Dacoit films in Hindi-Urdu

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Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960): under the waterfall

Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960): Padmini

Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai

Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960, Raj Kapoor) was the first full-length film about dacoits in Hindi-Urdu, and perhaps the first in any Indian language. Far from being an action film in the 'western' (or any other) tradition, it was a humorous big-budget entertainer set within a dacoits' camp. Of course, there was the mandatory police chase at the end. For gravitas, officially it had a noble theme to mask all the cheesecake, bathing beauties under waterfalls and buffoonery. This was 'aa ab laut chalein' (come, let us return). The slogan was an appeal to dacoits to return to the mainstream of society. Jis Desh was the fifth biggest hit of the year and triggered off the 'dacoit film' trend.

Gunga Jumna

The second dacoit film had an even bigger budget and went on to become the no.1 hit of its year. Gunga Jumna (1961, Nitin Bose), too, presumed to have a sociological undercurrent. In a Filmistani way it sought to explain why people became dacoits. Except for the final sequence in which good prevails over evil, it was a powerful emotional drama about two brothers who love each other but find themselves on opposite ends of the law.