''Howrah Bridge'' is a 1958 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 crime thriller film 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), ''Anyay Abhi ...
. The music for the film was composed by
O. P. Nayyar. The plot focuses on Prem Kumar (played by
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 ...
), a businessman from
Rangoon
Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...
, who travels to
Calcutta
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
to try and track down his brother's murderers.
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 ...
stars as Edna, a
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
dancer, in one of her most popular roles.
''Howrah Bridge'' was a major critical and commercial success upon its release and has become a
cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated ...
over years. It has been specially noted for its soundtrack, which consists the chartbusters "
Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu
"Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu" () is a song from the 1958 Indian film ''Howrah Bridge''. It was sung by Geeta Dutt, and was picturised on Helen. The song has lyrics by Qamar Jalalabadi and was composed by O.P. Nayyar. The tune at the beginning of t ...
" and "Aaiye Meherbaan". The former was re-used in the 1988 film ''
Salaam Bombay!
''Salaam Bombay!'' is a 1988 Indian Hindi-language drama film, directed, co-written and co-produced by Mira Nair. The screenwriter was Nair's creative collaborator Sooni Taraporevala. This was the first feature film directed by Nair. The film ...
''.
Plot
Prem Kumar (
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 his elder brother Madan (
Chaman Puri) are looking after a successful business of their father in Rangoon. But Madan suddenly disappears with the family heirloom, a dragon embedded with precious stones and reaches Calcutta to sell it off. He falls prey to the designs of a few smugglers and pays with his life. Prem's father urges him to get back the heirloom and Prem in disguise of Rakesh comes to Calcutta from Rangoon. There he meets his father's trusted tangewala Shyamu (
Om Prakash
Om Prakash Chibber (19 December 1919 – 21 February 1998) was an Indian film actor. He was born in Jammu and was a well known character actor of Bollywood, Hindi Cinema. His most well-known movies are Mere Hamdam Mere Dost (1968 film), ''Mere ...
) who takes him to a hotel run by John Chang (
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 ...
) but then he is swiftly taken over by the seductress Edna (
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 ...
) to her uncle Joe's (
Dhumal) hotel, where he is looked after by her. Edna falls for him and reveals that her uncle, John Chang and their friend Pyarelal (
K. N. Singh) are into illegal business. Having got a clue from Edna, Prem chases the culprits until finally he is framed by Pyarelal in the murder of John Chang.
Ultimately Prem gets his heirloom and his love and now wife Edna.
Cast
*
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 ...
as Prem Kumar / Rakesh / Vikram
*
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 ...
as Edna
*
K. N. Singh as Pyarelal
*
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 ...
as John Chang
*
Om Prakash
Om Prakash Chibber (19 December 1919 – 21 February 1998) was an Indian film actor. He was born in Jammu and was a well known character actor of Bollywood, Hindi Cinema. His most well-known movies are Mere Hamdam Mere Dost (1968 film), ''Mere ...
as Shyamu Tangewala
* Pachhi as Johann Josef Talwarkar
* Krishna Kant
* Uma Dutt
* Surya Kumar
* Mauji
* Kundan
* Bhawan Sinha
* T.N Charlie
*
Dhumal as Uncle Joe
*
Sunder as Bhikharilal 'Bhiku'
*
Kammo as Chhamia
*
Brahm Bhardwaj
Brahm Bhardwaj (25 October 1920 — 29 July 1989) was an Indian actor of Hindi cinema
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmante ...
as Prem & Madan's Father
*
Chaman Puri as Madan
*
Nirmal Kumar
Nirmal Kumar (; born 14 December 1928, in Kolkata, India) is an Indian actor who appears in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali and Hindi films. Nirmal Kumar is married to actress Madhabi Mukherjee and has two daughters. He won the B.F.J.A award for ...
as CID Officer
*
Mehmood as Wedding Dancer
*
Minoo Mumtaz
Minoo Mumtaz (born as Malikunnisa Ali; 26 April 1942 – 23 October 2021) was an Indian actress. She was the sister of India's ace comedian Mehmood and was part of the Mehmood Ali film family. Minoo Mumtaz appeared in many Hindi films of the ...
as Wedding Dancer
*
Helen as Dancer In Song "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu"
* Ratan Gaurang as waiter
Production
In 1957,
Samanta
Samanta was a title and position used in the history of the Indian subcontinent between 4th and 12th centuryThe Journal of the Bihar Research Society, Volumes 69–70, p.77 to denote a vassal, feudal lord or tributary chief. The leader of 100 vil ...
had a car accident in which he was severely injured. He spent many days in the hospital, and eventually developed the story of ''Howrah Bridge'' lying on the hospital bed. Soon after being discharged, Samanta contacted his friend and actor
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 narrated the story to him; Kumar liked it and agreed to the film.
A problem came up when Samanta told Kumar that he wants to cast a "
top-notch" actress in the role of Edna. He had previously considered
Nargis
Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid, also known as Nirmala Dutt; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981) known mononyomusly as Nargis was an Indian actress and politician who worked in Hindi cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest and finest actresses in the ...
and
Nimmi
Nimmi (born as Nawab Bano; 18 February 1933 – 25 March 2020), was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi and Urdu films. Considered as one of the leading actresses of the "golden era" of Indian cinema, Nimmi was among the highest paid actresses ...
