Samaj Ko Badal Dalo (1970)

An unusual political film made by the mainstream Gemini Studio, the Telugu commercial director Rao, the Malayalam communist Bhasi and the Telugu/Malayalam star Sharada. Chhaya (Sharada), whose father once owned a textile mill but was swindled by his partner, now finds happiness as the wife of a mill worker. The couple have to contend with trade union blacklegs and the villainous owners who persecute Chhaya’s husband. Songs include Dharti mata ka maan hamara pyara lal nishan, stridently praising the red flag, and the miserabilist beggar song Amma ek roti de which later became popular among real beggars in Bombay. The film is not a remake of Vijay Bhatt’s Samaj Ko Badal Dalo (1947) but of Vincent’s Thulabharam (1968), and was adapted by Madhusudhana Rao in Telugu (Manushulu Marali, 1969) before he made it in Hindi.