Baazi
About Baazi
Madan, out of work and living in a shanty with his sister Manju, who has tuberculosis, starts gambling to pay for her care. Pedro brings him to the Star Club, where a boss known only as Maalik wants him to lure rich men to the tables. He refuses, then meets Dr. Rajani, who treats the poor and treats Manju, and whose lawyer father wants her to marry Inspector Ramesh. Needing money, Madan takes the club job and befriends the dancer Leena. The gunman sent for Madan kills Leena instead when she steps in front of him; the revolver carries Madan's prints, and Ramesh arrests him. Rajani's father is Maalik. Ramesh lets the father think Madan has been hanged, records the confession, and arrests him. Madan gets three months' probation for gambling and is reunited with Rajani.
Cast & crew
More about Baazi
Guru Dutt directed Dev Anand's production, the second film from Navketan. Anand had promised Dutt the direction when both were out of work. Balraj Sahni wrote the screenplay; he and Dutt share the story credit. The plot is partly taken from Gilda (1946). Y. G. Chawhan edited. Released 1 July 1951.
Themes
In film history
Its business and its club-and-crime plot were later cited as the start of the 1950s Hindi cycle called Bombay noir. C.I.D. (1956) is one of the films that followed in that line.
Making
Anand handed the direction to Dutt under an old promise. Sahni, better known as an actor, built the screenplay around a gambler, a club dancer, and a doctor.
Reviews
The Times of India called Baazi "a milestone in the short lived genre that can be loosely called Bombay Noir."
Audiences
It was the second-highest-grossing Hindi film of 1951, behind Awaara.
Look
V. Ratra photographed it, with the club scenes lit in the hard shadows the picture takes from 1940s Hollywood crime films.
Music
S. D. Burman composed the music to lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. Geeta Dutt's "Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le" is the number Leena uses to push Madan back to the tables.
Preservation
A print survives and is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Dev Anand plays Madan. Geeta Bali plays Leena. Kalpana Kartik plays Dr. Rajani. K. N. Singh plays her father. Roopa Verman plays Manju. Krishan Dhawan plays Inspector Ramesh.
- It is the first film in which Anand uses the rapid-fire line delivery he kept later.
- Sahir Ludhianvi wrote the lyrics for S. D. Burman. Geeta Dutt sings "Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le.
- Other songs include "Suno gajar kya gaaye" and Kishore Kumar's "Mere labon pe chhipe.
Scenes
- Pedro escorts Madan into the Star Club to meet a boss he is not allowed to see.
- Leena takes the bullet meant for Madan.
- Ramesh tells Maalik that Madan has been hanged, and the father confesses.
Influenced by
- Gilda (1946)
Influenced
- C.I.D. (1956)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Baazi (1951).webm)
Quotes
Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana le
