April 23rd, 2010

Mujhe Jeene Do (1963)

Mujhe Jeene Do (1963)

Mujhe Jeene Do (1963)

Cast: Sunil Dutt, Waheeda Rehman

Director: Moni Bhattacharya

Music: Jaidev

Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi

Capsule Review: Sunil Dutt produced and played the lead in this pioneering dacoitdrama. Like Nitin Bose’s Ganga Jumna and Raj Kapoor’s Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai—the two other famous dacoit dramas of the 1960s—Mujhe Jeene Do pitches its passionate plea at a socially conscious level. The central plot about the seismic romance between the dacoit Sunil Dutt and the prostitute played by Waheeda Rehman is played out at an intensely lyrical pitch. The two social outcastes’ efforts to set up -a home and ensure a safe future for their child makes for a poignant drama, heightened by Sahir’s poetry and Jaidev’s music. Lata Mangeshkar singing Tere bachpan ko jawani ki dua deti hoon is particularly expressive of the film’s plea to let every individual live with dignity.

Drama