''Subah Ka Tara'' (The Morning Star) is a 1954

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 ...

social romantic film directed by V. Shantaram. The film was produced by Rajkamal Kalamandir and had story and dialogues by Shams Lucknavi. The director of photography was G. Balkrishna. It had music composed by C. Ramchandra and the lyricists were Noor Lakhnavi and Diwan Sharar. The title song "Chamka Chamka Subah Ka Tara" was one of the notable songs from this film. Rajshree appeared in her debut role as a child star. The cast included

Pradeep Kumar Pradeep Kumar (4 January 1925 – 27 October 2001) was an Indian actor who is recognized for his work in Hindi, Punjabi and English-language films. (Dinesh RahejaEver the royalRediff.com website, Published 2 June 2003, Retrieved 16 February 2 ...

, Jayshree,

Amirbai Karnataki Amirbai Karnataki ( – 3 March 1965) was a famous actress/singer and playback singer of the early Hindi cinema and was famous as ''Kannada Kokila''. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent fan of her song '' Vaishnav Jan To''. Early life Amirbai Karn ...

Rajshree Rajashree Shantaram (born 8 October 1944), known mononymously as Rajshree, is an Indian actress. She is best known for her work in the movies '' Janwar'' and '' Brahmachari''. Personal life Rajshree is the daughter of acclaimed Indian filmmak ...

, Shakuntala Paranjpye and Naaz. Jayshree plays the role of a young widow pursued by a young man (Pradeep Kumar) who falls in love with her, but is unable to marry her due to societal norms and subsequently becomes insane.

Plot

The film, told in flash-back, starts with a few people troubling a disheveled, insane man holding a bedding. The mad man is Mohan who finally sits down with a sympathiser and starts narrating the story. Mohan meets a young widow, Padmini taking medicine for her dying mother. Padmini's mother, from her death-bed, warns her about befriending young men as she's a widow and society demands that she live alone with just a white sheet as a companion, for that's her life as a widow. Following her mother's death, Padmini goes to her paternal uncle's house to live. Her uncle has gone to Africa and her Aunt treats her badly. Mohan falls ill thinking about Padmini's situation and her rebuff when he pursues her. He is looked after by his mother and young sister. Padmini is made to work as a maid in her Uncle's house but has a kind cousin sister, Bharti. Mohan arrives there on some work and the Aunt has chosen him as a suitable boy for Bharti's marriage. Mohan sees Padmini and tells her how he feels, which is overheard by the Aunt. The Aunt throws Padmini out of the house to fend for herself. The story continues with the problems Padmini faces, Mohan's search for Padmini and her death when she sets the house left by her mother, on fire. Mohan finds the bedding in the aftermath of the fire and goes insane.

Cast

* V. Shantaram as the drunken man * Jayashree as Padmini *

as Mohan * Neelambai as Mohan's mother * Baby

as Sogi, Mohan's sister * Shakuntala Paranjpye as Chachi * Naaz as Heera *

as neighbour * Nimbalkar as Paanwala * Chandrakanta as Bharti * Jogendra as Milkman * Aminabai as Padmini's mother

Crew

* Producer Rajkamal Kalamandir * Director: V. Shantaram * Story: Shams Lucknavi * Dialogue: Shams Lucknavi * Music: C. Ramchandra * Lyrics: Noor Lucknavi, Diwan Sharar * Cinematographer: G. Balkrishna * Editor: Chintamani Borkar * Art Director: Baburao Jadhav * Sound: A. K. Parmar * Make-up: Baba Vardam * Still Photography: Kirtiwan

Review

Shantaram played a small part as a drunk man, whose house Jayshree goes to looking for a job. His role was appreciated as the "engaging drunk" in the film. Jayshree's role as Padmini, the young widow, was commended but her "speaking in whispers" was censured. Pradeep Kumar's role as the "socially conscious" youth was termed "memorable".

Soundtrack

Shantaram chose C. Ramchandra as opposed to

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 ...

for some of his films, Parchhain, Navrang and ''Subah Ka Tara''. However, Desai scored the background music for both the films. The film's title song "Gaya Andhera Hua Ujala Chamka Subah Ka Tara" in

Raga A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...

Pahadi was sung by

Talat Mahmood Talat Mahmood (24 February 1924 – 9 May 1998) was an Indian playback singer who is considered as one of the greatest and most popular Indian male film song and ghazal singers. Although he tried his luck as a film actor, he did not succeed a g ...

and

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar (; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. He ...

. The other notable songs from the film were Talat's "Apni Nakami Se Mujhko Kaam Hai", and "Badi Dhoom Dham Se Meri Bhabhi Aayi" sung by Usha Mangeshkar, which was also her debut song. The music director was C. Ramchandra with lyrics by Noor Lucknawi and the song "Do Haklon Ka Suno Fasana" written by Diwan Sharar. The singers were

, C. Ramchandra and

Usha Mangeshkar Usha Mangeshkar is an Indian singer who has recorded many Marathi, Manipuri, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Nepali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Odia and Assamese songs. She is the youngest among four Mangeshkar sisters, after Lata Mangeshkar, Meena ...

Song list

References

External links

* {{V. Shantaram 1954 films 1950s Hindi-language films Films directed by V. Shantaram Films scored by C. Ramchandra Indian romance films 1950s romance films Indian black-and-white films