Review of Jan Pahchan

Jan Pahchan (1950)
6/10
Nice art direction
28 January 2007
I liked the art direction of this film, and seeing Raj Kapoor and Nargis young and beautiful. I liked the music, too, especially the slide guitar touches, but the songs themselves weren't especially memorable for me -- no doubt my ignorance of the language is a contributing factor, but I didn't find the tunes themselves particularly catchy or evocative. In fact, during one of Aasha's songs, I noted that the lyrics translated in the subtitles seemed a lot more depressing than the melody.

The themes relating to dreams, the creation of art and idealized beauty were of interest to me. Having half of the romantic couple disfigured (no spoiler here, if you read the plot synopsis,) reminded me of the disfigured protagonist in 1978's Raj Kapoor directed film Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Not that I'm positing any direct correlation between the films, other than the theme of love and inner beauty (and me working my way through the Raj Kapoor filmography.)

If, like me, you enjoy the chemistry between Raj Kapoor and Nargis, the completionists among you will want to to add this to your viewing list -- but maybe not the top of the list. Melodrama goes with the turf, but I prefer it leavened with great songs, and none of these grabbed me; also Raj's comic gifts are not utilized. Plus, Anil took too long to get back to Aasha (for my taste.)
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