Badnam Basti

<p>Set in , Uttar Pradesh, tells the story of Sarnam Singh, a bus driver who is also a . Sarnam saves Bansuri from being raped by another bandit. Bansuri falls in love with him, but he is jailed for a petty crime. Upon release, Sarnam searches for Bansuri but does not find her. He then meets Shivraj, who works in a temple, and hires him as a cleaner in the bus. The two become physically and emotionally intimate. Sarnam again encounters Bansuri, who is now living with Sarnam’s crony, Rangile, who won her at an auction in a village . Bansuri desires to return to Sarnam, but he is torn by his longing for Bansuri and his love for Shivraj. Shivraj, however, goes on to marry Kamala. Rangile, who is a police informant, is convicted and jailed for duplicity in legal matters. As the film ends, Sarnam takes Bansuri and her newborn to his home. The film is based on ( ), the debut novel of the writer which was originally titled and serialized in the Hindi journal in 1956 and published as a novel in 1957. was produced by the on a budget of 250,000. It was shot in a four-week period at Mainpuri. The theme of homosexual interest between the two male characters caused Kamaleshwar’s novel to attract controversy; Prem Kapoor had to excise scenes from the novel and make their relationship only suggestive in order to receive clearance by the . Although it is labelled as India’s first , neither explicitly depicts nor identifies the male characters as gay. They are rather than gay, and their relationship is secondary to their relationships. The music for was composed by and . Khan, who previously worked with Rao in , sang “Sajna Kaahe Nahi Aaye” for the film. Lyrics were by Virendra Mishra and ; Bachchan recites the poem “Mele Mein Khoi Gujariya” in the film. Rao and also sang in the film. The sound recording was done by . Following is the list of songs in : The film was released with an from the . It received mixed reviews. called it “a welcome step forward in the direction of ‘new cinema’ in India”. noted that ” presents a true picture of reality”. However, a review by Indian magazine penned “no film at all – its technical gimmicks are totally out of rhythm with the insipid directorial conception”. Rajika Kirpalani in his book wrote: “little more interesting than the that passes for films generally”, and that it “sustains its interest merely because of Nitin Sethi, who truly infuses his character with hardy, virile, rural verve”. Sethi received praise from , which commented that “Sarnam’s loneliness has been projected superbly by Prem Kapoor. It is hard to imagine anyone but Nitin Sethi in the role”. Originally edited by , the film did not do well at the . It was re-edited by Kapoor and re-released in 1978 with a , but was a commercial failure again. The film was thereafter thought to be with no available in India, but re-emerged in 2019 when a print was located in the of the , . It has since been digitized and was screened by the in May 2020 and at the , Mumbai.</p>