Tuesday, August 07, 2007

naya daur


it was 1957, 10 years after independence that naya daur struggled with the benefits of industrialization nehru style while quoting gandhi in the title sequences. once the profit motive brings a machine from the city into a village displacing the workers from the traditional work that they were involved in, a debate begins about the role of technology in progress. a race between the machine and man is won by man with a show of the strength in numbers and cooperative work. and to think it was the same year the chandigarh was taking its form with its broad avenues and grids for a future of high speed vehicles while the people still rode bicycles. there is something about the idealism of the times in the film. dilip kumar with a sickle across his shoulders against the sky, the optimistic glint in his eyes and his hair fluttering in the wind must be the symbol for the indian man. shankar is his name in the film- and was that a white knitted fez cap he wore in so many scenes? as a star should- he represents for me the time in which the film was made. vyjayantimala and him have the best on screen chemistry in hindi cinema. the songs are great. fantastic film.

1 comment:

ranjit kandalgaonkar said...

dad rented naya daur and kohinoor from the videowalla.
i remember watching kohinoor and loving it.
swashbuckling stuff.
underwater death scene at end.thrilling stuff.
i was 10 i think,maybe less.
never saw naya daur.
now i want to.

his generation dilip kumar fans are still upset with saira banu.
they all wanted dilip kumar to marry madhubala.:)