Year – 1958

Language – Urdu

Country – Pakistan

Producer – Sheda Imam

Director – M.H.Muhib

Music Director – Zafar Khurshid

Box-Office Status – Flop

Cast – Ejaz, Sheda Imam, Meena Shorey, Rukhsana, Charlie

The new film from Karachi Sitaron ki Duniya, showing at Rivoli, is what its name implies a story about film people, their work and their codes of morality. Many from within the industry would content the authenticity of its facts but everyone will agree that this could happen only on the screen.

Meena plays a village girl who is accidentally drawn into the life of grease and floodlights. In her simplicity she accepts fiction as reality but once within the studio precincts she is surrounded by hungry wolves. Amongst the whole lot there is only one person, an artiste, portrayed by Ejaz, who behaves like a normal, reasonable human being.

The story does not follow any clear-cut line of action. There are a number of weak links which hamper logical development. The director, too, appears confused. At any rate he makes little attempt to make the narrative smooth.

The standard of acting is varied. Charlie gives only flashes of his old form. In fact during the past years he has lost much of his brilliance while his tendency to exaggerate is as prominent as before. Meena makes little impression. In the first place she has been miscast and secondly, there is nobody to guide her properly. Ejaz’s performance also suffers from poor direction but still his work is not without merit. Himalyawala apparently relishes the role of a villainous producer. Only these two actors take interest in their jobs.

Making allowances for all the handicaps the production unit must have been faced with the film’s technical values are satisfactory.

To sum up the film has some very entertaining features and one feels that if the subject could be treated from any definite aesthetic point of view and had minor lapses here and there been avoided, it could be called an interesting picture.