Railway Platform (1955)

Melodramatic parable in a social-realist idiom. A flood forces a train to stop for 24 hours at a remote railway station in the Andher Nagari (land of darkness) kingdom ruled by an authoritarian king whose daughter Princess Indira (Ramani) is among the passengers. Other passengers include the unemployed Ramu (Dutt), his sister and aged mother; Kavi, a long-haired and cynical poet; a laundryman and his formidable wife; and an avaricious Marwari businessman, Nasibchand. When the food runs out, Nasibchand buys the local grocery shop and starts a black market. A Westernised clique, keeping their distance from the others, starts dancing and drinking while a Brahmin priest charges money to perform mandatory religious rituals. Indira falls in love with Ramu and wants to marry him right away, although the grocer’s poor daughter Naina (Jaywant) also loves him. The marriage is interrupted by the arrival of Indira’s royal father. Eventually Ramu and Naina get married. The film included the hit Basti basti parbat parbat (sung by Mohammed Rafi) and several catchy numbers by Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.