''Phir Subha Hogi'' ( morning will dawn again) is a 1958

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

produced and directed by

Ramesh Saigal Ramesh Saigal was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and actor in Hindi language films. Professional life His major work includes ''Railway Platform'' (1955), ''Shola Aur Shabnam'' (1961) and ''Ishq Par Zor Nahin'' (1970). He w ...

. It stars

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (; born as Shrishti Nath Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influen ...

Mala Sinha Mala Sinha (born Alda Sinha; 11 November 1936) is a former Indian actress who mainly worked in Hindi, Bengali films. Initially starting her career with regional cinema, she went on to become a top leading actress in Hindi Cinema in the 1960s a ...

, Rehman in the lead roles. The film is an adaption of

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...

's novel ''

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal '' The Russian Messenger'' in twelve monthly installments during 1866.

''. It was the fourth highest-grossing film in

in 1958 and was declared a "hit" at the box office in India.

Plot

Ram (

) is a poor law student who supports his education with

money order A money order is a directive to pay a pre-specified amount of money from prepaid funds, making it a more trusted method of payment than a cheque. History Systems similar to modern money orders can be traced back centuries. Paper documents known ...

s from his mother and things he pawns. While struggling with his poor finances, he saves a boy from an accident. Seeing the poor condition of the boy's family, he gives all his savings for the boy's treatment. Ram keeps visiting the boy and falls in love with the boy's elder sister Soni (

). Soni's father Gopal (

Nana Palsikar Nana Palshikar () (1907 – 1 June 1984) was an Indian actor who appeared in over 80 Hindi films. He made his film debut in 1935 with ''Dhuwandhar'', and went on to play character roles in both Hindi mainstream and arthouse films. He was also c ...

) is an alcoholic, which Harbanslal (

Jagdish Sethi Jagdish Sethi was an Indian actor and director. Filmography Actor Director External links * 20th-century Indian people Indian male film actors 1903 births 1969 deaths {{India-film-actor-stub ...

) keeps providing him with. Harbanslal has a mean motive in doing so, as he wants to marry Soni. To prevent Soni's arranged marriage with Harbanslal, Ram decides to rob the

pawn broker A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, ...

, but he is caught in the act and he murders the pawn owner. Ram's conscience keeps telling him to admit to his crime, but he never picks up the courage to do so. The police inspector on the case keeps suspecting Ram for the crime. With no proof he, too, is helpless. Ram learns that the police have already arrested another thief and have charged him with this robbery and murder. On the last day, when the court is to rule in the case, Ram makes up his mind and admits. He pleads saying how he was acting in self-defense against real villains of the society. The court sentences him to three years of imprisonment. Soni promises that she will wait for his release and then marry him.

Cast

as Ram *

as Soni * Rehman as Rehman * Mubarak as Police Inspector *

as Harbanslal *

as Gopal *

Leela Chitnis Leela Chitnis (''née'' Nagarkar; 9 September 1909 – 14 July 2003) was an Indian actress in the Indian film industry, active from the 1930s to the 1980s. In her early years she starred as a romantic lead, but she is best remembered for her lat ...

as Soni's Mother *

Tun Tun Uma Devi Khatri
Press Release, Kamal Kapoor Kamal Kapoor (22 February 1920 – 2 August 2010) was an Indian actor and producer who acted in around 600 Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati films. Early and personal life Kamal Kapoor was born on 22 February 1920 in Peshawar, North-West Frontier ...

as Soni's Molester

Music

Lyrics for this socially relevant film were composed by

Sahir Ludhianvi Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980), popularly known by his pen name (takhallus) Sahir Ludhianvi, was an Indian poet who wrote primarily in Urdu in addition to Hindi. He is regarded as one of the greatest film lyricists and poet ...

and music by

Khayyam Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīshābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) ( Persian: غیاث الدین ابوالفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابورﻯ), commonly known as Omar Khayyam (), was ...

. The song "Chin-O-Arab Hamara, Hindustan Hamara, Rehne Ko Ghar Nahin Hain, Sara Jahan Hamara" sung by

Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It is commonly used as a male given name in India. People with the name Mukesh include: * Mukesh (singer) (1923–1976), Indian playback singer from ...

and picturised on

, became very popular yet controversial, and was very close to being banned then.

Reception

''Phir Subha Hogi'' fared successfully at the box office and was the fourth highest-grossing film of the year 1958 behind ''

Madhumati ''Madhumati'' is a 1958 Indian Hindi-language paranormal romance film directed and produced by Bimal Roy, story and screenplay written by Ritwik Ghatak and dialogues written by Rajinder Singh Bedi. The film stars Vyjayanthimala and Dilip ...

'', ''

Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi ''Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi'' () is a 1 January 1958 Indian musical comedy film directed by Satyen Bose. Starring Madhubala with the Ganguly brothers —Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar, and Kishore Kumar— the film revolves around a middle-aged man wh ...

'' and ''

Yahudi ''Yahudi'' () is a 1958 Hindi-language epic romantic historical drama film directed by Bimal Roy. It stars Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari, Sohrab Modi, Nazir Hussain, Nigar Sultana among others. It is based on the play '' Yahudi Ki Ladki'' by ...

''. The music composed by Khayyam is considered as "rich and beautiful". Songs like "Chin-O-Arab Hamara" and "Woh Subah Kabhi To Aayegi" penned by Sahir Ludhianvi were satirical on the condition of India and the Nehruvian politics. "Chin-o-Arab Hamara" was a parody on Iqbal's poem "

Tarana-e-Milli "Tarana-e-Milli" () or "Anthem of the Community" is an enthusiastic poem in which Allama Mohammad Iqbal paid tribute to the Muslim Ummah (nation) and said that Islam is the religion of the world. He recognized all Muslims anywhere in the world ...

Trivia

Lal Krishna Advani Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak San ...

, a senior leader of the

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

, many a time in his speeches, has talked about watching this movie along with his friend and colleague

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...

. Advani reminisces that former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

was very fond of watching movies. He narrated an incident where in 1958 he and Vajpayee, after facing an electoral defeat in

Delhi Municipal Corporation Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD; ISO: ''Dillī Nagara Nigama'') is the municipal corporation that governs most of Delhi, India. The MCD is among the largest municipal bodies in the world providing civic services to a population of about 20 ...

election, straightaway went to watch a movie. Advani says that the film turned out to be ''Phir Subha Hogi''. Advani says that after Vajpayee became PM, he told party workers that the title of the movie had turned out to be prophetic and there was finally a dawn.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0268533, title= Phir Subha Hogi 1958 films 1950s Hindi-language films 1958 romantic drama films Indian romantic drama films Films scored by Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Films directed by Ramesh Saigal Hindi-language romantic drama films