The circular story is told in flashback, in which eternal repetition is interrupted only by death in the form of a relentlessly linear railway engine. The film opens at a railway crossing where a man is about to kill his wife when the narrative spins into the past via a song. The central story is of the unhappy love affair between Kasturi (Devika Rani), the Harijan (Untouchable) daughter of the railway level-crossing guard Dukhia (Prasad), and Pratap (Kumar), the Brahmin son of the grocer Mohan (Pithawala). At first, rumour and mob violence are deployed to lethal effect in order to maintain a 'traditional', oppressive morality. Later, when the main protagonists are about to conform and marry selected partners, rumour and maliciousness again intervene to trigger renewed violence until the on-rushing train of fate stops the strife.

Starring

Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar, P.F. Pithawala, more..

Director

Franz Osten

Language

Hindi

Genre

Release Date

Wed Jan, 01 1936

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Devika Rani

... Kasturi

Ashok Kumar

... Pratap

P.F. Pithawala

... Mohan

Kamta Prasad

... Dukhia

Kishori Lal

...

Himanshu Rai

... Producer

Niranjan Pal

... Story / Writers

Sarswati Devi

... Music Director

Franz Osten

... Director

J.S. Kashyap

... Lyricist