Basant Bahar (film)

Basant Bahar, directed by Raja Nawathe, is a 1956 Indian film. This musical had nine outstanding songs, with lyrics written by Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri; and music composition by Shankar–Jaikishan. The movie is an adaptation of the Kannada novel Hamsageethe by TaRaSu. Hamsa means swan and Geethe means song. It is believed that before a swan dies, it will sing without opening its mouth. That mutter of melody is believed to be unmatched since any scene of lyricism falls short of its reach.

Plot
The film begins with Gopal Joshi (Bharat Bhushan) singing a raga. His father, Narsin Joshi (Om Prakash), the royal astrologer, comes and scolds him for singing and says he should become an astrologer. On the other hand, in his neighbourhood, his neighbour Malaya, the son of the royal musician is scolded by his father for being lesser than Gopal in singing. He is preparing him for a music competition, the winner of which will become the royal musician. At the same time, Gopal enters and says that he will not participate, to which Malaya's father refuses, and convinces Gopal to participate. On the day of the competition however, Malaya gives Gopal some holy water. He has secretly added a poison that ruins Gopal's singing ability. He loses the competition. Shortly thereafter, he loses his voice completely. A new friend Gopi (Nimmi) who is a dancer, eventually helps him regain his voice. Gopal eventually gets to sing in front of the king and impress him.

Cast

 * Bharat Bhushan       	 as	Gopal
 * Nimmi                 	 as	Gopi
 * Kumkum     	 as	Radhika (as Kum Kum)
 * Leela Chitnis	        as	Gopal's mother
 * Om Prakash       	 as	Narsin
 * Manmohan Krishna     	 as	Lehri Baba
 * Parsuram           	                (as Parashram)
 * Chand Burke         	 as	Leelabai (as Chand Burque)
 * Shyam Kumar (actor)
 * S. K. Prem
 * Babu Raje
 * S. B. Nayampalli	               (as Nayam Pally)
 * Indira
 * Chandrashekhar (actor)	 as	Emperor (as Chandra Shekhar)

Awards

 * National Film Awards
 * 1956 - Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film in Hindi