Did You Know? – Chetan Anand’s ‘Neecha Nagar’ Is First Indian Film To Gain International Recognition
Did YOU KNOW that an Indian film won its first international film festival award before independence?
Did YOU KNOW that an Indian film won its first international film festival award before independence? ‘Neecha Nagar’ was awarded the Grand Prix Prize (now Golden Palm) at the first-ever Cannes Film Festival in 1946. Although some Indian films had made their mark abroad during British rule, ‘Neecha Nagar’ became the first Indian film to gain international recognition.
Neecha Nagar had many firsts. It was director Chetan Anand’s first film. Debutante Kamini Kaushal became a major star in later years. It also marked the debut of Pandit Ravi Shankar.
Chetan Anand was the eldest of the Anand brothers, with Dev and Vijay. All three excelled in film-making. They worked together in Navketan Films, till Chetan parted ways and started Himalaya Films.
Chetan was versatile. Although he failed to qualify for the Indian Civil Service (ICS) exams in London, that released the artist and political worker in him. Did you know he worked at BBC, taught at Doon School, joined the Indian National Congress during the days of freedom struggle, and was also active with the leftist Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA)?
He taught history and while teaching, he wrote a film script on King Ashoka, with which he met director Phani Majumdar in Bombay. As luck would have it, Majumdar cast him as a lead in his Hindi film, Rajkumar, released in 1944. Then came ‘Neecha Nagar’.
For Navketan, Chetan directed his younger brother Dev Anand in Afsar, co-starring Suraiya, a big star of those days. Did you know that from here on, Dev and Suraiya became very close? Dev’s memoirs record that he proposed to her, and she was keen, too. But the mother thwarted it. Did you know that a heartbroken Dev married Kalpana Kartik on the rebound?
The Anand brothers scored many successes as actors and directors. But Chetan was truly the trailblazer. Along with Afsar, the same year he directed two movies, Arpan and Anjali, in which he also played lead roles. He went on to act in Humsafar, Kala Bazar, Kinare-Kinare, Aman, Kanch Aur Heera, and Hindustan Ki Kasam, which he also directed. Both Chetan and Vijay played air force pilots in the film.
Dev refers to his differences with the elder brother, but respectfully calls him “Chetan Bhai Sahab.” After they parted, and Vijay stayed on in Navketan, Chetan built his own team at Himalaya Films with the photographer Jal Mistry, music director Madan Mohan, lyrics writer Kaifi Azmi and actress Priya Rajvansh. Together, they made some of the most memorable and unique films in Hindi cinema like Haqeeqat and Hindustan Ki Kasam.
Did you know that ‘Heer Ranjha’ was totally written in verse, not prose, by Kaifi Azmi? It is the only such film in the annals of Indian cinema.
And did you know that ‘Haqeeqat’ is rated as Indian cinema’s first ‘real’ war film? Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru attended its premier and applauded the effort as it told India’s story of the 1962 conflict with China. At Nehru’s instance, funds came from the Punjab Government, made available by Chief Minister Pratap Singh Kairon.
Did you know that Chetan Anand is the filmmaker who “discovered" Rajesh Khanna from an acting competition? Khanna had his first break when cast by Chetan Anand in the film Aakhri Khat, although G.P.Sippy's ‘Raaz’ was the first with Khanna in the lead role that was released.
Did you know that Chetan Anand made bold in Aakhari Khat not only with Khanna's debut but also having child star Bunty playing a pivotal role? The audience sighed with a mix of delight and concern when the child, unaccompanied and unguarded, followed by the camera, roamed the streets of Bombay.
Chetan Anand married Uma Chatterji, his heroine in Neecha Nagar. They divorced. Uma’s cousin, Kalpana Kartik, originally Mona Singha, married Dev Anand. Years after he divorced Uma, in the 1960s, Chetan Anand fell in love with Priya Rajvansh, the heroine of his film Haqeeqat. Their relationship lasted till he lived and Priya worked, exclusively, in every single film made by Chetan Anand. Since Chetan was a legally married man, the two were unable to formalize their relationship. He bequeathed a house to her, which became a bone of contention within the Anand family. Three years after his death, Priya was murdered in the same beachfront bungalow. Both of Anand's sons, Ketan and Vivek, were arrested and convicted of the murder.
