Paying Guest (1957) :
Brief Review -
How Nasir Hussain wrote such a "complete film" and how Dev Anand proved that he was the most charismatic romantic hero after Raj Kapoor. Gone are those days when Bollywood used to write a complete film by missing several genres, several subcontexts, and layers. Paying Guest has romance, comedy, family drama, tragedy, murder, suspense, courtroom drama, and social reflection of two kinds of humans, etc. Can't believe that all these things fit so well together in a single narrative. Hats off to Nasir Hussain Saab. The film starts off as a rom-com, as we have a young, jobless lawyer, Ramesh, trying to find a rented house. He falls in love with Shanti and then impersonates an older man to get a place in Shanti's house. The film shows us two kinds of women in our society: one believes in money (Daulat), and the other believes in love (Mohabbat). The first one marries an older man for money, and the other one, i.e., Shanti, is in love with Ramesh and happy without money. So, we have our first villain, Shanti's brother-in-law, a drunkard, and a trickster. The second villain is the same girl, who marries an old man and also happens to be Shanti's best friend. She tries to take advantage of Ramesh by offering him a job as her husband's assistant, and that creates differences between Shanti and Ramesh. Another conspiracy follows, taking the narrative in a new direction, and then we have a couple more turnarounds of murder and courtroom drama. Don't miss the suspenseful trick Ramesh plays on the court. I saw like 3 or 4 films together in one with a fantastic chemistry between Dev Anand (what a charisma he had) and legendary Nutan, and one of the most iconic songs ever, "Chod do aanchal zamana kya kahega." I think I had too much for my stomach. Thanks to the director, Subodh Mukherjee, for cooking it well.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest.
