Pedro (The Ape Bomb) Blog

Announced around the time of Bhavnani Productions Himalay Ki Beti (1938), there seems to be no record of a film from that company titled Forbidden Treasure. Very possibly it had a title change before hitting theatres.

Produced by the same studio that gave us Zambo (1937) and Son of Zambo (1938). Evidently, Daughter of Zambo was also planned, but the idea was evidently scrapped.

A 1956 advertisement promoting four new and upcoming mythological and devotional films of Jayant Desai.

Shiv Ratri released in 1954, Sati Madalasa released in 1955, Basant Panchami released in 1956, and Laxmi Pooja released in 1957. Char Dham, however, never came to be, at least as far as I can tell.

Sneh Bandhan (translation: The Bonds of Love) (1940)

Great India Pictures

Director: J.P. Advani

Producer: Kikubhai B. Desai

Music: Pannalal Ghosh

Cast: Bibbo, E. Billimoria, Navin Yagnik, Muzzamil, Bose, Rajkumari, Pratimadevi, Puri, Dhulia, Anwari, Kamal, Razzak.

Plot: Gopal (Yavin Yagnik), who lost his parents years ago, completes his schooling and college education by his own efforts. He is in love with Snehlata (Bibb), the daughter of postmaster Jagdish Prasad (Bose). Gopal asks Mr. Prasad for his daughter’s hand in marriage and he agrees as he admires the self reliant and well-behaved young man. However, Sarladevi, Snehlata’s mother (Rajkumari), feels that being an orphan, it will be more difficult for Gopal to give their daughter a good home and position in society. thus she objects to the marriage.

Prasad asks Gopal to go out and search for a suitable job and after 12 months, if he is successful, he can return and marry his daughter. Gopal goes to Bombay and puts forth all his youthful efforts, ultimately landing a good job. Meanwhile, Snehlata is waiting to hear from Gopal, but no message ever comes.

Pratap (E. Billimoria), who is well known to Snehlata’s parents, had been living in Rangoon and has returned a wealthy man. Sarladevi insists that Pratap would make a perfect husband for Snehlata, but Prasad, being a man of his word, says they must wait the full twelve months for Gopal to make a success of himself.

An accident prevents Gopal from returning on the appointed day, and Snehlata’s parents give her away to Pratap. Pratap is very much in love with Snehlata and expects love in return, but she is icy towards him. At best she can only be a “good wife,” but rejects Pratap’s attempts at passion. Disappointed, Pratap turns sullen and vengeful, and what he cannot get at home, he seeks on the outside.

Pratap becomes reckless with wine and women and more suspicious each day of Snehlata’s fidelity, feeling she is still in love with Gopal. One day he finds the two together and becomes furious. Deaf to his wife’s protestations of innocence, Pratap attacks and kills Gopal, and then trembles at the consequences of his crime. Snehlata tells him she will take the blame for the murder and she goes to prison for a term of ten years.

In prison, a son is born to Snehlata and she is tortured by the thought of her child having an ill-name attached to him for the rest of his life. But a kindly warden comes to her rescue and offers to bring up the child as her own. Sadly, Snehlata gives the child away.

Her term of imprisonment over, Snehlata discovers that Pratap has killed a dancing girl and is now going to prison for 20 years! With her parents now deceased and her husband in jail, she struggles alone and eventually begins work as a film actress. Now earning well and in comfort, she begins to yearn for her child, but she suppresses those feelings so that her son can have a good life. Instead, the money she earns goes to his upbringing.

The years go by and Kamal (Muzzamil), her son, has earned a law degree and when Snehlata learns of this she offers the warden a handsome sum to help set Kamal up in his new profession.

When Pratap is released from prison, he learns that Snehlata has become famous and wealthy and begins blackmailing her for large sums of money.

Will Snehlata continue to pay Pratap for his silence, or will she be forced to reveal all to the innocent Kamal?

If the plot of this melodrama seems familiar it is because it is a version of the hit American film MADAME X which was filmed in both 1929 and again in 1937.

Ladla (translation: Darling) (1954)

Varma Films

Director: Surya Kumar

Music: Vinod

Cast: Karan Dewan, Shyama, Agha, Krishna Kumari, S. Nazeer, Jeevan, Raj Mehra, Dev Kishan.

Plot: Prakash comes from a wealthy family and lives a life of luxury but decides to give up his extravagant lifestyle and strike out on his own. Together with his best friend Johnny (Agha) he moves to Bombay and begins a new life and career.

Once he has settled down in the new city he meets a lovely lass named Neelu (Shyama) and the two fall in love. Meanwhile, Johnny meets Sheelu (Krishna Kumari) and they too fall for each other. All is well for the love birds until Motilal (S. Nazeer) enters the picture. Motilal falls madly in love with Neelu and things become even more complicated when Prakash learns that Motilal is his long-lost brother!

