This is a terrific filmi noir murder mystery. The subtitles are excellent! The acting is first-class, the story is interesting and moves along at a good pace, and the characters and relationships draw you in and make you care what happens.
And if you’ve been wanting to see Nirupa Roy as a heroine instead of a mother, here’s your chance!
The film begins on her wedding day; she plays Karuna, who is marrying a CID inspector, Sharad Das (Ashok Kumar). Sharad’s sister Kamla (Purnima) is a close friend of Karuna’s and has arrived to help her get dressed for the big event. Kamla is distressed to see a man delivering a letter through the window of Karuna’s room. It is from an unscrupulous character named Ramesh (Iftekhar) with whom she had had an affair before her marriage to an army Captain (Jagdish Raj).
He is now blackmailing her with the love letters she had written him, threatening to expose her and ruin her marriage. She is terrified, and Karuna consoles her by saying she will go retrieve the letters from Ramesh, who is at a nearby hotel. She throws on a shawl over her finery and off she goes. At the hotel, she gives her name as “K” to the hotel manager and goes up to Ramesh’s room.
I know some of you will be as thrilled to see Iftekhar as I am. Anyhow, as expected, he asks for money in exchange for the letters. She offers him her ornaments since she has no money and he says she has something else she could give him too (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). He grabs her and when she resists, he tells her that he’ll keep the letters then; and call on her in the future whenever he wants. Desperation grows on her face as she realizes what it will be like to have her family’s honor in his hands.
As he turns his back on her and puts the letters into a drawer, she grabs a heavy clock off the wall and bashes him on the head with it. Her shawl is caught in the desk drawer when she takes the letters out, and as she frees herself and prepares to leave the room, someone knocks on the door. Karuna goes out via the window and returns home, where the baraat has just arrived, and marries Sharad.
I adore Ashok Kumar. In his marvelously witty and gossipy book “Stars from Another Sky,” Saadat Hasan Manto writes about “Dadamoni” and the numerous beautiful women who threw themselves at him. Manto says that he was too shy to respond:
“Courage he certainly lacked, which was a good thing for his marriage. I am sure his wife Shobha was happy over her husband’s timidity, praying that he would never lose it.”
But I digress. The wedding reception features a wonderful song and dance from a young and stunningly beautiful Helen:
Karuna is welcomed into the Das family bosom. It’s a warm and bustling household: the married servants Gopal and Gopi (Bhagwan and Shammi) bicker constantly; Sharad and Kamla’s brother little Munna (Daisy Irani) is mischievous; father-in-law Barrister Mohan Das (Nasir Hussain) is kind; and of course now-sisters Karuna and Kamla are fast friends.
Domestic bliss is interrupted all too soon, however. The superintendent of Police (who is also Mohan Das’ best friend) calls Sharad in to investigate a murder—Ramesh’s body has been found.
Kamla frets. Karuna tells her that she didn’t mean to kill Ramesh, but that if she had not gotten the letters back she could never have faced her new family. She’s pretty philosophical about it all.
I cheer. No weeping, self-sacrificing bahu-beti here! Besides, Kamla cries enough for both of them. Karuna says she will confess, but Kamla begs her not to or else her reputation will be ruined. Kamla’s husband drags her off home soon enough, though, and we are spared.
Sharad makes some progress early on. He discovers from the Hotel Manager that a beautiful woman named “K” came to see Ramesh shortly before his murder, and the Manager assures him that he will recognize her if he sees her again. In Ramesh’s room, the murder weapon—clearly the heavy clock—has fingerprints on it, and a torn piece of shawl is stuck in the desk drawer. There is also a handkerchief embroidered with the initial K.
Karuna continues to bond with her father-in-law and Munna.
Her serenity begins to unravel as Sharad talks more and more about the case though. When her father brings her the shawl she had worn on that fateful day, she freaks a little. Soon after, Sharad and Mohan Das are discussing the case at breakfast and Sharad shakes his head over a woman—a goddess!—committing such a crime. Karuna points out that it could have been accidental.
Karuna replies that maybe he was a man who deserved to die; that maybe he besmirched her honor and that of those she loved, and she launches into a tirade.
Sharad is surprised by her vehemence; Mohan Das and I love it and agree wholeheartedly. Anyway, Sharad is not making much progress on the case and the superintendent closes it. Relief washes over Karuna despite her husband’s distress at ruining his perfect case-solving record. But it’s short-lived.
The Hotel Manager is invited to a party at the Das house and of course recognizes Karuna when he sees her. He tells Sharad about it not knowing that she is Sharad’s wife. When he realizes the blunder he backs off, but Sharad is now curious. He begins his investigation anew—and of course all clues point to Karuna, except one. But it’s enough, and he tells the superintendent what he has discovered.
When they go to arrest her, Mohan Das is indignant.
What will happen? Will Kamla’s—and thus the family’s—dirty laundry be aired out in public? Will Karuna hang for murder? Watch Kangan to find out. It’s classic!
Minor spoiler below!
One more favorite moment occurs after Kamla’s relationship with the victim is revealed. Her husband asks her if she sent Ramesh the letters before or after their marriage; she tells him “before,” and he says:
Hooray for the captain!
