Bedari Explained

Bedari
Director:Rafiq Rizvi
Producer:Wazir Ali Rizvi
Starring:
Music:Fateh Ali Khan
Runtime:approx. 3 hours
Country:Pakistan
Language:Urdu

Bedari is a Pakistani Urdu black and white film which was released in 1956. The lead cast of the film includes Ratan Kumar, Santosh Kumar, Ragni, Meena Shorey, Bibbo and Lehri. The film was premiered at Regent cinema, Lahore.[1] It was the first film of Kumar in Pakistan, after he moved from India with his family. Bedari was commercially successful primarily due to its songs.[2]

Bedari was a plagiarized version of Ratan Kumar's Indian film Jagriti (1954), with replacement of some words, and music was taken directly from Jagriti as well. Upon its release in 1956, it grossed well in its few weeks. However, on the discovery of plagiarism by the cinemagoers, there was a mass uproar that caused public demonstrations against the exhibition of the film. The Censor Board of Pakistan immediately put a ban on the film.[3]

Cast

Music

The music of the film was composed by Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, a veteran Pakistani sitar player. The songs were written by Fayyaz Hashmi, and sung by Munawwar Sultana and Saleem Raza. A song which was a straight lift of the 'De Di Humein Azaadi' tune was titled Aye Quaid-e-Azam Tera Ehsaan Hai Ehsaan. The lines 'De di humein azaadi bina khadag bina dhal/ Sabarmati ke sant tu ne kar diya kamaal' had been changed to 'De di humein azaadi ki duniya huyi hairaan/ Aye Quaid-e-Azam tera ehsaan hai ehsaan'. In other words, a song celebrating the Indian Father of the Nation had been transposed to eulogize his Pakistani counterpart.[4]

Highlight of this film was its popular film songs and music. Ustad Fateh Ali Khan was the foremost sitar player at that time in Pakistan and composed the music of this film. Bedari was also a debut film of now renowned Pakistani actor Qazi Wajid who, as a teenage student, played a very funny role of a student with a stammer disorder.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Evacuee Cinema: Bombay and Lahore in Partition Transit, 1940–1960 . 978-1009151207 . Cambridge University Press . Salma Siddique . 16 February 2023 . 188 .
  2. Book: Gazdar, Mushtaq . Mushtaq Gazdar . 1997 . Pakistan Cinema, 1947-1997 . Oxford University Press . 64 . 0-19-577817-0.
  3. News: Paying plagiarised tribute to Quaid . Sayed GB Shah Bokhari. Dawn (newspaper). 5 November 2015. 15 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20220816090352/https://www.dawn.com/news/1217564 . 16 August 2022 .
  4. Web site: Gandhi replaced with Jinnah: The story of how an ode to India was plagiarised in Pakistan. Rudradeep Bhattacharjee. Scroll.in website. 28 December 2015. 15 July 2021.
  5. News: OBITUARY: QAZI WAJID'S LAST ACT SADDENS FANS. Omair Alvi. 12 February 2018. Dawn (newspaper). 15 July 2021.