Insaniyat (Old) Movie Reviews

P.S.-Please read the comments written by me on Insaniyat.

The movie starts with an evil king Zangoora(Jayant) who wants to capture a native village.His most trusted and brave commander is Bhanu(Dev Anand).Bhanu obeys his masters order and leads an attack on the village.The village has a rustic young man Mangal(Dilip Kumar) who is fearless and does not hesitate in picking up a fight with anyone.He is in love with Gauri(Bina Rai).When Bhanu attacks the village he is confronted by a firebrand speech from Gauri who eventually slaps Bhanu for attacking the village.Seeing the unity of villagers and filled with remorse Bhanu returns empty handed to Zangoora. Zangoora and his liutenant(Jayant) are furious over Bhanu's reaction.Zangoora orders Bhanu to mend his thinking and attack the village while he has to visit a neighbouring state.Ignoring his warning Bhanu leaves the kingdom and decides to help the villagers fight against the tyrant. He is aided by his friend(Agha) and his chimpanzee.

Meanwhile we come to know that Mangal's love for Gauri is one-sided as she considers him to be a good-friend.Mangal's ageing mother(Shobhna Samarth) comes to know about his feeling and says thats she will talk to Gauri's father when time comes.Mangal saves money and collects ornaments for Gauri.The entire village is in for a shock when Bhanu reaches there and tells his true intentions.Initially

They demand him to be thrown out of the village but later change their decision when Bhanu is strongly

supported by Gauri and Mangal.Bhanu and Gauri eventually fall in love with each other much to the anger and frustration of Mangal.However after initial outlet of his anger Mangal accepts Bhanu as the

perfect husband for Gauri.Bhanu and Gauri get married and are blessed with a son.Aided by some spies, Zangoora attacks on the village and after a series of events Zangoora and his army is killed.Mangal also dies while saving Bhanu and Gauri's son.

The casting of Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand in a movie in 1955 was a very big casting-coup.However considering their styles and the kind of movies being made in those days one must have expected both of them casted in a love triangle with Dilip drinking and weeping a lot and Dev being the debonair romantic.However S.S.Vasan surprised the audience by casting both of them in an action movie.Although the triangle portion is very much there ,Dilip does die losing the heroine and Dev does play the charming lover,still the movie is more of a big-budget action drama than anything else.Something similar happened 40 years later when Rakesh Roshan signed 2 romantic superstars Salman and Shahrukh in an action oriented Karan Arjun.In that sense Insaniyat is a path-breaking movie of sorts.In the 50's action oriented costume drama was considered generally B-grade(if we leave the Mehboob Khan Dilip Kumar blockbuster Aan).Insaniyat for the first time had top stars in such a genre.Many years later movies like Dharam Veer,Kranti and Raj Tilak followed this trend.Insaniyat is also probably the first A-grade movie where an animal(chimpanzee) had a major role.Later this trend was followed by Haathi Mere Saathi,Maa

and Mard.S.S.Vasan was famous for his south Indian big-budget movies.In hindi cinema his

Chandralekha ,released in 1948,was a huge hit.Insaniyat also had a big canvas like most of Vasan movies.The palaces,lion den,village setting,horses and sword fights shows the high class production values of Vasan and his banner Gemini productions.His diection is quite good.Although the pace gets dropped repeatedly due to excessive number of songs yet the director has managed a brisk pace of the movie.Vasan next big hit after Insanyat was 1959 Dilip Kumar-Raj Kumar starrer 'Paighaam'(read my review on Paigham).

''Kaun Kambakht entertain hone ke liye Dilip Kumar ki movies dekhta hai,Main to isliye dekhta hoon ki yeh dekh sakoon ki kaun-kaun si movies usse inspire hui hain''.This is my tribute to the thespian's immortal lines in Devdas as most of his movies have been a source of inspiration for actors and filmmakers.This movie is also path-breaking in sense that many sequences from this movie reappear in later movies.1.Throughout the movie Dilip Kumar says ''Jai Bhavani''.Now this has been repeated in many movies where either the hero or villain repeats the same dailogue,2.Dilip Kumar and Agha disguise themselves and sing and dance to distract the soldiers and eventually free Dev Anand(now I have lost the number of movies where this has happened),3.Jayant keeps repeating the dailogue ''Devta Ki Kasam''.This again reappeared in Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja where Anupam Kher keeps on repeating ''Shaitan ki Kasam'',4.When Dilip Kumar comes to kill Jayant,Jayant betrays him and throws him in a cage where Dilip Kumar is surrounded by lions.This again appeared in Vijaypath where Ajay Devgan is thrown by Danny in tiger's cage,5.When Jayant's soldiers return after being defeated by the villagers he says sarcastically ''I am very happy that u have run away from those villagers''( Now I am a bit hesistant to name the movie where it reappeared-SSSHolay).

Dev Anand shines in the role of Bhanu.This was a very different role for Dev Anand and he gives a very controlled performance to his character.He never goes over the top,hardly shakes his hads or head and is totally restrained and held his own infront of the acting legend Dilip Kumar.He looks rather smart in a moustache,which he carried for the first time(The second time being in Hum Dono).Dev Anand's role of a commander who leaves his army and help the innocent villagers was replayed by Shashi Kapoor twice in Kranti and Amar Shakti in the 80's.

However the best performance comes from Dilip Kumar.The role of Mangal was very different from his tragic roles which he was doing in those days.He also sports a moustache fo the first time in Insaniyat(later he sported it in Mughal-e-Azam and Ganga Jamuna).Infact his role of Mangal came years ago before his more famous roles of villager came in Naya Daur and Ganga Jamuna.Infact his cameo in Hrishikesh Mukerjhee's 'Phir Kab Milogi'' also has strong shades of his role in Insaniyat.Dilip Kumar is absolutely excellent throughout the movie.The way he shows his anger,frustration,love,affection and happiness is amazing.He shows that he can handle action sequences with the same ease as he does tragedy.although the director has deliberately not added trgaic sequences to his character yet Dilip's dying scene is remarkable.The way his head lies in the lap of Dev-Anand with Bina Rai sitting there while dying reminds you of Amitabh's dying scene in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar(where Vinod Khanna and Raakhee sat besides him).Just before dying Dilip places his head in the lap of his mother and says ''Maa Mujhe neend aa Rahi hai(Mom,I am feeling sleepy).Now dont u remember some historical scene of Amitabh dying in a similar manner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unlike 'Andaaz' which came at a time when Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor were just famous stars,'Insaniyat' came at a time when Dilip and Dev were superstars and hence comes at the peak of their carrier.It might not be half-as famous as Andaz despite being a big hit but still is special for watching both the superstars in their prime.the director has taken most of the shots in such a way that both Dilip and Dev come together in the same frame.To be honest,I felt like clapping and whistling on seeing both of them onscreen simultaneously.

Guess what happened after the movie got over.I switched the channel as to what is coming next and to my shock I saw the disastrous 'Insaniyat'(starring Amitabh) getting started on the next channel!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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