, but found them unfit for the character. He also had
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 ...
's name in his mind, but her price was too high for the financially unstable Samanta. It was then when Kumar came in to help him. Kumar, who had previously worked with Madhubala in ''
Mahal'' (1949) and ''
Ek Saal'' (1957), went to her house and told her the film's story. Madhubala took an immediate liking to the character of a
cabaret dancer, something which she had not done before. Upon learning that Samanta is reluctant to cast her due to her fees, she reduced it from 2,00,000 to just 1.25.
Except the climax, all other scenes of the film in which
Howrah Bridge
The Howrah Bridge is a balanced steel bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. Commissioned in 1943, the bridge was originally named the New Howrah Bridge, because it replaced a pontoon bridge at the same location linking the both ...
is shown were actually shot somewhere else, according to Madhubala's biographer
Mohan Deep
Mohan Deep (born Mohan Kishinchand Chandirramani in 1948), is an Indian writer. He has written multiple books on Bollywood film personalities, including the books: ''The Mystery and Mystique of Madhubala'', ''Simply Scandalous: Meena Kumari'', ...
.
''Howrah Bridge'' was Samanta's first release under his banner Shakti Films, which he had set up in 1957.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by
O. P. Nayyar and lyrics were written by
Qamar Jalalabadi and
Hasrat Jaipuri
Hasrat Jaipuri, born Iqbal Hussain (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999), was an Indian poet, who wrote in the Hindi and Urdu languages. He was also a renowned film lyricist in Hindi films, where he won the Filmfare Awards for Best Lyri ...
. Upon the film's release, the soundtrack became very popular and was one of the biggest reasons of the film's success. The iconic number "
Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu
"Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu" () is a song from the 1958 Indian film ''Howrah Bridge''. It was sung by Geeta Dutt, and was picturised on Helen. The song has lyrics by Qamar Jalalabadi and was composed by O.P. Nayyar. The tune at the beginning of t ...
", sung by
Geeta Dutt
Geeta Dutt (born Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri; 23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972) was an Indian Indian classical music, classical and playback singer. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema and Bengali cinema (India) ...
, brought fame to
Helen, who was only 19 at the time. Another evergreen song of the album was "Aaiye Meharban", sung by
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle (; ; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur, actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the media as one of the ...
, picturised on
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 ...
.
The following songs are in ''Howrah Bridge'':'' ''
Release
Critical reception
The reviews of ''Howrah Bridge'' were predominantly positive, with Samanta's direction, Madhubala's performance and Nayyar's music being particularly praised.
Uma Vasudeva of ''Thought'' found the film to be "western" due to its music and sets and Madhubala "beautiful most of the times". ''
The Print
The Print is an Indian online newspaper, owned by Printline Media Pvt Ltd. It was launched by journalist Shekhar Gupta in August 2017.
History
Printline Media Pvt. Ltd, founded by journalist Shekhar Gupta, was incorporated in New Delhi, India ...
'' took notice of the soundtrack and called "Aaiye Meherbaan" a showstopper.
It concluded, "O. P. Nayyar's music turned ''Howrah Bridge'' from a movie to a whole mood."
Shoma A. Chatterjee lauded Samanta's direction and called ''Howrah Bridge'' "one of the best crime thrillers on the
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 ...
screen".
The movie gained controversy for featuring siblings
Mehmood and
Minoo Mumtaz
Minoo Mumtaz (born as Malikunnisa Ali; 26 April 1942 – 23 October 2021) was an Indian actress. She was the sister of India's ace comedian Mehmood and was part of the Mehmood Ali film family. Minoo Mumtaz appeared in many Hindi films of the ...
(children of actor
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 ...
) dancing romantically.
Box office
''Howrah Bridge'' grossed 1.1 crore, with a net of 0.55 crore to become the ninth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 1958. According to
Box Office India
Box Office India is an Indian film website dedicated to tracking, reporting, and analyzing the financial performance of films released in the Hindi entertainment industry.
Established in 2003, Box Office India has become a prominent source of ...
, the film was one of the biggest hits of the year. Its success established Shakti Samanta as a leading director; he later recalled: "We made a lot of money from re-print of the records and ...
he film
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads
* He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English
* He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana)
* Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
did really well, I came to be recognized as a hit film maker from ''Howrah Bridge'' onwards."
Trivia
One can see the name B.I.S.N Co. on the ship in which Ashok Kumar arrives in Calcutta. This was British India Steam Navigation company that operates cargo and passenger ships. The company shut down in 70's.
References
External links
*
Howrah Bridgeat
BFI Film & TV Database
* {{BH movie, howrah-bridge
1958 films
1950s crime thriller films
Indian crime thriller films
1950s Hindi-language films
Films set in Kolkata
Films directed by Shakti Samanta
Films scored by O. P. Nayyar
Hindi-language crime thriller films