Naya Daur (1957 film)

The tongawala Shankar and the woodcutter Krishna are best friends in a poor village. At a train station, Shankar meets Rajni, who arrives there with her mother and brother, and fall in love with each other. At the same time, Krishna also sees Rajni and falls for her.

Kundan from the city arrives at the village and wants to modernize and mechanize the business which he does so by getting an electronic saw thus making several workers at the mill lose their jobs. When Shankar and Krishna both come to know that they both love Rajni, they plan on deciding on who will marry her; if Rajni offers white flowers when she goes to the temple, she will marry Shankar and if she offers yellow flowers, she will marry Krishna. Manju, Shankar's sister who is in love with Krishna, hears their conversation and makes a plan of her own by switching Rajni's yellow flowers with white flowers at the temple. Krishna, who sees Manju switching the flowers, thinks that Shankar has told her to do this and it leads both of them getting into a fight. Shankar, who is saddened by this, tells Rajni that he will not looked at her if he knew that his friend also lover her. Rajni becomes heart-broken after hearing this tells him that she can't change her feelings for him, but he can if he wants and goes away.

Kundan introduces a bus in the village thus taking away the tongawalas' livelihood. They ask him to remove it, but he refuses. Shankar says that what he has done is for the betterment of himself only. Kundan, however, tells Shankar that if he can drive his tonga faster than the bus then he will remove the latter. Shankar agrees to do it but the rest of the tongawalas tell him not to as the bus will be faster. Shankar consents to the race and asks time for three months to prepare for the race. He make a plan to build a road, which is six miles shorter than the road which leads to the temple. The disturbed villagers tell Shankar that they has gone mad with his stubbornness and do not support him with the making of the road, letting him do it alone.

Shankar starts to lose heart when he starts to build the road alone, but Rajni joins him, saying that she will always be with him, which makes Shankar happy. Soon, the rest of the tongawalas join them to build the road. Krishna joins Kundan's side and asks him to help to make sure that the road does not get complete. The villagers, all together, overcome difficulties along the way and finally finish the building. Krishna decides to take things up in his own hands and breaks the bridge made by the villagers which was the most important path of the road. Manju sees him doing this and confronts Krishna and tells him that she changed the flowers on her own and not on the words of her brother as she loves him. Krishna on hearing this realises his mistake and starts repairing the bridge immediately with the help of Manju.

Finally, the race takes place with Shankar emerging as the victor. Krishna comes to congratulate Shankar and both the friends make up with each other furthermore Shankar and Rajni untie while Krishna and Manju unite with each other.

• Dilip Kumar as Shankar
• Vyjayantimala as Rajni
• Ajit Khan as Krishna
• Jeevan as Kundan
• Johnny Walker as Journalist
• Chand Usmani as Manju
• Nazir Hussain as Seth Maganlal
• Manmohan Krishna as Jumman Dada
• Leela Chitnis as Shankar & Manju's Mother
• Pratima Devi as Durga (Rajni's Mother)
• Kumkum as Dancer In Song "Reshmi Salwaar Kurta Jaali Ka"
• Minoo Mumtaz as Dancer In Song "Reshmi Salwaar Kurta Jaali Ka"

During filming, the Naya Daur production was involved in a highly controversial and widely publicised court case. Initially, the actress Madhubala was cast as the female lead. An advance payment was given to her and shooting began and continued smoothly for 15 days. B.R. Chopra, the director, wanted the unit to travel to Bhopal for an extended outdoor shooting. Ataullah Khan, the father of Madhubala, objected to this and claimed that the entire Bhopal schedule was a ruse to give Dilip Kumar the opportunity to romance his daughter (Kumar and Madhubala were in a relationship at the time). Finally, Chopra sued Madhubala for the cash advance she received from him for a film she now had no intention of completing.

He replaced her with the South Indian actress Vyjayanthimala, who acted with Kumar in Devdas. Madhubala obediently supported her father despite her commitment to Dilip Kumar. Kumar testified against Madhubala and Ataullah Khan in favour of B.R. Chopra in open court. The case was lost by Madhubala and her father amid much negative publicity. During the case, the film was released and declared a success. Chopra dropped the case and saved Madhubala from the humiliation of a possible prison sentence.[3]

All the songs were composed by O. P. Nayyar and the lyrics were penned by Sahir Ludhianvi. Playback singers were Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Shamshad Begum and S. Balbir.

Naya Daur collected around ₹54 million , becoming the second highest-grossing film of 1957 behind Mother India.[5] This was equivalent to $11.34 million in 1957,[lower-alpha 1] or $103 million (₹7.254 billion ) adjusted for inflation.

Naya Daur received positive reviews from critics, with the screenplay and performances gaining the most attention.[7] The Times of India called the film "a picture with a purposeful and distinctly impressive theme ... from almost the beginning to the end", saying that it "remains a briliant, beautiful and very entertaining".[8] Bombay (present-day Mumbai) newspaper Bharat Jyoti found the film to be "one of the most ambitious and unusual subjects ventured in India".[8] Filmfare wrote, "A powerful and vibrantly gripping picture, B. R. Films' Naya Daur is a distinctly successful combination of pertinent social education and moral and top-rate entertainment."[8] Screen said that it was "one of the most important films made in this country" at the time.[8] A critic from the magazine Eve's Weekly believed that it "truly a [Mahatma] Gandhi among films".[8]

Amrita Bazar Patrika saw that Chopra "has delivered a commendable film" with Naya Daur, and found the film "combines ... purposeful and [picturesque] theme[s]".[8] Reviewing it in Lucknow, the daily Pioneer described the film as "the straightforward natural drama [that] develops grip as the story unfolds itself and scales the very height of dramatic expression."[8] The Hindu's critic felt that it implied Gandhi's quote, "There is no room for machinery that would displace human labor and concentrate power in a few hands."[8] Sport and Pastime praised the film for "provides wholesome entertainment with a purpose", stating, "Naya Daur is a picture of which the industry should be proud of."[8] The Indian Express noted, "What strikes one most in this film is its sense of mission and the remarkable, almost infectious enthusiasm of practically everybody in it ..."[8]

Naya Daur was colourised and re-released in 2007, along with the re-release of another film starring Dilip Kumar, Mughal-e-Azam.[9] However, this re-release failed commercially.[10]

Aamir Khan's Academy Award nominated film Lagaan (2001) was inspired by Naya Daur.[11][12]

• Naya Daur at IMDb
• Naya Daur profile and review at Rediff
• Naya Daur profile and review at Bollywood Hungama