Raj Kapoor and Suraiya in Dastan (1950)

Musical Pictures Limited’s presentation Dastan directed by Mr. A.R. Kardar from a story by Mr. Bannerji with music by Mr. Naushad, is a veritable dynamo of pulse pounding, heart throbbing drama. In comparison to the weak, feeble and semi-tottering results of cramped intelligence and doddering minds, as evident in some recent pictures Mr. Kardar’s Dastan is a dynamic picture, possessing all the power, the force of the roaring deep and the magnificent might of a colossus. From the bubbling, hilarious gaiety, which is sprinkled generously in the first half of the picture, the story swings on to swift action spurred on to gain momentum with every passing footage.

Dastan is obviously inspired from Samuel Goldwyn’s story of love and suffering, Enchantment. The broken dreams of love’s awakening, the scattered pieces of young hopes, the shattered fragments of faith sublime is the sizzling current charged through every breath-taking moment of this well produced picture. Brilliant direction, superb performance and excellent production values all fused together succeed in creating a dramatic thunderbolt.

Though the characters and earlier sequences are taken freely from Enchantment yet Mr. Kardar has, to a great extent moulded the delicate texture of the original material to fit into the Indian background. The master’s touch is most prominently conspicuous as every unfolding scene reveals an enchanting panorama of charm and delight – a fleeting landscape of human passion bared to the naked eye by the sheer brilliance of the histrionic talents of the artistes and Mr. Kardar’s vigorous and virile direction.

Seeing Dastan after an unending stretch of dry, insipid pictures is like coming across a merry, sparkling fountain after experiencing the torrid heat and maddening glare of a blazing sun. To a parched, weary traveler in the arid desert an oasis is God-send, to the critics and the public, who have day in and day out seen some decayed stuff of our industry, Dastan is a healthy, soothing remedy to the highly strung nerves.

There are of course a few niches in this well constructed story – a few ungainly nooks and corners that mar but superficially, the perfect symmetry and faultless proportions of an artistic piece of creation. But fortunately they are so tiny and insignificant that they are hidden away in the surrounding brilliance. The sudden departure of the older brother played by Mr. Al Nasir from the house when a word of explanation could have straightened out the misunderstanding was too flimsy to be convincing.

Even his own explanation for this act offered to his brother later on in the hospital was utterly lame and ambiguous. The accident of Raj, the younger brother, was yet another sequence which appeared like an artificial bead in a string of faultless purity. But as I have said before, they must not be weighed against the innumerable commendable qualities of the picture.

The unchecked fury of drama really springs from the character of the aristocratic, haughty sister, whose iron will, ruthless mind and cruel determination wreck other happy lives, twist their joys, blight their hopes and shatter their fine and cherished world. Veena puts over the role of this proud, defiant woman with an ability which really astounded me. She brings into life the spirit of grim, sordid, obstinacy verging to hate, which cleaves and slashes its way with relentless persistence, the unbending hauteur, the scorn and the flash of anger and contempt. In Dastan Veena’s was the best work of the picture and the greatest role of her career.

Raj Kapoor, as the younger brother, is presented to us in a new type of role altogether. Hitherto we had known him as a sorrow stricken, sobbing, frustrated lover; here he is presented to us, a sparkling, prank playing carefree lad. As a comedian and mimic, Raj raises himself to the caliber of Danny Kaye.

As for Suresh and Al Nasir, our milk sop heroes, the word is ham.

Suraiya as the unfortunate orphan and a victim of a cruel fate looks extremely coy, sweet and lovable.

Naushad’s orchestral compositions were extremely delightful. A couple of songs were well tuned though the rest were odd mixtures of Samba, Rhumbas, and Fox Trots. To a great extent the credit also goes to Dwarkadas Divecha for wonderful photography.

Dastan is definitely an unmissable picture and must see on the list (Source – The Motion Picture Magazine – December 1950)

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1950, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Musical Pictures, Director –A. R. Kardar, Music Director – Naushad, Cast - Pratima Devi, Raj Kapoor, Al Nasir, Murad, Suraiya, Veena, Suresh, Shakila

Veena

You instinctively knew that as soon as Mohammad Asif’s name came up in the spot-fixing scam during the England-Pakistan Test series, Veena Malik would (re)surface with a comment or two. So there she was on Kamran Shahid’s show in great nick, saying all the bad things about the rangy fast bowler that she could think of.
She even accused him of fixing the Australia-Pakistan series and had brought along a sheaf of papers as proof. And she was doing all of that, according to her, for the love of her country. Yeah right!
Questions that springs to mind: why did she keep the secret under her hat for so long? Why did she join in mud-slinging and muck-raking only after the English media broke that terrible news?

Veena in Dastaan (1950)

Veena was a famous character actress.  She was born as Tajour Sultana on July 4, 1926 in Quetta, Balochistan (present day Pakistan). At some point in time, her family shifted to Lahore’s Chuna Mandi. She made her debut in Punjabi film made in Lahore – Gawandhi (1942) – opposite Shyam. The film was a hit because of its popular songs including Pagdi sambhal jatta, and she started to get more offers.

Later she shifted to the film capital of India – Bombay and started to play supporting roles in many films of which Mehboob Khan’s Najma (1943), Humayun (1945) and K. Asif’s Phool (1945) are notable. During the early phase of her career, one of her best performances was as a sexually repressed woman in Dastaan (1950) who ends up causing grief to all who knew her. She was also cast as a heroine in Afsana (1951) opposite Ashok Kumar. The movie was a box-office hit telling the story of the adultrous wife (Kuldip Kaur) having an affair with his husband’s friend, played by Pran. However, it was the vamp Kuldip who easily stole the show with her strong performance as the adulterous wife and Veena was reduced to playing character roles again. She was cast in many films in supporting roles including Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959). In Kaagaz Ke Phool,  she was snobbish upper-class wife of Guru Dutt looking down on his work in the film industry.

In the latter part of her career, her most memorable role was as Meena Kumar’s sister and aunt (Meena Kumari in double role) in Pakeezah (1971). The way she yelled “Shahabuddin!” during the climax of the film showed what a fine actress she was and her full control over her dialogue delivery. She retired in 1983 after the release of Razia Sultan (1983) in which she played Empress Shah Turkhan. She died in Bombay in 2004 after 21 years of retirement when she was 78 years old after suffering from a protracted illness.