Kundan - 1955 - Sohrab Modi, Nimmi

Kundan, 1955
Producer, Director: Sohrab Modi
Music: Ghulam Mohammad
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni
Playback: Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Geeta Dutt, S.D. Batish, Sudha Malhotra
Cast: Sohrab Modi, Nimmi (in a double role), Ulhas, Sunil Dutt, Baby Nazz, Murad, Om Parkesh, Manorama, Pran, Moolchand, Kumkum, Roopmala

English subtitles included. However, my DVD of the film was corrupted after about 90% of the film (the last 15 minutes) and I used a different and inferior version for the rest. It's not as clear, is heavily cropped from the top (heads get cut off), and the subtitles became atrocious. I did the best I could but don't guarantee they're accurate.

It's based on the French novel, Les Miserables. A poor man trying to provide food for his family gets caught stealing bread. He's sentenced to 2 years in jail. He escapes a couple of times, has more time added to his sentence, and is finally freed after 14 years of hard labor. He can't find work, food, or even a roof over his head until he's taken in at a temple. The kindly priest in charge gives him the temple's silver and our hero (Sohrab Modi) sets out to seek his fortune. He arrives in a small town where there's a pottery factory, he buys it with the temple's silver, and begins his redemption. He rises over the years, becomes mayor, builds a number of institutions for the town and seemingly has it made. But a police officer (Ulhas) has been trailing him to arrest him for not checking in with the authorities as required after his release from prison. Then there's Nimmi who plays both his niece and later his granddaughter who has her own story. And Sunil Dutt plays an Indian revolutionary in 1942 with whom Nimmi the granddaughter falls in love. The plot is complicated but also pretty entertaining.

Here's a playlist of the film's 9 songs:
   • Kundan - 1955 - All Songs  

TOOLS USED FOR THE FILM:
AviSynth for the video editing
Audacity for the audio work.
Aegisub and Subtitle Edit for the subtitles

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
The Indian copyright law:
http://copyright.gov.in/Documents/Cop...

INDIAN COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957 CHAPTER I Preliminary (f)
"cinematograph film" means any work of visual recording on any medium produced through a process from which a moving image may be produced by any means and includes a sound recording accompanying such visual recording and cinematograph shall be construed as including any work produced by any process analogous to cinematography including video films.”

"CHAPTER V Term of Copyright 26.Term of copyright in cinematograph films.
In the case of a cinematograph film, copyright shall subsist until sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the film is published."

My words:
Indian film copyright (including video, dialog, music, lyrics, songs) lasts for sixty years and any film and its songs released more than sixty years ago is in the public domain. No extensions, no renewals, no exceptions. This film is no longer protected by copyright.