jaag Utha'', Samanta shifted back to make entertainment-oriented, crime films for another decade, beginning with the highly successful '' Jaali Note'' (1960), before attempting the socially relevant film genre with films like '' Aradhana'' (1969), '' Kati Patang'' (1971) and ''

Amar Prem ''Amar Prem'' () is a 1972 Indian Hindi romantic drama film directed by Shakti Samanta. It is a remake of the Bengali film ''Nishi Padma'' (1970), directed by Arabinda Mukherjee, who wrote screenplay for both the films based on the Bengali sh ...

'' (1971).

References

External links

* * , Rajshri Films Official channel * {{BH movie, insaan-jaag-utha Indian drama films 1959 films Films directed by Shakti Samanta Films scored by S. D. Burman Indian black-and-white films 1959 drama films 1950s Hindi-language films Hindi-language drama films