''Achhut Kannya'' () is a

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film. The film deals with the social position of

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

girls and is considered a reformist period-piece. The film was one of several successful

Bombay Talkies Bombay Talkies was a movie studio founded in 1934. During its period of operation, Bombay Talkies produced 40 movies in Malad, a suburb of the Indian city of Bombay. The studio was established in 1934 by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. Afte ...

collaborations between

Franz Osten Franz Osten (23 December 1876 in Munich – 2 December 1956) was a Bavaria, Bavarian filmmaker who along with Himansu Rai was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Rai on a number of India's earliest blockbuster film ...

Niranjan Pal Niranjan Pal (17 August 1889 – 9 November 1959) was an Indian playwright, screenwriter, and director in the Indian film industry in the silent and early talkie days. He was a close associate of Himanshu Rai and Franz Osten, with whom he was a ...

Himanshu Rai Himanshu Rai (1892 – 16 May 1940) was an Indian actor and film director. Regarded as one of the pioneers of Indian cinema, he is best known as the founder of the studio in 1934, along with Devika Rani. He was associated with a number of mov ...

, and their leading lady,

Devika Rani Devika Rani Chaudhuri (30 March 1908 – 9 March 1994), usually known as Devika Rani, was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films. Widely acknowledged as the First Lady of Indian cinema, Devika Rani is regarded as one of the greatest ...

. Music is by Saraswati Devi and lyrics by J.S. Kashyap. The film stars

Ashok Kumar Ashok Kumar (born Kumudlal Ganguly; 13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema. He is considered to be the first Super-st ...

and

and this was Kumar's debut film.

Plot

Mohan, a Brahman by caste, sells daily essentials to villagers. He is a kind soul and helps those really in need. Dukhiya, a kacchu by caste, is a railway crossing guard. Though an untouchable, he saved Mohan's life from a snake-bite and since then Mohan and Dukhiya develops deep friendship. As such, Pratap, son of Mohan and Kasturi, daughter of Dukhiya also become friends since childhood. Growing up together, they fall in love with each other. Babulal, the village doctor, holds severe grudges against Mohan and always looking for any chance to slander his reputation in village. Pratap being a Brahmin boy and Kasturi being an untouchable girl (''achhut''), social conventions of that time preclude any possibility of these two lovers uniting. Thereafter, due to many evil twists and turns of fate and instances, Pratap ends up marrying Meera (Manorama), while Kasturi marries Mannu. Both of them are unable to forget their first love, but tries hard to make their respective marriages work. Unfortunately, the situation gets compounded by the fact that Mannu also has a first wife, Kajri, with whom he is estranged due to excessive interference from his in-laws. The hitherto smug Kajri suddenly feels threatened by the arrival of a new woman in her husband's life and arrives at Mannu's house unannounced. Meera tries hard to win Pratap's attention towards herself and confesses her troubles to her friend, Kajri. Kajri who is also unable to gain attention of Mannu towards her blames Kasturi for their similar misfortune. Thus, she poisons Meera's mind. The two of them hatch a diabolical conspiracy to discredit Kasturi in the eyes of Mannu and villagers. They take Kasturi along to a fair mela in the neighbouring village, and then abandons her there. While searching for them in fair, Kasturi meets Pratap, who has a food stall there and both of them decides to return to their village. Meanwhile, Meera and Kajri as per their plan upon reaching their village tell Mannu that Kasturi has eloped with her lover Pratap. Seeing Pratap and Kasturi returning together, misguided and enraged Mannu attacks Pratap, exactly when his Bullock-cart just arrives at the railroad crossing. There ensues a fisticuffs between the two, even as a train rushes towards them and the bullock-cart. Desperate to save all lives at stake, Kasturi rushes towards the train, signaling and imploring the driver to stop and in the process gets herself killed. That act of selflessness makes her a martyr in the eyes of the villagers, despite her lowly origins.

Cast

as Kasturi *

as Pratap * Manorama as Meera, not to be confused with Manorama *Anwar as Mannu * Pramila as Kajari *Kamta Prasad as Dukhia *Kusum Kumari as Kalyani * P. F. Pithawala as Mohan *Kishori Lal as Babulal *N. M. Joshi as Inspector of Police *Ishrat as Sukhlal *Khosla as Patient ;Principal Dancers *

Mumtaz Ali Mumtaz Ali (29 September 1902 – 7 February 1975) was an Indian dancer and character actor in Hindi cinema from the 1940s to 1970s. He was the father of Indian actor Mehmood. He also had his own dance troupe "Mumtaz Ali Nites" which perform ...

*Sunita Devi

References

External links

* {{Franz Osten 1936 films 1936 romantic drama films 1930s Hindi-language films 1930s Urdu-language films Indian black-and-white films Films directed by Franz Osten Films about the caste system in India Articles containing video clips Indian romantic drama films Films scored by Saraswati Devi Films about interclass romance