''Sikandar'' or ''Sikander'' is a

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

epic

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

film 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'', '' ...

and starring Prithviraj Kapoor as

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

Development

The battle sequences featuring thousands of extras along with horses, elephants and chariots were filmed in Kolhapur.

Plot

The story is set in 326 B.C. The film begins after Alexander the Great (''Sikander'' in Hindustani) conquers

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and the Kabul valley and approaches the Indian border at

Jhelum Jhelum (; , ) is a city, located along the western bank of the Jhelum River, in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 21st largest city in Punjab and 31st largest in Pakistan, by population. Located in northern Punjab, it serves as the capital of the ...

. He respects Aristotle and loves Persian Rukhsana (known in the west as Roxana).

plays the Indian king Puru (

Porus Porus or Poros ( ; 326–321 BC) was an ancient Indian king whose territory spanned the region between the Jhelum River (Hydaspes) and Chenab River (Acesines), in the Punjab region of what is now India and Pakistan. He is only mentioned in Gr ...

to the Greeks). Puru requests neighbouring kingdoms to unite against a common foreign enemy. The story goes that when Sikander defeated Porus and imprisoned him, he asked Porus how would he like to be treated. Porus replied: "the same way a king is treated by another king". Sikander was impressed by his answer and set him free.

Cast

* Prithviraj as

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

* Vanmala as Rukhsana * Meena Shorey as Parthana (sister of Ambhi) * Sheela as Sukhmani * Sadiq Ali as Samar * Shakir as

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

* K. N. Singh as Raja Ambhi * LalaYakub as Salencons * Gagendra Singh as Emmanese * Jilloo Bai as Sarita Rani * Zahur Raja as Amar (son of Porus) * Abu bakar * Ghulam Hussein *

Noor Jehan Noor Jehan (21 September 192623 December 2000) was a Pakistani playback singer and actress who worked in both British India and later in Pakistan's cinema of Pakistan, cinema. Her career lasted over six decades, during which she recorded 10,00 ...

* Prakash * G. S. Shorry * Athavale

Release

The release of the film coincided with

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the quest for Swaraj or Quit India at its peak. In

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 ...

, the political atmosphere was tense, following

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

's call to

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

. Sikander further aroused patriotic feelings and nationalistic sentiment. Thus, though ''Sikander'' was approved by the Bombay censor board, it was later banned from some of the theatres serving

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

cantonments. However, its appeal to nationalism was so great and direct, it remained popular for years. It was revived in Delhi in 1961 during the Indian march into Goa. After the movie was a huge box office success, it was dubbed and released in Persian. The music of ''Sikandar'' was composed by Meer Sahib. A prominent song was "Zindagi Hai Pyar Se, Pyar Se Bitaye Ja".

Remake

It was remade in 1965 as '' Sikandar E Azam'' in color, by Kedar Kapoor, starring Prithviraj Kapoor,

Dara Singh Dara Singh Randhawa (born Deedar Singh Randhawa; 19 November 1928 – 12 July 2012) was an Indian professional wrestler, actor, director and politician. He started acting in 1952 and was the first sportsman to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha ...

, Mumtaz, Madhumati, Helen, Prem Nath,

Prem Chopra Prem Chopra (born 23 September 1935) is an Indian actor in Hindi films. He has acted in 380 films over a span of over 60 years. Life and education Chopra, the third of six children of Ranveerlal and Rooprani Chopra, a Punjabi Hindu family, was ...

, Jeevan.

References

External links

* 1940s Hindi-language films 1940s Indian films 1940s Urdu-language films 1941 films Films about Alexander the Great Indian black-and-white films Films directed by Sohrab Modi Classical war films Indian war films 1941 war films Indian historical films 1940s historical films Urdu-language Indian films Film censorship in India Censored films {{1940s-Hindi-film-stub