Sagai (film)

Last updated

Sagai
Directed by H. S. Rawail
Screenplay byAnjana Rawail
Story byAnjana Rawail
Starring Premnath
Rehana
CinematographyJamshed R. Irani
Edited byPrabhakar Gokhale
Music by C. Ramchandra
Production
company
Distributed byVarma Films
Release date
1951
Country India
Language Hindi

Sagai (English: Engagement) is a 1951 Bollywood film starring Premnath and Rehana directed by H. S. Rawail. It was the second time H. S. Rawail collaborated with Varma Films after the success of their previous film Patanga, which was the seventh highest-grossing film of 1949. [1] As in Patanga, Rajendra Kumar, who would rise to become one of the leading actors in Indian cinema, worked on Sagai as an assistant to director H. S. Rawail.

Contents

Sagai was distinguished by the use of its filmmakers not only to use the same director of their recent hit film Patanga, but also to use several other members of Patanga’s ensemble hopefully to create a blueprint for success. Like in Patanga, H.S. Rawail’s wife, Anjana Rawail, was the storywiter of Sagai.

Also, several cast members of Patanga, such as Purnima, Gope and Yakub played important roles in Sagai . Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the music of Sagai was composed by C. Ramchandra, who also had composed the hit music of Patanga.

Plot

Sagai revolves around the depiction of a love triangle. In such triangles two people typically compete for the exclusive romantic attention of a single person, such as two women competing for the sole love interest of a particular man. Whereas Sagai is not about love triangles per se, the film demonstrates how a love triangle is deployed as a storytelling device in a Bollywood film.

In Sagai the complexity of the triangular love relationship begins with Chandni. When she returns home from London, her father feels that she has come of age and informs her of her engagement (her sagai) to a groom he had selected for her when she was a child. When he asks her to marry him, Chandni declines to do so, runs away from home and ends up joining Fooman and Dhaboo on a successions of explorations. One such exploration lands them aboard a ship captained by Prem, who is transporting Princess Shehzadi to her native land, Jagira.

Over the course of their journey to Jagira, both Chandni and Shehzadi fall in love with the handsome and charming Captain Prem, and so begins the conflict that arises in a classic love triangle when two women fall in love with the same man. What further complicates this love triangle is that when the ship reaches Jagira, Shehzadi’s brother, the King, insists that Prem marry Shehzadi and imprisons him when Prem refuses to do so. The King then proposes to Chandni who is already engaged to the man her father had selected for her years ago. The film progresses with the resolution of the conflicts that arise in this complex love triangle.

Cast

Soundtrack

Music was composed by C. Ramchandra, while Rajinder Krishan wrote the lyrics. [2]

SongSinger
"Dil Ki Kahani" Lata Mangeshkar
"Daddy Ji, O Daddy Ji"Lata Mangeshkar
"Aankhon Se Jo Bhi Aansoo"Lata Mangeshkar
"O Babu, O Babu, Kaise Dil Karun Kabu, Samjhaye Ja"Lata Mangeshkar, Amirbai Karnataki
"Mohabbat Mein Aise Zamane Bhi Aaye"Lata Mangeshkar, Talat Mahmood
"Mohabbat Ho Gayi Bas Ek Nazar Se, Bas Ek Nazar Se"Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi
"Jhukti Hai Duniya, Jhukanewala Chahiye, Jhukanewala Chahiye"Lata Mangeshkar, C. Ramchandra, Mohammed Rafi
"Bigad Gayi Bante Bante Baat, Hui Woh Jooton Ki Barsaat, Tabiyat Saaf Ho Gayi Saaf"C. Ramchandra, Mohammed Rafi, Shamshad Begum
"Mohabbat Jatake, Aankhen Ladake, Chale Aa Rahe Hain"C. Ramchandra, Mohammed Rafi

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Ramchandra</span> Indian music director (1918–1982)

Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar, also known as C. Ramchandra or Chitalkar or Anna Sahib, was an Indian music director and playback singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajendra Kumar</span> Indian actor

Rajendra Kumar, was an Indian actor who starred in Bollywood films. Starting his career in 1949, he appeared in more than 80 films in a career spanning over four decades. He was popularly known as the Jubilee Kumar during the 1960s when he starred in several commercially successful films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bina Rai</span> Indian actress

Bina Rai, sometimes referred to as Beena Rai, was an Indian actress, primarily of the black and white era of Hindi cinema. She is most known for her roles in classics such as Anarkali (1953), Ghunghat (1960) and Taj Mahal (1963), and won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in Ghunghat.

