Patita

About the film

Patita (Hindi: पतिता, A fallen woman) is a 1953 Indian Hindi-language film produced and directed by Amiya Chakrabarty. The film stars Dev Anand, Usha Kiran, Agha and Lalita Pawar. The film's music is by Shankar Jaikishan. The film is especially well known for some very melodious and popular songs that include: "Andhe Jahaan Ke" by Talat Mahmood, "Hain Sab Se Madhur Woh Geet Jinhein Hum Dard Ke Sur Mein Gaate Hain" by Talat Mahmood, "Kisi Ne Apna Bana Ke" by Lata Mangeshkar, "Mitti se Khelte Ho" by Lata Mangeshkar and the duet "Yaad Kiya Dil Ne Kahaan Ho Tum" by Hemant Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar.

Plot

Radha (Usha Kiran) is a young poor girl living in a one-room shanty with her handicapped and bed-ridden father Sadhu Ram (Krishnakant). She is reduced to begging to provide food for the two of them and is hounded almost daily by Bhiku Chacha (C.S. Dubey), the right-hand man of their shanty's owner Manohar (Shivraj), who is a rich and unscrupulous businessman, as they owe almost one hundred fifty rupees in rent for over a year to him. One day whilst begging, she meets the young and charming Nirmal Chander (Dev Anand) who chastises her for begging and hands her a visiting card of his friend whom he informs her is a kind man and will provide her with work. In fact, Nirmal himself is the owner of a textile mill and the contact he provides Radha with is that of his factory manager. She goes to the said person and is hired as a daily labourer in Nirmal's mill. Nirmal visits the shanty of Sadhu Ram, where both father and daughter are overjoyed with happiness and gratitude at his kindness. Eventually, Nirmal falls in love with the simple, pretty Radha and proposes marriage to her. She readily accepts and her happiness knows no bounds, but in a cruel twist of fate, she comes home to find Bhiku Chacha and his men aided with orders from Manohar, about to throw them and their few belongings from the shanty for not being able to repay the entire rent in time. She goes to Manohar to beg for …

She is heartbroken and ashamed and comes home a mental wreck unable to confide in either her father or Nirmal. She stops going to work, starts distancing herself from her suitor and roams around alone till the point when she becomes sick and faints and a neighbourhood woman checks her to reveal to her father that she is quite a few months pregnant. Her father is shocked and passes away in grief to hear this. Radha tries to commit suicide.

However, here she meets the happy-go-lucky chap Mast Ram (Agha) who talks her into giving up the idea of suicide and takes her to live with him in his house, which he calls the Mast Mahal. It is a self-created ancient piece of architectural wonder that is supported by the bare trunk of a tree at a precarious angle and has stumps of felled trees in place of chairs and tables. Mast Ram himself is an orphan and a product of sex outside marriage, hence, much chastised by society, he is the diametrical opposite of Radha. He seems genuinely happy to be alive, have four working limbs and is a man easily pleased with two square meals a day, or sometimes even not, and always has a song or two on his lips. He takes to Radha like an elder brother and it is in his house that her son Chandu is born. Mast Ram advises Radha to give up her infant son to an orphanage run by a Swami-Ji for the betterment of the both of them but Radha vehemently refuses, and decides to work and struggle to bring up her son, as he is all she has left now. She goes back to her old place of work and this time ends up finding out the owner of the mill to be Nirmal. He is angry and rude to her for running out on him earlier without any explanation and insults her. But afterwards, he has a change of heart and follows her to Mast Mahal where he finds out about the infant. Radha tells him everything honestly, and, angry …

Soundtrack

The film had six songs, many of which went on to become very popular. Other than "Yaad kiya dil ne" which was penned by Hasrat Jaipuri, the remaining songs were written by Shailendra. Music was given by Shankar-Jaikishan.

The Harmonica version for the song "Yaad Kiya Dil Ne Kahan Ho Tum" was played by the harmonica player Milon Gupta for His Master's Voice.

Key details