Toofan Aur Deeya

This is a shortish highly moral tale, satisfying yet somehow it left me thinking another 20 minutes or so were still needed to wrap it all up. The story takes you logically to the final point and then it's all over, with the young boy gurning with intense emotion at the camera.

Boy and sister find themselves reduced to poverty when their mother dies, but they find protection with a kindly hermit and a rich "dancer" with a past. The boy is working very hard to provide a meagre subsistence but then the sister (a young Nanda) goes blind causing a few more problems! The plot is expertly followed veering between a competent drama to laughable melodrama, but the interpolative music by Desai and Vyas more than make up for it. Lata sang only a few of the numbers - personally I missed her amazing voice, although Geeta Dutt did a fine job even if singing for the young boy. Favourite bits: the Girdhari hymn sung by Lata; the final plea Meri Aan Bhagwan sung by Geeta.

An interesting and nice little film but teaching seemingly endless unassuming self-sacrifice when you have nothing will be eventually rewarded in improbable ways.

"Toofan Aur Deeya" is the story of a 12-year-ol boy who fends his sister going blind and her ailing fiance against all odds. The title is metaphorical to the boy who stands for a diya (lamp) which lights against all the storms represented by the hardship he faces. Aside the numerous songs which could have been trimmed, the drama moves meticulously keeping the curiosity alive. The dialogues delivery of the protagonists are a bit stilted but don't dissapoint either. K. Date gives a remarkable performance as the saint. It's a film from the school of V. Shantaram, with the direction given by his son, carrying the same charm carried by the films directed by Shantaram.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4