<i>Betaab</i> 1983 Indian film

Betaab (Restless) is a 1983 Indian romance film written by Javed Akhtar, directed by Rahul Rawail and produced by Bikram Singh Dehal. The film stars Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh in their debut roles along with Shammi Kapoor. The music was composed by Rahul Dev Burman. The opening of Betaab started in 1981 with the presence of Dilip Kumar, Saira Banu, Raj Kapoor, and Dharmendra. Before the release of Betaab, Sunny Deol also had a small role in the film Main Inteqam Loonga 1982 which his father Dharmendra was the hero of the film. Betaab was a commercial success and went on to be one of the biggest hits of the year, emerging as the 2nd highest grossing Indian film of 1983. The film was remade in Telugu as Samrat in 1987, with Ramesh Babu and Sonam, and in Kannada as Karthik in 2011.

<i>Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi</i> 2008 Indian film

Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film based on the story of Ashapurna Devi. The film is directed by Kaushik Ghatak and stars Isha Koppikar and Sonu Sood. Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi was released on 7 November 2008.

<i>Patanga</i> (1949 film) 1949 Indian film

Patanga is a 1949 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film. It was the first film produced and distributed by Varma Films; yet,It was the seventh highest grossing Indian film of 1949. The film was directed by H. S. Rawail based on a story written by his wife Anjana Rawail. Rajendra Kumar, who would become one of the leading actors in Indian cinema, worked in Patanga as an assistant to director H.S. Rawail and also had a cameo in the film. A duet sung against the backdrop of WW2, "Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon", picturised on actor Gope and lead heroine Nigar Sultana became popular. The playback singers for the song were C. Ramchandra, who also composed the music for the film, and Shamshad Begum. The cast included Nigar Sultana, Shyam, Yakub, Gope, Purnima, Shyama, Randhir and Mohana.

<i>Lal Haveli</i> (film) 0000 Indian film

Lal Haveli is a Bollywood film. It was released on 15 December 1944. The film was directed by K. B. Lall, for whom it was a debut directorial venture. Lall had started his career playing a villain in Sohrab Modi's Bharosa (1940), and as a "storywriter" with the V. C. Desai directed film Radhika (1941), finally producing Savera (1942) directed by V. C. Desai, before turning his hand at direction with Lal Haveli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yakub (actor)</span> Indian actor (1903-1958)

Yakub Khan, known as Yakub, was an Indian actor born into a Pathan family in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. He is best known for his comic and comic villainous roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gope (actor)</span> Indian actor

Gope was an Indian actor of Hindi cinema. Starting his career with a small role in Insaan Ya Shaitaan (1933), directed by Moti Gidwani and produced by Eastern Arts Production, Gope went on to act in over one hundred forty films in a career spanning twenty-four years from 1933 to 1957. Several of his films were released following his death. Best known for his comedy roles, he is stated to be one of Hindi cinema's "most popular comedians". His acting in comic roles won him "critical and popular acclaim" and he soon became "the leading comedian of his time". His popularity assured him of being mentioned in the credit roll of films along with the main cast. He became famous for lip-syncing the popular number "Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon" from Patanga, playbacked by C. Ramchandra for Gope and by Shamshad Begum for Nigar Sultana.

