Pehli Tareekh (1954)

A realist inversion of Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life (1947), this is an unusual story about the poor Shamlal (Nene) who, faced with starvation, commits suicide. His soul is not admitted into heaven and he is condemned to return to earth as a disembodied spirit. He has to watch his family face starvation and imprisonment and, in the film’s climax, is unable to prevent his wife and daughter from committing suicide as well. The film helped establish Nirupa Roy’s realist image. It was made by an ex-Prabhat director and actor (Daha Wajta/Das Baje, 1942) and contains Kishore Kumar’s classic number Din ho suhana aaj paheli tareekh hai. It was remade in Kannada and Tamil (Modalatedi/Mudhal Thedi, 1955) by P. Neelakantan.