''Insān Jaag Utha'' () is a

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

Hindi-language social drama film, produced and 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 ...

, and written by

Nabendu Ghosh Nabendu Ghosh (27 March 1917 – 15 December 2007) was an Indian author in Bengali literature, and screenwriter. He has written screenplays of classic Bollywood movies like, Sujata, Bandini, Devdas, Majhli Didi, Abhimaan and Teesri Kasam. ...

and Vrajendra Gaur, based on a story by Saroj Mitra. The film stars

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 ...

Sunil Dutt Sunil Dutt (born Balraj Raghunath Dutt; 6 June 1929 – 25 May 2005) was an Indian actor, film producer, director, and politician known for his work in Hindi Cinema. He acted in more than 80 films over a career spanning five decades and was t ...

Nasir Hussain Mohammad Nasir Hussain Khan (16 November 1926 – 13 March 2002), better known as Nasir Hussain, was an Indian film producer, film director, and screenwriter. With a career spanning decades, Hussain has been credited as a major trendsetter in ...

Bipin Gupta Bipin Gupta (21 August 1905 – 9 September 1981) was an Indian actor and artist during the 1930s and 1960s. He acted in Bengali and Hindi cinema, most notably in '' Baiju Bawra'' (1952), ''Jagriti'' (1954), ''Gharana'' (1961) and '' Khilona'' ...

and

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 ...

in lead roles. It has music by

Sachin Dev Burman Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. He was a member of the Tripura royal family, but his father was excluded from the throne. He started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He late ...

, with lyrics by Shailendra.

Plot

Gauri lives in a small village in India with her crippled ex-army-man and freedom fighter dad, Laxmandas, and a younger brother, Gulab, and makes a living working as a laborer. One day she notices a man lurking around their house, this man subsequently introduces himself as Ranjeet, who has just arrived from Bombay. Ranjeet and Gauri become friends after he treats a wound on Gauri's foot, and then both fall in love with each other. Ranjeet starts working for the Government which is in the process of building a dam, where Gauri also works. Ranjeet starts work as a laborer also, but is subsequently promoted as a crane operator. What Gauri and Laxmandas do not know is that Ranjeet is in this village for a reason - greed for the suitcase of gold that he himself had buried in Gauri's front-yard - the very same gold that he was caught smuggling five years ago and the very same gold that he had spent five years in prison for.

Cast

as Gauri *

as Ranjeet *

Nazir Hussain Nazir Hussain (15 May 1922 – 16 October 1987) was an Indian actor, director and screenwriter. He was famous as a character actor in Hindi cinema and was a pioneer of Bhojpuri cinema. He acted in almost 500 films, with Dev Anand starring in ...

as Laxmandas *

as Minister *

as Mohan Singh *

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 Muniya * Sundar as Sukham * Mauji Singh in the song (Baharon Se Nazaro Ke Dekho) * Praveen Paul as Hotel Owner * Nishi as Hamsa / Riny * Keshav Rana as Robert *

Shyam Kumar Shyam Kumar (born M. Shyam Kumar) was an Indian cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler who played for Kerala. He was born in Tellicherry. Kumar made a single first-class appearance for the side, during the 19 ...

as Chander * Kundan as Bahadur

Production

Early in his career, Samanta had directed only crime thrillers including ''

Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

'' (1956) and ''

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 ...

'' (1958). A few days after the success of ''Howrah Bridge'' (1958), which was directed and also produced by him, he began working on ''Insān Jaag Utha''. ''Insān Jaag Utha'' was a film with social and patriotic themes, and this was an attempt by Samanta to shift to making social films. A large part of the film was shot on location at the Nagarjuna Saagar Dam, and the whole crew stayed in several guest rooms situated near the dam.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by S. D. Burman, with lyrics by Shailendra. It is noted for the duet ''Jaanu Jaanu Ri'' 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 ...

and

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) ...

, which was shot on location at the under-construction

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is a masonry dam across the Krishna River at Nagarjuna Sagar which straddles the border between Nalgonda district in Telangana and Palnadu district in Andhra Pradesh. The dam provides irrigation water to the districts of Kr ...

Reception

Critical reception

Shoma A. Chatterjee of ''Upperstall'' found the film's storyline to be "powerful" and its songs to be "beautiful". ''

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of India's most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, ...

'' had mentioned Madhubala's performance as Gauri in the film among her best performances.

Box office

''Insān Jaag Utha'' was a hit with audience and eventually emerged as the thirteenth highest-grossing film of 1959, taking 0.52 crore at the box office. However, since the film was made on a big budget, its earning brought Samanta only a little profit. In an interview he gave several years after the film's release, he recalled ''Insān Jaag Utha'' as a "mediocre success". Discouraged by the little box-office returns of ''Insān Jaag Utha'', Samanta shifted back to make entertainment-oriented, crime films for another decade, beginning with the highly successful '' Jaali Note'' (1960), before attempting the socially relevant film genre with films like '' Aradhana'' (1969), ''

Kati Patang () is a 1970 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film produced and directed by Shakti Samanta. The film stars Asha Parekh as a woman pretending to be a widow, and her ensuing trials and tribulations opposite her charming neighbour, played by R ...

'' (1971) and ''

Amar Prem ''Amar Prem'' () is a 1972 Indian Hindi romantic drama film directed by Shakti Samanta. It is a remake of the Bengali film '' Nishi Padma'' (1970), directed by Arabinda Mukherjee, who wrote screenplay for both the films based on the Bengali ...

'' (1971).

References

External links

* * , Rajshri Films Official channel * {{BH movie, insaan-jaag-utha Indian drama films 1959 films Films directed by Shakti Samanta Films scored by S. D. Burman Indian black-and-white films 1959 drama films 1950s Hindi-language films Hindi-language drama films