Kismet (1943) :
Brief Review -
The First Ever Achivement of Indian Cinema in Repeat Value and Commercial Blockbuster films. Kismet was the first Indian film to become a commercial blockbuster and numbers wise the first film to cross 1cr at Indian Box Office therefore watching this film becomes mandatory for a movie buff. It clears very much about the quality of Indian Cinema of that time and when did these all commercial formulas began. It is important to know what kind of films Indian cinema was making in early 40s when Hollywood was at top with Legendary Films like 'Casablanca', 'The Maltese Falcon', 'The Grapes Of Wrath', 'Citizen Kane' etc. Obviously Indian cinema was far behind but not that far, we couldn't make high quality products like those legendary films mentioned but it was about making something on our own level, something suitable and acceptable for our audience and something which is relatable and set in our culture and Kismet proved it. Kismet is deservingly that evergreen commercial blockbuster in mainstream cinema which will always be remembered for being an inspiration and influential classic to all the filmmakers. An excellent writing by Aghajani Kashmeri was far ahead of it's time. It gave birth to so many characterisations and storytelling tricks which have been used again and again in Indian Cinema and will be used forever. That lost and found formula, that bad rascal hero turning into good soul for the naive heroine, rich parents accepting poor daughter-in-law and even those supporting actors helping the narrative strongly etc. It all started with Kismet. Such a Blockbuster writing it is. Every character is perfectly written and wisely linked to each other and even to the backdrop. Ashok Kumar plays a thief Shekhar/Madan with his own Swag. That attitude while smoking cigar and taking all situations so lightly yet confidently is just wow. Mumtaz Shanti was pretty melodramatic and sober, V. H. Desai is hilarious and Shah Nawaz is suitable in Inspector's role. Music is well composed and must have worked for that era but 'Hindostan Hamara Hai' deserves a special mention. This patriotic song was picturised just after national events like 'August Revolution' and 'Chale Jao' in British India, can you imagine how path-breaking it was? Dialogues are crunchy, cinematography is good and Direction of Gyan Mukherjee is Fantastic. Kismet is India's First Commercial Blockbuster but more importantly it is India's First ever Achivement in Repeat Value films. Overall, A Timeless Blockbuster !
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest
