Cinema
Kismet
क़िस्मत
Gyan Mukherjee · 1943
Synopsis
Shekhar, a petty thief released from prison for the third time, immediately resumes his trade. Chased by the police, he takes refuge with Rani, a stage actress with a lame leg, the daughter of a former theatre owner who was ruined and took to drink, and who is hounded by Indrajit, the new master of the place and her creditor. He moves in with her as a lodger, grows attached to her and sets about helping her, with the only means he knows.
Context
Produced by Bombay Talkies at a time when the succession to Himansu Rai was tearing the company apart, from a screenplay written with Agha Jani Kashmiri, the film was released on 9 January 1943, with Ashok Kumar and Mumtaz Shanti and music by Anil Biswas. Kavi Pradeep's song Door Hato Ae Duniyawalon, which was aimed at Germany and Japan, was heard as a call against the British. The film was criticised for glorifying crime.
Who it is for
Two hours twenty minutes, in Hindustani, with no French release; one must accept the coincidences of melodrama and of the theme of reunion.
Prizes and reception
The greatest success of Hindi cinema until the seventies: more than three years on the bill at the Roxy in Calcutta; it established the type of the antihero.
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