Cinema
Neecha Nagar
नीचा नगर
Chetan Anand · 1946
Synopsis
Sarkar, a wealthy landowner, lives in a mansion on the heights, while the poor toil and go hungry in the lower town, at the bottom of the valley. To make way for a property development, he diverts the course of a sewer towards their homes. Balraj leads the resistance; Maya, Sarkar's daughter, joins the protest against her father's will. Disease spreads through the lower town, and the well-off see in it an opportunity to build a hospital and profit from it.
Context
The film was the first for its director, for the actress Kamini Kaushal and for the musician Ravi Shankar. Drawn from a story by Hayatullah Ansari inspired by Gorky's The Lower Depths, it was written with Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, produced by Rashid Anwar, who had obtained a licence for film stock, then rationed, and acted mostly by amateurs from the politically committed theatre, among them Zohra Segal, who arranged the dances. Distributors did not want it.
Who it is for
Two hours in Hindi, with no French release. One must accept an acting style from committed theatre and a fable that does not hide its thesis.
Prizes and reception
Grand Prix at the first Cannes festival, in 1946, shared with other films; the only Indian film to have received the festival's highest award.
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