Jaal (1952 film)

Infobox Film
name = Jaal aka The Net


imdb_id = 0044761
director = Guru Dutt
writer = Guru Dutt
cinematography = V.K. Murthy
music = S.D. Burman
starring = Geeta Bali
Dev Anand
K.N. Singh
Johnny Walker
runtime = 165 min.
language = Hindi

Jaal is an Indian film, released in 1952. This was Guru Dutt's second movie, after Dev Anand's production "Baazi". Guru Dutt was sort of finding his bearings through commercially successful movies. And after "Baazi", this was the second film in which Dev Anand also came through as a confident star/actor, with a style uniquely his own. Geeta Bali, the most gifted actress of the Indian screen ever, gave a scintillating performance. But what stood out most was the musical score of the film. Till date, the sweetness of the melodious "Yeh raat yeh chandni phir kahan, sun ja dil ki dastaan", sung by the heavenly voices Hemant Kumar has not been equalled by any song of this type, composed by any music composure. Most other songs were based on the Goan folk music, probably first time used by a music director.

Plot

After losing his vision during a storm, Carlos (K.N. Singh) lives with his sister, Maria (Geeta Bali), off the Indian coast in a fishing village. One day a mysterious young woman, Lisa, enters their lives, followed by a mysterious man, Tony Fernandes (Dev Anand). Maria and Tony fall in love with each other, much to the chagrin of Simon, who loves Maria and wants to marry her. Lisa then warns Maria that she has known Tony, they have had an affair together, and he had betrayed her, however, this warning has no effect on Maria. Then a gypsy palm-reader also cautions Maria that she may be headed for disaster at the hands of a stranger. The question remains: who exactly are Lisa and Tony, and what is the reason behind their presence on this fishing community; and whether or not Maria is being drawn into a web of lies and deceit at the hands of Tony?

Set in the fishing village of Goa, this film depicts the ties between Tony, a good-for-nothing man from the city, and Maria, a village girl who loves him innocently. The spirit of Christian love and forgiveness lies at the base of the story, and the film has a strong religious color to it, unusual for Guru Dutt.