Neecha Nagar

1946 Drama 122 minutes Directed by Chetan Anand

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About Neecha Nagar

Sarkar, a landlord in a house above the town, plans to send the city's sewage down into Neecha Nagar so he can build on the high ground. Balraj leads the villagers against the plan. Sarkar's daughter Maya joins them and falls in love with Balraj. The sewage brings an epidemic. The poor quarter has to survive the outbreak and the project together.

Cast & crew

More about Neecha Nagar

Chetan Anand directed. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Hayatullah Ansari wrote it from Ansari's story, which Ansari had drawn from Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths. Rashid Anwar and A. Halim produced. Ravi Shankar wrote the music, his first film score. Lyrics are by Manmohan Anand and Vishwamitra Adil. It runs 122 minutes. Cannes showed it on September 29, 1946.

Themes

  • Sewage sent downhill onto the poor
  • A daughter against her father's project
  • An epidemic in the lower city
  • Sarkar
  • Balraj
  • sewage
  • epidemic
  • Neecha Nagar
  • Ravi Shankar
  • Cannes

Background

The first Cannes festival, in 1946, gave its top prize to twelve features at once. This was the Indian entry.

In film history

Later Palme d'Or lists fold the 1946 Grand Prix into that history. The film still had no Indian cinema release.

Making

Anand shoots the rich house above the poor streets and lets the sewage ditch carry the argument between them.

Audiences

Indian audiences did not get a theatrical run. A Doordarshan broadcast in the 1980s was a later television showing.

Music

Ravi Shankar's first film score. The songs use lyrics by Manmohan Anand and Vishwamitra Adil.

Preservation

Prints survive. The film was not released in Indian cinemas. Doordarshan showed it in the 1980s.

Notes

  • Rafiq Anwar plays Balraj, Uma Anand plays Maya, Rafi Peer plays Sarkar, and Kamini Kaushal plays Rupa.
  • Kaushal's film debut is this picture. Zohra Sehgal plays Bhabi.
  • It shared the 1946 Cannes Grand Prix with eleven of the other eighteen features in competition.
  • It did not get an Indian theatrical release. Doordarshan telecast it in the 1980s.
  • The Hindi title means Lowly City.
  • Shankar came to the score through the Indian People's Theatre Association after Uday Shankar's Almora school closed.

Awards

  • Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, shared, 1946 Cannes Film Festival

Scenes

  • Sarkar orders the waste diverted into the village to clear land for housing.
  • Maya leaves her father's side and stands with Balraj.
  • Disease follows the open sewage through the lower streets.

Influenced by

  • Hayatullah Ansari's story, drawn from Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths