''Jwala'' () is a 1971 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

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed and produced by M. V. Raman and written by Chandliyan. It 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 ...

(in her final, posthumous film appearance) and

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 ...

, with

Sohrab Modi Sohrab Merwanji Modi (2 November 1897 – 28 January 1984) was an Indian stage and film actor, director and producer. His films include ''Khoon Ka Khoon'' (1935), a version of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', ''Sikandar (1941 film), Sikandar'', '' ...

and

Pran PRAN-RFL Group () is a Bangladeshi conglomerate, founded in 1981 by Amjad Khan Chowdhury. It is one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh Pran-RFL Group is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and employs over 1,00,000 people worldwide ...

in pivotal roles. The film's music was composed by

Shankar–Jaikishan Shankar–Jaikishan (also known as S-J) were an Indian composer duo of the Hindi film industry, working together from 1949 to 1971. They are widely considered to be one of the greatest music composers of the Hindi film industry. After Jaikisha ...

. ''Jwala'' was first conceived in mid-1956 but was not completed by late 1960s. Madhubala was mostly absent from the set due to her sickness and Raman had to make use of body doubles for finishing the filming. The film failed at the box office when released in July 1971two years after Madhubala's deathand received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics.

Plot

Maharaja Anup Singh is attacked by his arch enemy Raja of Rampur and in the battle that ensues; Anup Singh loses his kingdom and has to flee for his life. He is thus separated from his infant son Ajit, who has taken to the safety of the jungles by the trusted aide of Anup Singh. Whilst in this compulsory exile, Maharaja Anup Singh is befriended by Vanaraj and with his help goes from Kingdom to Kingdom to ask help to regain his lost Kingdom. Ajit in the meanwhile grows up in wild jungles among the wild animals, not knowing that he is the son of beloved Anup Singh. The Raja of Rampur along with his daughters is travelling through the jungles when they are attacked by a band of Dacoits. Ajit, who was nearby hears the cries of their distress, comes to their aid and saves them from the Dacoits. The Raja is very pleased with the bravery of Ajit and appoints him as a captain in his Palace Army. Ajit falls in love with the Raja's daughter Jwala. The people of Seema Desh are completely frustrated with the evil and treacherous rule of Kumar, the son of Raja of Rampur, and his wicked Minister Vikram. The once rich and prosperous people are now nothing but poor unhappy paupers with no pride and dignity in them. Anup Singh cannot tolerate this vile treatment to his subjects and with help of friends becomes a dacoit robbing only the treasures of Raja of Rampur. Not knowing the real identity of his father, nor knowing the real reason of the looting of the treasures by Anup Singh, Ajit takes upon himself the challenging and gruesome task of capturing the Dacoit. Thus father and son engage in a fight to the finish.

Cast

as Rajkumari Jwala *

as Ajit *

as Maharaja Anup Singh *

as Kumar *Ulhas as the king of Rampur * David Abraham as Vanaraj *

Gajanan Jagirdar Gajanan Jagirdar (2 April 1907 – 13 August 1988) was a veteran Indian film director, screenwriter and actor. He worked in Hindi Cinema, also called Bollywood, as well as Marathi cinema. The period of 1942 to 1947, saw his rise as a film direc ...

as Vikram *

Raj Mehra Raj Mehra (born 20 May 1913 – 10 April 1993) was an Indian character artist and film actor in Hindi language films, especially known for his role as a father of leading actors. During his career, he worked in over 300 Hindi films. Some of hi ...

as Maharaja Rampur *

Asha Parekh Asha Parekh (born 2 October 1942) is an Indian actress, film director, and producer who worked in Hindi films. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses of Hindi cinema, Parekh has worked in more than 85 films, in a career spanning over four d ...

as Ranjana *

Kumari Kamala Kumari Kamala (born 16 June 1934) is an Indian dancer and actress (also known as Kamala Lakshman). Initially featured as a child dancer, Kamala appeared in almost 100 Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films throughout her career. In the 1970s, sh ...

as dancer * Vijay Laxmi *

Lalita Pawar Lalita Pawar (née Amba Laxmanrao Shagun; 18 April 1916 – 24 February 1998) was a prolific Indian actress, who later became famous as a character actress, appearing in over 700 films in Bollywood, Hindi, Marathi cinema, Marathi and Gujarati c ...

*Leena *Nazar * Sabina *Roshan *Poonam *Shashi * Naaz *

Shivraj Shivraj (; 1920 – 3 June 2017) was an Indian actor. Selected filmography *'' Singaar'' (1949) *'' Andolan'' (1951) (He played a key role) *'' Patita'' (1953) *'' Devdas'' (1955) *'' Seema'' (1955) *'' Dekh Kabira Roya'' (1957) *'' Miss Mar ...

* Brahm Bharadwaj *

Chaman Puri Chaman Puri (2 October 1914 – 26 June 1998) was an Indian actor of Hindi and Punjabi films. His younger brothers were Bollywood actors Madan Puri and Amrish Puri. Early life Chaman Puri was the first of five children, with younger brothers Ma ...

*Kesri *

Mukri Mohammed Umar Mukri (5 January 1922 – 4 September 2000), popularly known as Mukri, was an Indian actor, who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. Born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Uran. He started his film career with the film ''Pratima'' along ...

* Kumud Tripathi * Kharyati * Keshav *Kapoor * Vishvas Kunte *Vijay *

Shobha Mahalakshmi Menon, best known by her stagename Shobha (23 September 1962 – 1 May 1980), was an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam and Tamil films. At the age of 17, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her r ...

* Daisy Irani ;Dances Choreographers * Gopikrishna *Sudarshan Kumar *

Shetty Shetty () is a surname originating from coastal Karnataka state of India. Found amongst the Bunt community:"The Bunts are Sudras , although they played the role of Kshatriyas early in the Christian era when they and the Nadavas were the military C ...

;Animal Trainer *Govindraj ;Stunts *

Production

''Jwala'' was primarily shot in the mid-1950s, when

was alive. The film was shelved for a decade when she fell ill between the filming. After her untimely death in 1969, filming resumed with various actresses doubling for Madhubala.

, then a little-known child artist, had played a supporting role in the film.

Music

Release

''Jwala'' was released in only limited number of theatres on 1 July 1971. Dutt and Modi were initially given the top-billing over Madhubala in the opening credits, but the actress' name appeared on the first position in all the posters and publicity stills. It was Dutt who had insisted that Madhubala be given the top-billing since she was a bigger star than him.

Reception

The film underperformed commercially, and reviews were predominantly negative, with most of the critics focusing on Madhubala's final performance. Writing retrospectively, ''Cinestaan'' called the film "a haphazard mess". It further criticised the film for providing Madhubala lesser screen time: "Despite being the title character, Madhubala is pushed to the background." Khatija Akbar, who wrote Madhubala's biography in 1997 commented "The film, however, must be seen and savoured if only for the pleasure of viewing Madhubala in sapphire, in black, in red, for the rare experience of rich brown hair and a translucent milk and roses complexion."

References

External links

* 1970s Hindi-language films 1970s Indian films 1971 action films 1971 films Films directed by M. V. Raman Films scored by Shankar–Jaikishan Indian historical action films {{1970s-Hindi-film-stub