Year – 1955

Language – Hindi

Country – India

Producer – Film India Corporation

Director – Shahid Lateef

Music Director – S. D. Burman

Box-Office Status –

Cast – Pratima Devi, Johnny Walker, Nimmi, Iftekhar, Nasir Khan, Bikram Kapoor, Kumkum, Radhika, Minoo Mumtaz, Amar

Shahid Lateef’s “Society,” premiered at the Super and other Bombay cinema-houses on Friday, December 16th, 1956 presents the story of a young journalist who exposes a big “confi­dence-trick” racket with creditable singleness of purpose and righteous indignation.

A society drama (as its title indicates), the picture is highlighted by the nefarious doings of the con-men passing as leaders of society, who provide the meat of the story. Resistance to these gangsters, who destroy op­position when it cannot be bribed, comes from a young newspaperman. When he re­fuses to toe the line and seeks to expose them, they see him out of his job. He even finds himself unable to get anything he writes published in the newspapers, because they control the entire Press in that city.

But, undaunted by these happenings which go as far as murderous attempts on his life, he pursues his object of rousing public feeling against the gangsters and enabling the law to catch up with them and punish them.

This suspense-packed and purposeful story is, however, poorly written and treated perfunctorily in several important sequences, thereby detracting from their dramatic value and creating an impression of contrivance and unreality. For one thing, newspaper offices as shown in this picture do not exist —not even in Bhandup, a suburb of Bom­bay, leave alone Bombay where the story is set.

But, neglecting the element of contrivance here and there, the story as a whole is built on solid foundations. . The racket depicted in the film has been worked in many parts of the world and at least once in southern India. In addition, the picture is plenti­fully supplied with such elements of entertainment as dances, songs, cabaret, fist-fights, humor and romance.

The portrayals, with one or two excep­tions, are excellent. Nasir Khan, as the spirited newspaper scribe who busts the con-men’s racket, puts over a vigorous perfor­mance, while his romantic interludes with the heroine are gay, scrumptious passages sending the filmgoer into ecstasies of joy.

Nimmi, who in the lighter sequences displays an artificiality which comes uncomfortably close to being brittle, gives a satisfactory portrayal.

Iftikhar as the racketeers’ boss makes an impressive villain, suave and at the same frightening in his demeanor. He comes up to the requirements of the part perfectly.

However, Johnny Walker, in a role which has little bearing on the story, repeats hack­neyed mannerisms in his efforts to amuse.

Burman’s music is pleasant and the songs, though many in number and reminis­cent of the music of his older films, are de­lightfully scored. They are also rendered well.

The cleverly designed dances are grace­fully put over by Kum Kum and the newcomer Minu Mumtaz, who is definitely the sweetest thing in the whole picture.

Production values in matters of photo­graphy, setting and decor are passably good.