''Neecha Nagar'' () is a 1946 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language film, directed by Chetan Anand, written by

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (7 June 1914 – 1 June 1987) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, novelist, and journalist in Urdu, Hindi and English. He won four National Film Awards in India. Internationally, his films won the Palme d'Or (Golden ...

and Hayatullah Ansari, and produced by Rashid Anwar and A.Halim. It was a pioneering effort in

social realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

and paved the way for many such

parallel cinema Parallel cinema, or New Indian Cinema, is a film movement in Indian cinema that originated in the state of West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema. Inspired by Italian Neorealism, Parallel Cinema ...

films by other directors, many of them also written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. It starred Chetan Anand's wife

Uma Anand Uma Anand (1923 – 13 November 2009) was an Indian journalist, actress, and a broadcaster in the mid-1900s. She was born in 1923 in Lahore, Punjab, British India to a prominent Bengali Christian family. One of her sisters, Indu Mitha, is a Bh ...

, with Rafiq Anwar,

Kamini Kaushal Kamini Kaushal (born as Uma Kashyap, 24 February 1927) is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films and television. She is noted for her roles in films such as ''Neecha Nagar'' (1946), which won the 1946 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at Cannes F ...

, Murad, Rafi Peer, Hamid Butt, and

Zohra Sehgal Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal (born Sahibzadi Zohra Mumtazullah Khan Begum; 27 April 1912 – 10 July 2014) was an Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer. Having begun her career as a member of a contemporary dance troupe, she transitioned into acting ...

. ''Neecha Nagar'' (Lowly City) was a Hindi film adaptation in an Indian setting of

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

's 1902 play ''

The Lower Depths ''The Lower Depths'' (russian: На дне, translit=Na dne, literally: ''At the bottom'') is a play by Russian dramatist Maxim Gorky written in 1902 and produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902 under the direction of Konstantin St ...

''. ''Neecha Nagar'' became the first

Indian film The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

to gain recognition at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

, 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. It's the only Indian film to be ever awarded a

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

. Ironically, this film was never released in India.

Overview

It was based on a Hindi story, ''Neecha Nagar'', written by Hayatullah Ansari, which in turn was inspired by Russian writer

’s ''

''. It took an expressionist look at the gulf between the rich and poor in society.Maker of innovative, meaningful movies
''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

'', 15 June 2007. ''Neecha Nagar'' is the debut film of actress

and for

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North In ...

as a music director.

Cast

* Rafiq Anwar as Balraj *

as Maya *

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 *

as Bhabi * B. M. Vyas as Balraj's brother

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by

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

;

1946 Cannes Film Festival The 1st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 20 September to 5 October 1946. Twenty-one countries presented their films at the "First Cannes International Film Festival", which took place at the former Casino of Cannes. Only one year after t ...

* Grand Prix du Festival International du Film

Citations

References

''Neecha Nagar'' at the ''New York Times''

Remembering Chetan Anand and Neecha Nagar
''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

'', 29 September 2007

External links

*
''Neecha Nagar''
on YouTube {{The Lower Depths 1946 films 1940s Hindi-language films Palme d'Or winners Films based on works by Maxim Gorky Films directed by Chetan Anand Social realism in film Films about poverty in India Films scored by Ravi Shankar Films with screenplays by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Indian drama films 1946 drama films Indian black-and-white films Hindi-language drama films