Barsaat Ki Raat

Barsaat Ki Raat (Hindi: बरसात की रात, Urdu: برسات کی رات) is a 1960 Bollywood film starring Bharat Bhushan, Madhubala, Shyama, Mumtaz Begum and K.N. Singh. It was directed by P. L. Santoshi.

This film was released in black-and-white and is widely considered to be a classic. The film became particularly popular for its qawwali songs and was one of the biggest hits at the box-office in 1960. 'Barsaat Ki Raat was also one of the last films to star celebrated actress Madhubala.

The story features a number of innovative themes while maintaining the basic form of a love story. It has particularly strong female characters who are independent minded and choose their own loves and destiny. The conflicts are not so much between the wishes of the parents and children about whom to marry, as is a common theme in Indian movies, but it is on the more complex level of the conflicts among the main characters and the duplicitous signals men and women send each other. The movie glorifies the lives of "singing girls" not often regarded highly in Indian society. Although it is set with Muslim characters, the movie seamlessly shows the universality of sensual love.

Although Madhubala gets top billing, the main character is played by Shyama.

Music

The songs are beautiful and the qawwali sequences sublime. The song and dance does not occur randomly as is often the case in Indian movies; instead it is an integral part of the story itself which involves a poet and singer as well as poetry competitions that were once common.

Female singers: Asha Bhonsle, Kamal Barot, Lata Mangeshkar, Sudha Malhotra, Suman Kalyanpur
Male singers: S. D. Batish, Balbeer, Bande Hasan, Manna Dey, Mohammad Rafi
Music Director: Roshan
Lyricist: Sahir Ludiyanvi

External links

• BARSAAT KI RAAT: One Rainy Night
• Barsaat Ki Raat at the Internet Movie Database

Notes