Munimji (1955) :
Brief Review -
Dev Anand and Nalini Jaywant are fun, but Nirupa Roy gets one of the most hateful mother's roles ever. Nirupa Roy is known for her mother's roles in Bollywood, and most of the time they were those abla naari (helpless woman). In all those films, you feel sympathy for her. Contrary to that image, she plays an extremely selfish mother in Munimji. She exchanged her child when he was born because her partner wouldn't accept him. She then takes his son and swipes it with her son, thinking that her son should get all the facilities he deserves. It doesn't take too much brainstorming to predict that her real son turns out to be a bad man, and the one she has kept with her is actually a good man and is ready to sacrifice anything for her. Dev Anand plays that helpless som bound to his mother's wishes who has always preferred her "real son" over him despite his constant abuse. Rupa (Nalini) arrives in town to marry Ratan (Pran, the real son), but falls in love with Raj (Dev Anand, the adopted son). Raj is asked to leave Rupa by his mother for Ratan's sake, but is he the right guy? Munimji has an interesting idea and an engaging screenplay for almost two hours before it starts dragging in the last quarter. The ending is too soapy, and the film looked too stretched with all those songs coming in and boring you to death. "Jeevan ke safar me" is a lovable song, and "O Shiv Ji Bihane Chali" has become quite popular over the years. The rest of the songs don't work. Dev and Nalini are fun, but Nirupa annoys you. Who the hell wrote that character? I have seen a similar formula used for a father in post-90s flicks and even recently in Allu Arjun's AVPL, and I despised that too. But there you see the hero slapping the father; here the hero was helpless because he actually loved the woman as his mother. Nasir Hussain has written better scripts, and Subodh Mukherjee has made better films as well, so I don't think Munimji leaves any impact. Still, a one-time watch for the 50's standard.
RATING - 6/10*
By - #samthebestest.
