Achhoot Kanya is a 1936 Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 film. Among the early super-hits in the Bombay film industry, the film deals with the social position of Dalit

Dalit

Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...

 girls and is considered a reformist period-piece.

The film was one of several successful Bombay Talkies

Bombay Talkies

The Bombay Talkies Limited was a movie studio produced 102 movies, founded in 1934 in Malad, Bombay , India, by Himanshu Rai, Rajnarayan Dube and Devika Rani along with businessmen like F. E...

 collaborations between Franz Osten

Franz Osten

Franz Osten was a German filmmaker who along with Niranjan Pal was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Pal on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films like Achhut Kanya and Jeevan Naiya.-Early life:He was born as Franz Ostermayr in Munich on 23 December 1876...

, Niranjan Pal

Niranjan Pal

Niranjan Pal was a playwright, screenwriter and director in the Indian film industry in the silent and early talkie days...

, Himanshu Rai

Himanshu Rai

Himanshu Roy , one of the pioneers of Indian cinema, is best known as the founder of the Bombay Talkies in 1934. He was associated with a number of movies, including Goddess , The Light of Asia , Siraj , A Throw of Dice , and Karma .He was married to actress Devika Rani.-Bombay Talkies:He was...

, and their leading lady, Devika Rani

Devika Rani

Devika Rani Chaudhuri Roerich was an early Indian movie star.- Career :Born in Waltair , Devika Rani came from a distinguished background: she was the great-grandniece of the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and her father, Col. M. N. Chaudhuri, was the first Indian Surgeon-General of Madras...

. Music is by Saraswati Devi

Saraswati Devi (Music Director)

Mein Ban ki Chiriyra Banke Bun Bun Bolun Re - The person who entertained thousands of music lovers with such enchanting composition of film songs was none other than Saraswati Devi - the distinguished lady music director of Hindi cinema mostly known to compose music for Bombay Talkies during the...

 and lyrics by J.S. Kashyap.

The movie stars Ashok Kumar

Ashok Kumar

Ashok Kumar also fondly called Dadamoni was an Indian film actor. Born Kumudlal Ganguly in Bhagalpur, Bengal Presidency he attained iconic status in Indian cinema...

 (cast after the original hero had eloped with the producer's wife and leading lady) and Devika Rani (the producer's wife who decided to come back) in the lead roles.

Plot

A circular story, told in flashback, in which eternal repetition is only interrupted 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.

Cast

• Devika Rani
  Devika Rani
  Devika Rani Chaudhuri Roerich was an early Indian movie star.- Career :Born in Waltair , Devika Rani came from a distinguished background: she was the great-grandniece of the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and her father, Col. M. N. Chaudhuri, was the first Indian Surgeon-General of Madras...
  
   ... Kasturi
• Ashok Kumar
  Ashok Kumar
  Ashok Kumar also fondly called Dadamoni was an Indian film actor. Born Kumudlal Ganguly in Bhagalpur, Bengal Presidency he attained iconic status in Indian cinema...
  
  ... Pratap
• P.F. Pithawala ... Mohan
• Kamta Prasad ... Dukhia
• Kishori Lal
• Kusum Kumari
• Pramila
• Anwari
• Ishrat

External links

• Achhoot Kanya at National Film Archives Pune