Pooja (Worship) is a 1940 IndianHindi/Urdu-language psychological drama film directed by A. R. Kardar.[1] The music director was Anil Biswas, with lyrics by Khan Shatir Ghaznavi. Produced by National Studios, the story, screenplay and dialogue writer was M. Sadiq and the cinematographer was P. G. Kukde.[2] The film starred Sardar Akhtar, Zahur Raja, Sitara Devi, Jyoti, Sankatha Prasad, Sunalini Devi, Bhudo Advani and Baby Meena (Meena Kumari).[3]
The story involves two sisters, Rama and Lachhi. The younger sister Lachhi, is raped by the rejected suitor of the other sister and gets pregnant. The film then follows the child being brought up by Rama while the real mother, Lachhi, works as a maid in the same house.[4]
Two sisters Rama (Sardar Akhtar) and Lachhi (Sitara Devi) spend their time teasing each other. Rama's marriage is fixed with Darpan (Zahur Raja). However, the marriage is called off and Rama is married off to someone else. Unable to bear the humiliation, Darpan supposedly rapes Lachhi, as it's not made clear whether she was a willing partner. In the meantime, Rama's husband dies and she is now living a widowed life. When its learnt that Lachhi is pregnant, Rama takes her in and brings up Bina (Baby Meena) as her own daughter. Bina assumes Lachhi is just a maid working in her house. Much later, Bina finds out the truth about Lachhi being her mother.
Pooja deals with the "shattering consequences of feudal sexual codes".[5]
Kardar was interested in themes involving "sexual abnormality". He had earlier used the idea in his film Pagal, which dealt with a "psychotic doctor" given to sexual obsession.[5]
Sitara's role of the unwed mother in the film was appreciated.[6]
Soundtrack
The music director was Anil Biswas, while the lyricist was Shatir Ghaznavi. The singers were Sitara Devi, Sardar Akhtar, Zahur Raja, Jyoti, Tara Harish and Anil Biswas.[7]
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