TRUST YOUR WIFE aka NIRALI DUNIYA (Strange World) 1940

Director: V.M. Vyas

Music: Mustaque Hussein

Choreography: Lachhu Mahraj

Cast: Lalita Pawar, E. Billimoria, Jal Merchant, Kalyani, Shamin, Baby Sulochana, Fakir Mohammad, Hadi, Gulzar, Mukhtar.

Plot: Judge Indulal Desai (E. Billimoria) presides over a court case wherein a man’s suspicions about his wife grew to the point that the defendant committed murder. When the judge arrives home that evening, he tells his wife Savitri (Lalita Pawar) about the case and claims not all husbands are the same and that he could never let suspicion ruin his life like that.

However, one day, the judge begins to suspect his own wife of misconduct when in actuality she is helping her husband’s sister (Shamim) keep secret the young girl’s love affair with a freedom fighter (Jal Merchant) who is being hunted by the authorities. As a result, the judge turns to a seductive young woman (Kalyani) who helps push him even further away from his family.

Master Bachu, the male lead in Bulbul-E-Bagdad, was one of the most popular stunt film actors of the silent and early talkie era, but is all but forgotten today. Although his reign was evidently short lived, he managed to amass an impressive amount of film credits including: Ratan Manjari (1926), Roop Basant (1928), Kusumlata (1929), Rajdoot (1930), Veer Bhushan (1930), Bihari the Bandit (1931), Bhedi Khanjar (1932), and Star of Asia (1932). Bachu has the distinction of co-starring in the first Gujarati language feature film Narasinh Mehta (1932) directed by Nanubhai Vakil and starring Umakant Desai, Miss Jamna, Miss Mehtab, Khatoon, and Murati Rao. This was a rare non-action role for the actor.

Sadhona Bose! Surendra! Prithviraj Kapoor! Quite an impressive cast is found in this historical drama from Ranjit Movietone!

Arab Ka Saudagar (1956)

New Oriental Picturs

Director/Producer: S.D. Narang

Music: Hemank Kumar

Cast: Pradeep Kumar, Smriti Biswas, Shashikala, Sunder, Hiralal, Narang.

Plot: Pradeep Kumar stars as a fearless hero who travels to the kingdom of Samrakand during the reign of Amir Ali Haider for the sake of business and falls in love with the bewitching princess Nilofar (Smriti Biswas). Things get complicated when Shaddad, the greedy nephew of Ali Haider, realizing that Nilofar is the heir to the throne, decides to also capture her heart…by force if necessary!

Khuni Khazana (1964)

East & West Movies

Director: A. Shamsheer

Producer: C.V. Nair

Music: S. Kishan

Cast: Vijaya Choudhary, Sudhin, Bhagwan, Madan Puri, Bela Bose, Jeevankala, Brahm Bhardwaj, Heera Sawant, Bhagwan Sinha, Prabhu, Jagdish Bihari.

Guest artist: Sheikh Mukhtar

Plot: Pinto (Bhagwan Sinha) is the owner of a map which points to the location of a hidden treasure. Douglas (Madan Puri), the proprietor of Hotel De-Lux, learns of this and has his henchmen kill Pinto and bring him the map. Unbeknownst to Douglas, Pinto had previously given the map to Robert (Sudhin), an honest young cowboy so that it could be handed over to his daughter Rita (Vijaya Choudhary), who was working as a dancer at Hotel De-Lux.

Douglas learned that Robert had the map and had him arrested for the murder of Pinto. Although the sheriff (Brahm Bhardwaj) had his doubts about Robert’s guilt, he was forced to place the young man behind bars, however that was only a cover. The sheriff actually intended to work with Robert to uncover the killers. During this time, a mysterious masked man appeared in town and tried to steal the map from Douglas, but only managed to get half of the map.

Ruby (Bela Bose), who was working on cahoots with Douglas, suggests that Rita should be kidnapped with the idea of trapping the masked man. Douglas sent word out that if the other half of the map was not returned, Rita would die.

Who will end up with the complete map?

Will Rita live to see tomorrow?

Or will the masked man (alias Robert) save the day?

Miss Good Night (1960)

R.L. Films

Director: Jugal Kishore

Producer: R.L. Sharma

Cast: Jairaj, Nishi, Gopal Saigal, Tiwari, Veena, Tun Tun, Neena, Raj Nath.

Plot: Zorro is a murderer and a smuggler of jewels in Silver Town. The police have announced a reward of 20,000 rupees for his capture. Inspector George (Jairaj) takes up the challenge of apprehending the crook.

Marshal Braganza owns the Good Night Hotel where his daughter Rosy (Nishi) works. One day Rosy finds George wounded and brings him back to the hotel. She nurses him back to health while also teaching him love lessons, much to the disapproval of her father. Shortly after, several attempts are made on George’s life, and he ends up in the hands of the evil Zorro. As George is about to be killed, his dog Hero and horse Goldie attack Zorro’s henchmen. George is saved and Zorro is revealed to be none other than Marshal Braganza.