Bandini
Imprisoned
1963 · India · 157 min
- Director
- Bimal Roy
- Screenplay
- Nabendu Ghosh
- Producer
- Bimal Roy
- Music
- Sachin Dev Burman
- Cinematography
- Kamal Bose
- Based on
- Jarāsandha
Awards: Filmfare Award for Best Film
Cast
What it is about
Set in an Indian prison around 1934, under British rule, the film follows Kalyani, a woman serving a life sentence for murder. As she recounts the circumstances of her crime to the jailor, the story moves back to her youth in Bengal, where she falls in love with a freedom fighter, Bikash, and faces a society that punishes her for that love. Her path leads her to the city, where her bond with a prison doctor forces her to weigh two very different men.
How it was made
The screenplay by Nabendu Ghosh draws on the Bengali story Tamasi by Jarasandha, the pen name of Charu Chandra Chakraborty, a former jail superintendent who wrote several prison stories based on his work as a jailor in northern Bengal. Bimal Roy, who had previously directed Devdas and Sujata, produced and directed. Principal photography took place mainly at Mohan Studios in Mumbai, with location work at several central jails and a climax on the Ganges at Sahibganj. S. D. Burman composed the score, with lyrics by Shailendra, and the film marked the lyricist debut of Gulzar, who had been working as an assistant director.
Reception and legacy
Bandini was one of the year's major box-office hits and won six Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress for Nutan. It also received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Today it is regarded as a landmark of 1960s Indian cinema and as the last feature by Bimal Roy, whose social melodramas remain a reference point for the genre.
Stills
Trivia
An unexpected debut
Gulzar was working as an assistant director when he made his debut as a lyricist. He initially refused the job and agreed only after S. D. Burman persuaded him.
A song written in five days
Gulzar wrote the song Mora Gora Ang Lai Le, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, in five days.
More films by Bimal Roy
Devdas
Sujata
Biraj BahuOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.