Phir Subha Hogi

Phir Subah Hogi (1958) : Brief Review -

A dramatic Indian adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel minus criminology features. Dostoevsky's novel, Crime and Punishment, has been adapted on screen many times and was perfectly suitable for the criminal activities in America and the UK. However, the Indian setup of crime was different, and so the adaptation needed many changes. Ramesh Saigal's Phir Subah Hogi did exactly that. He added several Indian dramatic motions and conflicts that are accessible to mass audiences despite their dark theme. Our Indian audiences weren't very familiar with such dark crime noirs at the time, and yet Phir Subah Hogi turned out to be a commercially successful film. That's indeed notable. Making such a movie a box office hit must have been so difficult (and it is difficult even today). So, kudos to the team and the audiences too for showing a slight shift in the mainstream mindset. Phir Subah Hogi has many changes from the original novel, with the main change being that there are no mother and sister's characters here. The protagonist isn't a successful criminology author either. We have Ram, an intelligent LLB student who doesn't have money for his studies. He falls in love with Soni and then commits murder to save her from a disastrous marriage. As expected, his conscience starts eating him, and the police officer keeps taunting him with his criminological tricks until he finally surrenders himself. The speech Ram gives in front of the judge in the climax scene is another additional change-for the better only. Some songs are really meaningful and good, while others, which appear in the second half, go mostly flat. Raj Kapoor, Mala Sinha, Rehman (extended role), and Mubarak's performances lift the film further. Ramesh Saigal and Mubarak's writing misses a couple of must-be-there metaphors; rest assured, it's a fine script and a nice film considering contemporary mainstream cinema.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

This has to be the most unseen and underrated movie of Raj Kapoor unfortunately, perhaps due to the unavailability of a decent print in the market. Reading the storyline, before you come to any conclusion, it not a love story, not a rags to riches story and not even a sadist tragic story. The initial part of the movie wants you to believe that it is just another story of a common man who wants nothing but love,respect and enough money to survive on and he wants all that with pure hard work, but that's not all the movie is about. There is a twist waiting to happen.

Come a murder cum accident, it transforms into a story of a man who realizes the Iniquity of the crime he has committed and how it haunts him for the rest of the movie. He lives in 24 hour angst, panicking and behaving like a man full of sarcasm, because he can do and see nothing right in anything and fear because its much more than just jail he is afraid of! He is afraid of losing himself, and that's what exactly is happening.

Raj Kapoor gives the finest performance you will ever come across. He has this set of natural impulses that lend a non-showy, authentic quality to all of his performances, versatility, and an enigmatic charisma that fills up the screen and emotionally hooks the viewer into his character and story. Not only it is his personal best work, but this performance by him can easily be regarded one of the greatest performance ever seen. No overacting, no cliché dialogs, he gives such a subtle and natural yet so intense performance that you will repeat this movie just to see Raj Kapoor hauntingly beautiful performance.

The movie is wonderfully directed by Ramesh Saigal using shadows and to a great effect. The movie beautifully depicts the condition of educated and unemployed youth and rather the whole nation for that matter. Mala Sinha plays her role perfectly as a poor but dreamy girl who only finds comfort in Ram's arms.

I will recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a hard hitting black and white classic without many clichés. As for the performances, better you watch it yourself.