Film Review:- Achhut Kanya (1936)

Film Review:- Achhut Kanya (1936)

Film Name - Achhut Kanya (1936)

Duration: 136 minutes

Director Franz Aspen: Himanshu Rai

Banner - Bombay Talkies Limited

'Untouchable Girl' is a famous film made under the banner of Bombay Talkies which exposes the dark side of Indian society. The film is very important because it was made almost ten years before independence. By watching this film, it is known how people lived and what was the social background of that time.

The film focuses on the love affair of Dukhiya's son, the untouchable gate keeper of the railway, Kasturi and Pratap, the son of a Brahmin grocery merchant Mohan. The film begins with a railway crossing point of view. A couple arrives in the car to cross the railway crossing. The night is very close and the railway is closed. He tells the gatekeeper to open the door. But the gatekeeper refuses to open the gate. They have to wait under compulsion. On the side of the railway gate is a memorial engraved in the shape of a woman.

"He lost his life to save others"

On the other hand, the monk appears. He states that this woman was untouchable of the caste, but a goddess by karma. The couple wants him to know about the woman, the monk tells them the whole story of that untouchable girl. Thus, the story goes to flash back.

One day, the snake bites Mohan (a Brahmin shopkeeper) and saves the life of Dukhiya (untouchable railway gate keeper) by taking out snake venom from the mouth. This leads to their deep friendship. Their children are teenagers and play and eat together. But the friendship of their families creates problems for the villagers. A Brahmin is uprooted from Mohan, as Mohan gives free medicines to the villagers. Meanwhile, the love of Kasturi (Devika Rani) and Pratap (Ashok Kumar) begins to flow. Mohan's wife talks about Pratap's marriage. Mohan says that if Kasturi were not untouchable, he would have made a very good pair. Pratap is married to a Brahmin girl. At the same time, Kasturi's father becomes ill with illness, when Mohan is aware of this, he takes him to his home for treatment. The second Brahmin incites all villagers that Mohan is a Brahmin and has kept untouchables in his house and the religion of the entire village has become corrupt. Everyone goes to his house. Mohan refused to remove his friend Dukhiya from the house. The mob attacks Mohan and sets his house on fire. To bring Dukhiya Doctor, the railway crossing comes along the way and red flag, the poster stops the train. But the officers of the trains get angry with him. Later he is fired from sex.


Instead, another untouchable man, Manu, is hired. He is married, but his wife does not live with him because of the need to build a house. Manu allows Dukhiya, who is homeless, to live in his railway quarters. Kasturi is later married to Manu. A few days later, Manu's ex-wife Kajri also arrives. Kajari organizes a conspiracy to remove Kasturi from her path, she wishes that Kasturi should go to her lover Pratap. She joins Pratap's wife Meera in this conspiracy. Pratap goes to the village to set up shop in the fair. When this information reaches Kajri, she persuades Kasturi to go to the fair and returns to the village leaving Kasturi alone at the fair. Kajari tells Manu that Kasturi has run away from Pratap. Manu walks out of the house.

Manu saw Pratap and Kasturi in the carriage towards the railway crossing. Seeing them, a fight ensues between Manu and Pratap. On the railway line, there appears to be a hoax. At the railway crossing, the bullock is crossing the train, as well as the train starts whistling towards the rail crossing. Kasturi tries to remove the bullock cart but does not succeed. She says that if the train collides with it then many people can die, she will have to stop the train car at all costs. She rides in the bullock cart and runs towards the train. The driver sees the bull, he stops but by then it was too late. And she dies.

Devika Rani played the memorable role of an untouchable girl in this film. Since Himanshu Rai (owner of Bombay Talkies and husband of Devika Rani) and Devika Rani were associated with foreign backgrounds and were familiar with social harmony there. For this reason, he mostly made films that hurt social sentiments. Filmmaking on the issue of untouchables before Independence is proof that some people wanted to break the so-called casteism of India and the success of this film proves that, if any film was made artistically in Dalit or other social issues, The common Indian audience is ready to take it in hand. This film, created on social background, was very much liked by the people and after this film, Devika Rani became famous in the film industry as 'Dream Girl'. Another feature of this film is the sweet music which was composed by female composer Saraswati Devi.

 Seeing this film created the thrill of entering the 1936 world. Ashok Kumar has done full justice to the character of Brahmin Youth. Along with this, Kajri, Manu, Mohan, Dukhiya have also performed well. Every song, every scene is valuable from the perspective of Hindi cinema production and techno.