Mr. & Mrs. '55

<p>Preetam ( ), a struggling cartoonist, meets Anita ( ) at a tennis match, where she is watching her favourite tennis star. Anita, a wealthy and westernised heiress, is controlled by her aunt, Seeta Devi ( ). Seeta is suspicious of men and cultivates her attitudes in Anita. However, to receive her fortune, her father’s will decrees that Anita must marry within one month of turning 21. Seeta Devi doesn’t agree with this and tries to set Anita up with a which will soon lead to divorce, thereby giving her both freedom and a fortune. Seeta hires Preetam to marry Anita, but she doesn’t know that the pair have already met. Preetam is kept from Anita after their marriage, but he kidnaps her and takes her to the traditional house of his brother. While at the house, Anita befriends Preetam’s sister-in-law, and she begins to see the merit in becoming a wife. Preetam is worried that he has lost Anita and expedites their divorce by providing false, incriminating evidence to the court. Preetam then leaves Mumbai, heartbroken. Anita now recognises her feelings for Preetam and rushes to meet him at the airport. In the end, the couple is reunited. The cartoons in the film were drawn by . The initial choice for playing Anita Verma, the main character of the film, was . Guru Dutt had approached her as she was his leading lady in the highly successful (1954), but Shyama demanded a high fee and he refused. Dutt then contacted , who rejected the role due to her hectic schedule and later recalled it as her “worst decision ever” in 2011. It was then when was chosen to play the leading lady in the film. The music was composed by and was the lyricist. The song “Preetam Aan Milo” was originally sung by in 1945 as a non-filmly song. Nayyar, having liked that song, included it in the film and it was sung by Geeta Dutt. The song “Neela Aasmani” was sampled by American rappers and in their song ” “. , in its May 1955 issue quoted : “A thoroughly delightful, honey and cream social comedy. is a model of film craft and has gripping interest for every class of cinegoer. Its satire of characters we know and its incidents taken from life are spiced with humour… the dialogue, well-written, tense and witty, enhances the appeal of this true-to-life and thought-provoking entertainer.” Harneet Singh of wrote, “The film rides on Madhubala’s impish charm and breezy comic timing, Johnny Walker’s one-liners, O. P. Nayyar’s evergreen music and Dutt’s lyrical direction, replete with long tracking shots, close-ups and cinematographer ‘s exquisite shadow-and-light framing […] is a great ride till the time the film doesn’t go all sanskari. Alvi’s dialogues are the star of the narrative. The banter is funny, lifelike and refreshingly non-filmi.” writes that the film “reflects the social anxiety the [caused] from its very onset”, and that “sixty years later the film is still charming”, despite the “unkind portrayal of the feminist represented by Lalita Pawar”. was the . It earned (US$210,000) at the box office, generating a large profit of (US$110,000).</p>