''Hanste Aansoo'' () is a 1950 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 ...

-language romantic comedy film directed by K. B. Lall and starring

Madhubala Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films. She is considered as one of the greatest and finest actresses in the history of Indian cinema. One of the country ...

and Motilal, with Gope and Manorama appearing in supporting roles. The music for the film is composed by Ghulam Mohammed. The first Indian film to get an Adults certification, ''Hanste Aansoo'' was both a controversial and popular release, receiving praise for Madhubala's performance and notoriety for its bold storyline.

Plot

''Hanste Aansoo'' revolves around an educated girl, Usha (

), who is reluctantly married off into a family by her mercenary, drunkard father. Her illiterate husband, Kumar ( Motilal), is jealous of Usha's intelligence and frank behaviour, and one day abuses her physically. Unexpectedly, Usha leaves his house, and begins battling for

women rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

alone. She gives birth to Kumar's son in between, and starts working in a factory, where her male co-workers ridicule her. After several comical scenes and melodrama, the film ends with Kumar apologising to Usha, and she returning to his house.

Cast

The main cast of the film included: *

as Usha * Motilal as Kumar, Usha's husband * Gope as a factory worker * Manorama as Ranjeeta, Usha's supporter *

Jankidas Jankidas Mehra (1910 – 18 June 2003) was an Indian actor of Hindi cinema, cyclist, production designer, and writer. He made over 1000 film appearances between the 1930s and 1997. Biography Sports Although various press articles in India ...

as Usha's father in-law *

Cuckoo Moray Cuckoo Moray, also credited as Cuckoo or Cukoo (1928 – 30 September 1981), was an Anglo-Indian dancer and actress in Indian cinema. Cuckoo was the queen of film dancing in Hindi cinema of the 1940s and 1950s. Though unfamiliar in name, she wa ...

as stage dancer Yeh parda-muhammad rafi

Reception

Release and controversy

''Hanste Aansoo'' was theatrically released in October 1950. It became the first Indian film to be awarded an Adults certification, following the amendment of the original Indian Cinematograph Act (1918) in December 1949. The reasons behind such certification were the film's double-meaning title (laughing tears), and its depiction of a modern age woman fighting for her rights, during the time when women were restricted to household chores, were expected to be completely submitted to their spouses, and had no freedom for education or were allowed to work outside. Many contemporary audience deemed the film's storyline bold and immoral.

Critical reception

In his ''

filmindia ''filmindia'' is an Indian monthly magazine covering Indian cinema and published in English language. Started by Baburao Patel in 1935, ''filmindia'' was the first English film periodical to be published from Bombay. The magazine was reportedly ...

'' review,

Baburao Patel Baburao Patel (1904–1982) was an Indian publisher and writer, associated with films and politics. Career Baburao: A Pioneer of Indian Cinema. Baburao was a key figure in the early days of Indian cinema. He started his career as a journalist ...

noted that "the picture has nothing objectionable in it to justify this classification but by classifying it this, the

Censors Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

have classified themselves as unnecessarily prudish and unintelligent."

's comedic-cum-dramatic performance won her significant laurels from critics. Patel commented: "The versatility of this girl seems to endless. In this picture, in addition to her serious and pathetic work, she shows a rare talent for flirting. ..It is not an easy job to steal a scene from these two seasoned artists ( Gope and Motilal), but Madhubala does it."

Box office

Due to the box-office popularity of

and the wide media attention she was receiving during this time, ''Hanste Aansoo'' was a popular release, running in packed theatres for several weeks. However, the film did not become the kind of success it was expected to be, with trade journalists attributing its failure to the Adult certification.

References

General sources

* *

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0134701 1950 films 1950s Hindi-language films