The words that I put up for the title of this post are from a great Gandhi quote that appears on the screen at the beginning Naya Daur. I’d been looking for this movie for a while (about five months, since the recommendation by Sita-ji), and had some unexpected difficulty finding it – first at all, then in a copy that I would consider affordable. (As a displaced worker, I try not to pay $18 or $20 for a DVD, thanks.) But I finally got it, in glorious black and white, and judging by the clips I’ve seen of the colorized version, I think I prefer this one, strangely enough. (But, then, I know a few people do. Anyway, “you” be the judge. Certainly, it’s highly enjoyable in black and white even if you do prefer the new bright colors that were added recently.)
I guess I expected to love this movie (as I most certainly did). I knew it had a few things that would almost guarantee that I love it: a contest of the poor joining together to defeat the villainous rich (yea!); a humanistic critique of “progress”; a sweet, tear-inducing love affair; an intriguing sub-plot about friendship turning into rivalry/animosity (but, not to give anything away, maybe that’s a not permanent transformation either); fine music – by O.P. Nayyar, sung by Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi; great dance by Vyjayanthimala…
On top of that, I really liked most of the actors in this… Vyjayanthimala (as I think I just mentioned), and Dilip Kumar, of course; but I thought Jeevan was also really good as the automating/downsizing villain, and I started to realize how much I appreciate Johnny Walker…
Altogether, I have to say it’s way up there on my list, maybe one of my top five (all of which, I think, were made between 1955 and 1960 - something I might talk a little more about sometime later)… So if anyone out there hasn’t seen this one yet, I recommend that you do your best to get it - in either black and white or color.
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P.S. Naya Daur was produced and directed by B.R. Chopra… And there’s an interview with him added as a ”special feature” to the edition I got. I may get back to that…
So glad to hear you got to see Naya Daur. I really liked the song Maange Ki Saathe Tumhara and glad you reminded me of it here. Those horse hoof beats really spice up the tune, or really make the tune. The colorized version was almost distracting with its vividness. I still have some screen caps from that film that I’d like to throw up in a post. You’ve inspired me to do that.
All the best! :)
Thanks, Sita-ji, I’m looking forward to those new screen caps!
I like “Maang Ke Saath Tumhara” too (more so than the other song I included – which I put in more for the antics and dancing – though the music in that is certainly all right). This scene actually reminded me of a musical scene in the Tamil film Uthama Puthiran, which came out the following year. That one featured Padmini and her sister Ragini. And, of course, there was at least one horse-and-carriage song with Hema Malini in Sholay. (Hmm, I have to wonder, is there some cultural association that makes it more likely for women from the southern part of India to be filmed in a horse-and-carriage song?)
I don’t know if the other songs make so much use of the horse hoof beats, though. I’m thinking that the Tamil film might make some use of them, but unfortunately, the clip has disappeared from YouTube and it will take some time to sift through the whole movie somewhere…
Hey, here’s another song clip with a good horse hoof beat and Vyjayanthimala – from four years earlier!