''Ek Saal'' () is a 1957

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

directed by

Devendra Goel Devendra Goel (3 March 1919 – 26 February 1979) was an Indian film director and producer of Bollywood films and best known for his work in the 1950s and early 1960s. He directed Aankhen on his debut. Devendra Goel also directed the Marathi ...

and starring

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

and

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, ...

in lead roles. The film is about a father of a dying girl who hires a conman to make his dying daughter's last year a happier one. A critical and commercial success, ''Ek Saal'' was the first film in the string of box-office hits Madhubala starred in between 1958 and 1962.

Plot

Bombay-based Usha Sinha (

) lives a wealthy lifestyle with her widowed dad, a retired Colonel. During her birthday celebrations at her grandmother (

Pratima Devi Pratima Devi may refer to: *Prathima Devi (Kannada actress) (1933–2021), Indian actress in Kannada films *Pratima Devi (Hindi actress), Indian actress in Bollywood films 1940s–1990s, including '' Anokhi Ada'' (1948) *Pratima Devi (painter) ...

)'s house in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

, she encounters a flirt, but avoids him, only to run into him again in a taxi-cab, and then in her very own house in Bombay. She finds out that his name is Suresh (

), who has been hired by her dad as a Manager. Eventually both she and Suresh fall in love with each other. Suresh appears to care a lot about Usha and even takes her to a doctor for a medical check-up to ensure her well-being, to which she agrees, without knowing that she has brain tumor and is not expected to live more than one year. What the Usha do not know is that Suresh does not love her at alI, for his true love is a Lucknow-based woman named Rajani (

Kuldip Kaur Kuldip Kaur, (1927–3 February 1960), was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi and Punjabi films. Known for her roles as negative characters, she was cited as Indian cinema's "most polished vamps" and actor Pran's "opposite number". She st ...

), and he is merely here to win their trust, so that he can be successful in robbing them of all their cash and valuables.

Cast

as Suresh Kumar *

as Usha Sinha *

as Rajini * Johnny Walker as J.B. Pinto *

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 Mary *

Mehmood Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Siam Mahmud *Mahmood (singer) (born 199 ...

as Doctor *

Madan Puri Madan Puri (30 September 1915 – 13 January 1985) was an Indian actor of Hindi and Punjabi films. His brothers were actors Chaman Puri and Amrish Puri. As a character actor mainly in negative roles (villain), he acted in about 430 films in a ca ...

as Dr. M.M. Puri

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of ''Ek Saal'' was composed by

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...

and lyrics were penned by

Prem Dhawan Prem Dhawan (1923–2001) was an Indian lyricist, music composer, choreographer and actor of Bollywood known for his patriotic songs, especially for the lyrics and compositions for the 1965 Manoj Kumar starrer, ''Shaheed''. He was a winner ...

and Ravi.

Release

Critical reception

Filmi Geek wrote, "There is lots and lots of pretty to enjoy

n the film N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

. It praised Madhubala for playing a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

patient: "Madhubala is utterly radiant .. she does play a marvelous ingenue, and she's simply lovely".

Box office

''Ek Saal'' earned 5.1

million One million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the au ...

at the box office and was commercially successful. It eventually became the twelfth highest-grossing film of 1957. Revenue wise, it was the nineteenth highest-grossing film of the year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saal 1957 films 1950s Hindi-language films