User reviews

Chhalia (1960) : Brief Review -

Manmohan Desai's overly complex attempt at Fyodor Dostoevsky's "White Nights" with Ramayana and India-Pak Partition conflicts. Dostoevsky's short story is about a lonely man who falls in love with a woman who is missing her lover. The woman finally reunites with her lover, leaving the lonely man all alone but with a lot of inner happiness. Chhalia takes the same story and extends it to a whole new level by adding the Ramayana's reference to Lord Ram not accepting Sita after she returns from Lanka. Here, the husband denies his wife and child after they return from Pakistan after 5 years of partition. The woman is abandoned by her own family and goes to commit suicide. She is saved by a lonely man, who eventually falls in love with her. She can't marry him or love him. He then decides to reunite her with her husband and child and live alone with eternal happiness. He is a small-time criminal, but he turns out to be the most noble character in the entire film. There are some things that don't make sense. The husband denies his child because he introduces himself with a Muslim name. So, he has seen the child's face and yet behaves sweetly toward him in the school. Why didn't he do it before? How did that boy get to school? The woman, abandoned by her husband and parents, is still spineless and isn't ready to break the abla naari image. She confronts her husband in the climax, and he rejects her again in front of the crowd. She cries, nothing else. Not even for a moment did she think of fighting, replying to him. I would have loved to see her rejecting the husband after all. Maa Sita chose to go inside the earth. Why didn't the writer use that reference from the Ramayana? Nevertheless, Chhalia still has enough drama to keep you engaged for two hours. But it could've been much better.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.

First Movie Of Manmohan Desai.. Which Stars Raj Kapoor, Nutan,Rehman & Pran Story Basically Deals With Consequences Of Partition & Its Effect On Woman And Children... Its About How Chhalia Who Falls in Love With The Girl Whose Life He Saved...After Coming To Know That She is Married ..How He Takes Responsibility To Reunite Them ...She Has A Son Which Adds Some Dramatic Scenes To The Movie ... There Is Small Version Of Pran Story Which I Thought Was A Change For Pran ....Rehman Plays The Husband Kewal Reminds Me Of Mr Ghosh Of Pyaasa... Finally A Happy Ending But Our Raj is Left Alone ...There Are Many Flaws in The Movie Which Will Keep You Disturbing ... Treatment Of The Movie is Quite Poor ... Screenplay is Not So Good ...Acting Wise Raj Does Nothing New... He is As Usual ... .Same For Nutan ... Plus Point For The Movie Is The Music By Kalyanji Anandji ...Songs Like Chhalia Mera Naam, Dumb Dumb Diga Diga & Mere Toote Huye Dil Se By Mukesh ...Which Keeps You Alive... Watch If You're Raj Kapoor Fan

Else It's Better To Skip.