''Sheesh Mahal'' (Palace of Mirrors) is a

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

social

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

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 ...

film produced and directed by

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'', '' ...

for Minerva Movietone. The story writer was

Hakim Ahmad Shuja Hakim Ahmad Shuja MBE (; 4 November 1893 – 4 January 1969) was a prominent Pakistani poet, playwright and lyricist, who published his works in the Urdu and Persian languages. Background Hakim Ahmad Shuja was born in an old and promi ...

, an

poet and writer. The screenplay and dialogue were by Munshi Abdul Baqui and Shams Lucknawi. The music direction was by

Vasant Desai Vasant Desai (1912–1975) was an Indian film music composer, most remembered for his score in V. Shantaram films like '' Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje'' (1955), ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' (1957), Vijay Bhatt's '' Goonj Uthi Shehnai'' (1959), ''Samp ...

and the lyricists were Aajiz, Shams Lucknowi and Nazim Panipati. The film starred

Naseem Banu Naseem Banu (4 July 1916 – 18 June 2002) was an Indian actress. Starting her acting career in the mid-1930s she continued to act till mid-1950s. Her first film was '' Khoon Ka Khoon'' (Hamlet) (1935) with Sohrab Modi under whose Minerva Mo ...

Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st prime minister from 1981 to 1982. He was previously ...

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 ...

, Nigar Sultana, Pushpa Hans, Jawahar Kaul and

Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...

. Naseem plays the daughter of a feudal aristocrat who sticks to his old ways in spite of being reduced to penury. In contrast to her role in '' Pukar'' (1939), she "dressed simply, with little make-up", with her acting leaving an emotional impact on the audiences. And Bakwas is the builder of Sheesh Mahal

Plot

An old feudal aristocrat, Thakur Jaspal Singh (

) lives with his two daughters, Ranja (

) and Nalini (Pushpa Hans), and son Balram in a grand mansion called Sheesh Mahal. He maintains his long family ancestry and honour, citing the valour of olden days. His way of life far exceeds the money he has. His children try to warn him regarding his excessive spending, but his feudal mind-set refuses to let others see that they are in dire straits. They finally have to sell their mansion to a former worker, Durgaprasad (

), who is now rich. They settle in a small hovel-like place. The brother finds work in the factory, but meets with an accident where his leg is amputated. Desperate Ranjana finds work as a maid to Roopa ( Nigar Sultana), Durgaprasad’s daughter. Jaspal Singh refuses Durgadas when he comes to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage to his son Vikram (Jawahar Kaul) claiming that Durgadas may have bought the Sheesh Mahal, but he's still a labourer compared to the aristocratic family. Balram argues with his father about keeping up false pretences. Sundarmukh (

), who was to marry Ranjana, but has broken the engagement because they are poor, comes and tells Jaspal that his daughter, in the guise of working at Durgadas' house is having an affair with his son. Jaspal is furious and rushes to kill Ranjana to avenge the Rajput honour. At the Sheesh Mahal, Durgadas stops him with a lecture on different warriors and honour. Jaspal falters and falls down the steps. Before he dies, he blesses the union between Ranjana and Vikram.

Cast

as Thakur Jaspal Singh *

as Ranjana *

as Durgadas * Nigar Sultana as Roopa Devi *

as Sundarmukh * Jawahar Kaul as Vikram * Amarnath as Balram *

as Vikram’s mother * Ghulam Mohiuddin * Sadat Ali

Crew

* Producer: Sohrab Modi * Music director:

* Lyricist: Aajiz, Shams Lucknowi, Nazim Panipati (as well as an adaptation of Hakim Ahmad Shuja's poem) * Cinematographer: M. Malhotra * Dances: Prem Dhawan * Editing: D. D. Shirdhankar and P. Bhalchander * Processed: Bombay Film Laboratory * Make-up Artist: M. N. Borkar * Recording Director: M. Edulji * Art Director: Rusi K. Banker

Review

Though the film is still praised for its lavish sets show-casing the mansion almost on par with

Mughal-E-Azam ''Mughal-e-Azam'' () is a 1960 Indian Epic film, epic historical drama film produced and directed by K. Asif. Starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote, it follows the love affair between Mughal Empire, Mughal Prince ...

as cited by

Amrit Gangar Amrit Gangar is an Indian film scholar, historian, critic, curator and writer from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He worked as consultant content developer for the National Museum of Indian Cinema set up by the National Council of Science Museums ...

, the film came in for extremely harsh criticism from

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 ...

of ''

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 ...

'', who had an old feud going with Modi. Patel in the October 1950 issue of ''Filmindia'' claimed "... Sheesh Mahal fails miserably to appeal". However, ''Motions Picture Magazine'' in its February 1951 issue commended Modi for assuring the public that he still retained the "mastery of his craft". In overall terms, the film, despite some shortcomings, has a strong storyline and is well-directed by Modi, with exceptional roles by Naseem and Mubarak.

Soundtrack

composed all the songs. The singers were Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, Pushpa Hans and

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and range of voice ...

. Pushpa Hans was a known singer and actress of those days. ''Chaman'' and ''Sheesh Mahal'' were her notable films.

Songlist

References

External links

* {{Sohrab Modi 1950 films 1950s Hindi-language films Films scored by Vasant Desai 1950 drama films Indian drama films Films directed by Sohrab Modi Hindi-language drama films Indian black-and-white films