Manmohan is a 1936 Indian Urdu/Hindi-language romantic tragedy film directed by Mehboob Khan. This was Khan's third film for Sagar Movietone after Al Hilal (1935) and Deccan Queen (1936). The cinematographer was Faredoon Irani who, starting from Mehboob Khan's Al Hilal (1935), went on to establish a long working relationship with him lasting till Khan's last film Son of India (1962). The music was composed by Ashok Ghosh assisted by Anil Biswas. The story writer was Zia Sarhadi who also wrote the lyrics, screenplay and dialogue in addition to acting in the film. Though he had started his writing career on Khan's backing for Deccan Queen (1936), it was with Manmohan that he achieved success. The film was inspired by Devdas, (1935), which was a big hit at the box office. Surendra was chosen as the singing star to rival K. L. Saigal from New Theatres Calcutta, whose songs from Devdas had mesmerised the nation. Though Manmohan was referred to as the "poor man's Devdas" the film went on to do well and the songs became very popular. The film starred Bibbo, Surendra, Yakub, Kayam Ali, Bhudo Advani and Mehdi Raza.

<i>Nirala</i> (film) 1950 Indian film

Nirala (transl. "Different") is a 1950 Bollywood film directed by Devendra Mukherjee. It stars Dev Anand, Madhubala in lead roles, along with Mazhar Khan plays the main antagonist. Mumtaz Ali, Leela Mishra, Yakub play the supporting roles. It revolves around a doctor who unknowingly forces a girl, who is in love with him, to marry a king.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rehana (actress)</span> Pakistani actress

Rehana was a film actress who predominantly worked in Indian and Pakistani cinemas. She was known as both The Queen of Charm and The Dancing Damsel of Bombay. She worked in leading roles in films such as Sagai, Tadbir, Hum Ek Hain, Shehnai, Sajan, Samrat and Sargam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purnima (Hindi actress)</span> Indian actress (1934–2013)

Purnima Das Verma was an Indian actress who worked predominantly in Hindi-language films. She was the aunt of director Mahesh Bhatt and grandmother of actor Emraan Hashmi.

<i>Saqi</i> (film) 1952 film by H. S. Rawail

Saqi (transl. "Bartender") is a 1952 Indian Hindi-language film directed by H. S. Rawail and starring Premnath, Madhubala in lead roles. The film's music was composed by C. Ramchandra. Saqi was based on Arabian Nights and was one of the most expensive Indian films at the time of its release.

<i>Baghi Sipahi</i> (1958 film) 1958 film by Bhagwaan Das Varma

Baghi Sipahi is a 1958 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Bhagwan Das Varma and starring Madhubala, Chandrashekhar and Ranjan. It is loosely based on the 1951 American film Quo Vadis, which in turn was adapted from the 1896 book with the same title by Henryk Sienkiewicz. The film was distributed and produced by V.P. Productions, an affiliate of Varma Films. Baghi Sipahi was released on 1 January 1958.

<i>Teerandaz</i> (1955 film) 1955 film by H. S. Rawail

Teerandaz is a 1955 Indian film directed by H. S. Rawail and starring Ajit and Madhubala.

<i>Parbat</i> (film) 1952 Indian film

Parbat is a 1952 Bollywood film starring Prem Nath, Nutan, and K. N. Singh. The film was produced and distributed by Varma Films and directed by O.P. Dutta.

Varma Films was a film production and distribution company founded in Bombay, India and predominantly involved in producing and distributing Hindi-language films.

Bhagwan Das Varma (1907-1962) was a Bollywood film producer and director. He was one of six brothers that were founders/partners of Varma Films, a company predominantly involved with the production and distribution of Hindi language films. After the Varma Films banner was retired in the mid-1950s, Bhagwan Das continued his film production and distribution activities with two affiliated companies: Varma Pictures and V. P. Productions.

Munshiram Varma (1902-1958) was a Bollywood film producer. He was one of six brothers that were founders/partners of Varma Films, a company predominantly involved with the production and distribution of Hindi-language films.

References

  1. "Top Earners 1949". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  2. "Lyrics and video of Songs from the film Sagai (1951)". Hindigeetmala.com. Retrieved 16 June 2021.