Chandni Chowk

<p>The film is set in the early 1920s in the Chandni Chowk area of Delhi. Nawab Safdarjung (Kumar) has a young daughter Zarina ( ), who he’s keen to get married off. One of the applicants for her hand in marriage is the young Nawab Akbar (Shekhar) of Lucknow. After the wedding takes place, Nawab Safdarjung is informed by Ibrahim Beg ( ) that Akbar is in fact the gardener’s son. The plot to introduce Akbar as a Nawab was conceived by Ibrahim to teach the arrogant Nawab a lesson when he refused his newly rich neighbour, Yusuf’s ( ) proposal to marry Zarina, by haughtily declining it for him being a mere vegetable vendor. Angry on learning about the subterfuge, the Nawab calls off the marriage. Zarina however, decides to go to her in-laws house as she now considers Akbar her husband. Akbar leaves for Egypt in the hope of earning money. He finds a job there and soon gets entangled with a dancer Noorie (Smriti Biswas), who falls in love with him. Noorie creates grave misunderstandings in Zarina’s life when she reads Zarina’s letter to Akbar. She sends off a wire informing the in-laws that Akbar is dead. Finally Noorie dies telling Akbar about the misunderstanding created, and Akbar returns home to his bride. B. R. Chopra had shifted to from , where he edited the . In Bombay, Chopra joined Shri Gopal Pictures as a producer. Chopra’s first film as a director, (1951) was a big hit running for over twenty-five weeks (silver-jubilee). , Chopra’s third directorial venture was also a big success at the box office, which gave him the impetus to start his own film company B. R. Films in 1956. The film’s music director was Roshan, who went on to compose music for films such as (1960) and (1963), winning the for the latter film. With lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kamil Rashid, Shailendra, Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Saifuddin Saif. The film’s credits however, name only Majrooh Sultanpuri, Shailendra and Raja Mehdi Ali Khan as the lyricists. The playback singing was provided by , , , , and .</p>