Phagun

<p>The new owners of Deepak Mahal meet with its caretaker, Mattu ( ), who narrates the story of its former owners: Bijondra ( ) – the only child of a wealthy ; and Banani ( ) – the only child of a single father, Banjara Sardar Tinkari ( ). Starting with the move to evict the Banjaras from his father’s property, flute-playing Bijondra meets and falls in love with pretty dancer Banani – leading to being asked to leave by his enraged father; while Banani’s father plans her marriage to Banjara Madhal ( ). They face several hurdles later in the story but still don’t lose their love and compassion towards each other. One day when Bijondra and Banani are running away they meet an accident and both fall unconscious. A princess( ) and her troops find the two in her way. The princess is attracted towards Bijondra and brings him to her palace where he is given rest. Upon waking up and achieving consciousness Bijondra sees himself surrounded by the princess and her servants. He asks everyone about his identity and gets enraged on getting no replies. The princess is satisfied to discover that Bijondra has lost his memory and tells him that he is her prince. Banani finds Bijondra but Bijondra doesn’t recognise her and she is driven away on the orders of the princess. She visits the palace disguised as a monk and meets Bijondra. She tries to revoke Bijondra’s memory but is unable to do so. Bijondra asks her not to cry and tells her that she will meet the person she is finding one day but tells that he himself is not the person Banani is searching for. Banani somehow takes Bijondra away from the princess and runs with him. The two find a big mansion and enter it for shelter. A man welcomes them and hysterically claims to be the father of Banani who left her to flow in a river by putting her in a box 20 years ago. Banani realises that the man is her father and introduces him to Bijondra who is still unable to remember anything. Upon her father’s advice Banani goes to different places and prays to God for revoking Bijondra’s memory. After days of prayers Bijondra’s memory comes back but the two are soon finded by the Banjaras who were strongly disapproving their relationship. The Banjaras separate them and plan to burn Bijondra alive. However, It starts to rain heavily and the fire gets extinguished. The leader of the Banjaras who was the man who adopted Banani feels that their love is true and they both must not be separated. He takes Bijonra out of the fire with respect and says that he will allow Banani to marry Bijondra. Meanwhile Banjara Madhal forcefully takes Banani away and Bijondra follows them. They reach a hill top where Bijondra fights Banjara Madhal who eventually gets defeated and falls down the hill. Banani who was on the verge of falling down balances herself and the two are united once again. The story advances to the present day where the new owners of Deepak Mahal are being narrated this story of Bijondra and Banani. The story ends with the completion of Mattu’s narration of the legend of Bijondra and Banani. Lyrics by Qamar Jalalabadi. The music of the movie is composed by . It has a popular song ” “. The soundtrack became popular at the film release. was the . It grossed ₹1.4 crore, including a net of ₹0.7 crore. 1958 was a very successful year for Madhubala, as she had four major critical and commercial successes in this year: , , and . opened to mixed reviews, with the music receiving the most praise. Saiam Z. U. stated that the film’s story was a “predictable fare”, although it was “engaging”. She found the music to be “superb” and melodious. Khatijia Akbar explained that was a success only due to its musical score, and the film had “little substance”. A retrospective review by Volterra observed in the film that Madhubala “expresses a wide range of passion [in the role of a dancer]” and compared her performance to that of Hollywood actress in (1963).</p>