Basant (film)

Basant (transl. Spring) is a 1942 Indian film directed by Amiya Chakrabarty, produced by Devika Rani and starring Mumtaz Shanti and Madhubala (in their film debuts) with Ulhas. It revolves around Uma, who dreams to make it big in show business, gets married and abandoned by her husband. She is then left to raise herself and her child by dancing on the stage. Its music was composed by Pannalal Ghosh.

Basant
Original theatrical release poster
Directed byAmiya Chakrabarty
Screenplay byAmiya Chakrabarty
Story byAmiya Chakrabarty
StarringMumtaz Shanti
Madhubala
Ulhas
Kanu Roy
Music byPannalal Ghosh
CinematographyR.D. Mathur
Edited byR.G. Gope
Release date
  • 29 July 1942 (1942-07-29)
Running time
146 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Box officeest. ₹0.8 crore (est. ₹235 crore as of 2016)

Basant marked the Hindi film debut of Mumtaz Shanti, who was already a celebrated star in Punjabi film industry.[1] However, the film is largely remembered as the first film of Madhubala, who was credited as "Baby Mumtaz" and plays daughter to Shanti.[2]

The film was theatrically released on 29 July 1942 and was praised by critics for the performances of actors, music and direction. It was major box office success and the highest-grossing film of 1942.[3] Long after its release, Basant remains one of the fifty highest-grossing Indian films in the history (when adjusted for inflation).[4]

Plot

The film tells the story of Uma (Mumtaz Shanti) and her brother Babul (Mumtaz Ali), two downtrodden servants who dream of becoming singing and dancing stars on the stage. They attract the attention of the impreasario Janaki Prasad (P. F. Pithawala) and Uma marries his spoilt and envious younger brother, Nirmal (Ulhas) who sets out to make his own fortune leaving Uma and their little girl Manju (Baby Mumtaz) to starve.

When he returns to find his wife is working on the stage, he abducts their child and disappears again. After a further 10 years of unhappy stage stardom of Uma, the family is reunited and the happy ending sees her return to being a housewife in accordance with her husband's wishes.

Cast
Mumtaz Shanti, Baby Mumtaz and Ulhas in Basant

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Pannalal Ghosh with lyrics penned by P. L. Santoshi.

Track#SongSinger(s)
1"Hua Kya Qusoor Jo Hamse Door"Amirbai Karnataki
2"Kanta Lago Re Sajanwa Mose"Parul Ghosh, H. Khan Mastana
3"Tumko Mubarak Ho"Suresh, Parul Ghosh
4"Ummeed Unse Kya Thi"Parul Ghosh

Box office
Publicity poster of Basant

At the end of its threatical run, Basant did a gross collection of ₹80 lakhs, with a nett of ₹40 lakhs. It became the highest grossing film of 1942, and also the highest-grossing film of all time.[3] Basant's record was broken the next year by Kismet, which stars Ashok Kumar and Mumtaz Shanti in the lead roles.[5]

Madhubala

Madhubala, then Mumtaz, was spotted by Himanshu Rai when she was searching for work in films, along with her father Ataullah Khan. Rai soon cast her in Basant at a fee of ₹500 per month. Though she was uncredited in the film but when Basant emerged as a major success, Mumtaz became the backbone of her family. She got work in other films as a child artist, where she was credited as Baby Mumtaz. In 1947, five after the demise of Rai, Devika Rani had rechristened Mumtaz as Madhubala. Two years later, in 1949, Madhubala had acted in Mahal (produced by Bombay Talkies), which was her first major hit. Thus, Bombay Talkies and its owners Rai and Rani played a crucial role in her career development.

References
  1. says, Pritha Chakrabarti. "Mumtaz Shanti – Interview – Cineplot.com". Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  2. Bali, Karan (14 February 2000). "Madhubala". Upperstall.com. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  3. "Boxofficeindia.com". web.archive.org. 14 October 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  4. "Biggest BLOCKBUSTERS ever". web.archive.org. 22 April 2006. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  5. "Boxofficeindia.com". web.archive.org. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
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